Treasure Comics from Prize Comics offered a heroic fantasy series with “The Arabian Knight”. The character’s name is a play on the source material for the series, the classic legends of Persia and Arabia, The Arabian Nights. This background gave the creators the opportunity to match Hassan, The Arabian Knight, with such classic characters as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba.
The Arabian Knight was not alone at Prize Comics. He had companions in Howie Post’s “Alex in Wonderland” as well as an English knight with a dragon named Oscar in “Sir Prize” in Prize Comics around the same time. (More on both of them at a later time.)
All stories were written by an unknown author but the artwork was all done by Henry C. Kiefer. This was the formula at Prize, keeping one artist on a series to maintain the look.
These comics can be downloaded for free at DCM.
“The Thief of Baghdad” (Treasure Comics #2, August-September 1945) has the Arabian Knight and Gazzar his squire returning from a mission. They find their liege, Prince Haroun Al Raschid, ousted from his throne by Bab-El Bar. The prince has his army but no arms and no money to buy any. The Knight begins a campaign to steal a fortune from the treasury to pay for weapons. First, he and Gazzar pose as rug merchants before climbing the tower and extracting several bags. When Hassan repeats the trick with Gazzar’s father, Yussef, things go badly. Bab-el Bar has set a trap, a tub of pitch. Yussef kills himself and the Knight goes away with his head to hide his identity. (Only Golden Age comics can be grim enough to capture that true Persian feel!)
Hassan steals more money using tricks like gum on the soles of his shoes and even stealing the crown off on Bab-el bar’s head disguised as a soldier. In the end, the citizens revolt against the usurper because he kills anyone who fails him. Each time the Knight succeeds, someone dies. Prince Haroun is reinstated and he makes the Knight his Prime Minister. He doesn’t want him anywhere near the treasury. No magic in this one, but the trickery is fun. Gazzar doesn’t show up again.
“The Adventure of Aladdin’s Lamp” (Treasure Comics #3, October-November 1945) has Hassan given the job of negotiating with the Ahembi, fierce Bedouins who are harrying the countryside. To light his way, the Knight buys a lamp made by Aladdin, who is reputed to a be a magician. Once out in the desert, Hassan cleans the lamp and a genii appears. The magical giant feeds his new master before taking him, horse and all, to the Bedouins. He is taken to the leader of the raiders, Ragli. The Bedouin will not barter and the Knight is thrown into the Cave of Dispair. (Their spelling!)
The Knight is chained up but insists on having his lamp. The jailers foolishly allow it. With genii in tow, Hassan steps back into the tent. The Bedouin attack but the Genii smashes men together by the handful. He stomps on those fleeing. Prince Haroun and his riders come and congratulate Hassan. The Knight drops the lamp and its wonders are destroyed. Magic and combat worthy of a Sword & Sorcery epic!
“Sinbad the Sailor” (Treasure Comics #4, December 1945-January 1946) begins with Prince Halroun needing money for his kingdom. The Arabian Knight volunteers to go in search of a fortune. He stumbles upon a sailor, Sinbad, in Sailor Alley. The two will seek fortune together on the mysterious islands of the Indian Ocean. They sail in Sinbad’s ship, The Jewel of Islam. The ship is sunk in a storm but the two reach a small island. It turns out to be a whale, that takes them to a real island.
There they see a giant snake and a giant dome. This turns out to be the egg of the gigantic roc, an eagle of super size, which eats the snake. Sinbad finds jewels scattered like pebbles. They have found their fortune. Two men also throw them some meat from a cliff. To get up the cliff, Hassan ties them to the meat and lets the roc carry them to their destination. The men are travelers with a ship that can take the two men home. Unfortunately there are cannibals and elephants to survive before they get home. A more episodic tale than the previous two but plenty of wonders and monsters.
“Bagdad Gang War” (Treasure Comics #5, February-March 1946) has a crime wave in Baghdad worrying the prince. Every merchant has been forced to pay protection except Wad-El-Syd. He appears before the court claiming he fears being kidnapped. When the kidnappers jump him, Hassan tries to stop them. His assailant escapes but leaves his stripped cloak behind. Hassan assumes his identity and goes to the house of Wad-El-Syd. The Knight finds the missing merchant, rescues him, but also suspects him for being the gang leader of the Tigers.
Bad news for Wad-El-Syd. The rival gang leader, Zeeto and his Leopards are moving in. Zeeto is a sorcerer. Hassan watches from the shadows as the gang leaders duke it out. Eventually Wad-El-Syd gets the upper hand and Zeeto is captured. The sorcerer is to be executed but convinces Wad-El-Syd he will share his magic secrets. Zeeto plays a trick, filling the book with secrets as well as death. Wad-El-Syd has his head cut off anyway. The severed head talks to him. Some of the pages are sticky and the gang-leader licks his fingers to turn them. They are covered with a poison. Both gang leaders die. Umberto Eco fans will remember this one from The Name of the Rose (1980). Hassan is mostly an observer in this story.
“From Out of the East” (Treasure Comics #6, April-May 1946) starts with Kurgan the One-Eyed, leader of the Tartars, riding out of the East. Hassan is sent to rescue the daughter of Ali-Ben-Ali who has been kidnapped. He sneaks into the Tartar camp and kills a guard. Assuming his costume, he searches for the young woman. He finds her but is captured in the rescue attempt.
Hassan is taken to Kurgen. The unarmed spy is to be killed in combat against armed men. The Knight blinds one of his attackers by throwing sand in his eyes. Hassan gets his sword and defeats the rest. With sword in hand, he sues for peace with Kurgen then takes the daughter of Ali-Ben-Ali away. She gives him a kiss as a reward. No magic in this one, but a good fight scene with Golden Age violence.
“The City of Brass” (Treasure Comics #7, June-July 1946) begins with Haroun foolishly opening a forbidden door. Efrits and djinn escape and being terrorizing the people of Baghdad. Hassan is sent to Zhazan the sorcerer for help. They fly back the twenty miles to Baghdad on a flying carpet. Hassan asks the caliph if his daughter can be used as bait. She and Hassan are smitten with each but Zhazan is on the job. He gathers the monsters in a boiling pit. The result is a gigantic lump of brass that is taken out of the city.
Unfortunately, the princess has gone missing. Zhazan figures she was trapped inside the brass boulder, known now as The City of Brass. Hassan offers to open it and find her. Disguised as a monster, the Knight opens the sphere. The monsters inside have the woman. They offer her to Hassan, thinking he is one of them. When he reveals himself to his love, the monsters chase them. Hassan traps the spirits in a hole in the mountain. He is rewarded with a kiss, one of many to come. As Popeye says: “Monskers!”
“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” (Treasure Comics #8, August-September 1946) has the Arabian Knight visiting a town where the citizens have been imprisoned because they refuse to view the prince’s museum. Hassan talks with the long-nosed ruler, agreeing to help him out. To do this he seeks a wizard living outside of town. The cave turns out to the hideout of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Ali is just getting started and only has two thieves, none of whom like breaking the law.
They take Hassan to the wise wizard. He freezes the men, then unfreezes Hassan’s head so he can talk to him. The wizard has already considered the museum problem but comes up with a new plan. Ali Baba and his men will sneak into the museum and place new, interesting exhibits in. Baba thinks this beneath his dignity as a thief. The wizard tells him he can steal the old exhibits. The new exhibits include a dinosaur skeleton. The old ones are a collection of button holes! Hassan removes Ali’s worries about breaking the law by having his robbers declared as the official robber of robbers. Common sense wins out. The obvious problem with this one is that Ali Baba wasn’t one of the thieves but in opposition to them. A rather silly tale over all.
Conclusion
Hassan the Arabian Knight had plenty of potential to be a true Sword & Sorcery comic. It had its moments: geniis and other monsters, plenty of wizards, some good sword fights. The basic set up of Hassan as the prince’s problem-solver worked to get him into situations. The best thing in the entire series is Harry Kiefer’s artwork. (The color of Hassan’s skin changed from brown to white rather inconsistently but still offered a non-WASPy hero for a change.) The spirit of the original Arabian Nights creeps through often, much better than it will in future comics like Hanna-Barbera’s Hi-Adventure Heroes with “Arabian Knights” in 1969.
Next time…Alex in Wonderland…
