If you missed the last one…
Beowulf Dragonslayer #3 (August-September 1975) features a classic Robert E. Howard inspired encounter: barbarian versus giant snake. In fact, the entire issue feels very REH and Tolkien when you consider the monster choices. The encounter with the giant snake could have seemed very cliche. Instead, Ricardo Villamonte gives us artwork so brilliant, we get the quintessential snake-warrior fight of all 1970s Sword & Sorcery comics. Nothing in all the issues of Conan the Barbarian or Savage Sword of Conan comes close. (Maybe Gil Kane’s fight scene with Satha in “The Valley of the Worm” in Supernatural Thrillers #3.) And that’s saying something. The only artist I can think of who matched the impact of this scene is some much later work by P. Craig Russell.
Our heroes have set upon their quest to do the three tasks set by Satan in the last issue. The way is fraught with perils. The opening scene begins in medias res. The crew is being attacked by a sea monster that must have come from the same slimy school as the Watcher in the Water from The Lord of the Rings. Warriors fighting tentacles is another classic S&S trope. William Hope Hodgson lurks behind such encounters with his Sargasso Sea filled with octopoid squidgies.
The sea serpent, sent by Satan (no doubt) kills a member of the crew, Will-Zon. The fight is on!
Beowulf teases Wiglaf for his selection of “fourteen of the best warriors”. Fortunately they have Nan-Zee to help out.
In the end, Beowulf brings in the heavy artillery. The fight ends with a bang.
With the fight over, Beowulf turns on Unferth, who ran and hid during the fight. He threatens the man, who plots more evil sorcery when they reach the Darklands. Shaper, the wizard, uses his powers to conjure death as an ally against Satan.
He appears. (I find it interesting how many Gothic images Uslan uses in this comic. Again, Ricardo Villamonte’s experience drawing horror comics comes in handy.)
The ship arrives in the terrible Darklands. They spy a mountain that looks like a gigantic skull. They have found the landmark they sought and land.
Back on terra ferma, Unferth summons a troublesome sprite to mess with Beowulf. Little Omen is like a cross between Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. He takes Beowulf and friends to Nightmareland. (There’s a ride Disney missed out on!)
The sprite haunts them with visions until Shaper drives him off. The warriors find themselves at the foot of Skull Mountain. They are immediately surrounded by a new enemy!
While having a staff meeting with his ape monsters, Grendel gets a conference call from Satan. This short scene reminds us of the baddies (who only get this page, this issue) as well as shows Grendel’s growing rebelliousness.
Beowulf tries diplomacy with the headhunters and soon the fight is on.
To Beowulf’s surprise, the pygmies have one giant-sized fellow. (This is a hilarious version of “My dad can beat up your dad.”) Beowulf ends his fight with the large warrior by taking the chief hostage.
Chief Sulli ends the fighting. He will allow Beowulf to go to his Snake God. He chooses to do this alone and without weapons. Nan-Zee and Hondscio fear for him but know he must do this his way. Beowulf goes to the pit where the snake lurks.
And like Bilbo before Smaug, he sees how terrible the monster is.
Thus begins the battle between warrior and snake…
… that ends with a crack. Beowulf drinks the poison of the viper as Satan instructed in his geas. The first of three tasks is complete.
Michael Uslan has used several familiar heroic fantasy elements in this issue: tentacle fight, a conversation with Death, an evil sprite, pygmies, and finally, a huge snake fight. He makes all this fresh somehow. I suspect he does this with the banter between the warriors. This kind of thing can drive me nuts sometimes. (Chris Claremont’s X-Men comes to mind.) Uslan peppers it nicely through the scenes to add humor and human interest.
The hero going into a pit to fight a monster alone is right out of Joseph Campbell and is so old a scenario Gilgamesh set the scene at the beginning of all written communication four thousand years ago. This is a classic Sword & Sorcery component that readers would feel cheated without it. Uslan wisely has Beowulf do it on his own. (For my thoughts on “The Man in the Chair” and how teams ruin superheroes, go here.) If Beowulf and his buddies, loaded with swords and maces, had beat the crap out of the snake god, it would have been a dull affair, indeed.
Next time…“Valley in the Shadow of Death”.…
