If you missed the last one…
Beowulf Dragonslayer #6 (February-March 1976) is the end of the trail for Beowulf and his companions. It is a strange kind of ending, both filled with questions and resolutions. (We can look at those later.) This issue had some changes in it. The artwork was inked by Ricardo Villamonte but the layouts were done by Ric Estrada. The pages feel different because of this, sometimes feeling like good Villamonte and other times not.
This issue Beowulf will take on the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. This is a very old scenario, and it plays out pretty much like the old myth. The scene has been more recently done in the Ray Harryhausen inspired Wrath of the Titans (2012). I immediately thought of this issue of Beowulf while watching it.
It also has an unusual storyline arc complete with Grendel growing suspicious of Satan, after his mother overhears Satan plotting. The monster then kills the King of Hell and assumes his mantle. This reminds me a little of Marvel’s Son of Satan comic, which ran a little before Beowulf. It was the 1970s and supernatural stuff was in, even with superheroes. Unfortunately we won’t get to see what Grendel does with that power.
Let’s get back to Beowulf and Nan-Zee, alone on their raft, headed for Crete….
The raft comes apart and the couple are swept down a whirlpool.
To arrive, who knows where?
Meanwhile, back in the land of Pikadon, Beowulf’s companions are in the hands of the Yondo Sect of the T’iang tribe. Wiglaf promises Unferth his treachery will be paid in full.
The warriors offer a magic spell in return for their freedom. The Shaper is reluctant but can be persuaded with a little arm twisting.
The wizard turns the world upside down with an illusion. The companions are free to go, except the Shaper. But spears can not hold him as he fades away, returning to the land of the Danes.
Nan-Zee wakes in Beowulf’s arms. The warrior is unusually sentimental, admitting his feelings. He explains he hardened his heart when he was a lad because he lost a girl. The duo realize they have landed on the island of Crete.
The creepy being known as the Peeper leads them to the Labyrinth where the Zumak fruit grows at its center.
Back in Hell, Satan is making a strategic mistake. He admits to Dracula he will betray Grendel. Grendel’s mom hears this and tells her son.
Grendel grows angry hearing of the deception. He grabs a stalactite as a weapon and creeps up on Satan.
The Peeper opens the wall for Beowulf and Nan-Zee. Beowulf asks how they will get out. The Peeper laughs at them because no one ever does. The Peeper is really the Slave-Maiden of Satan from issue #2.
The two wander around the Labyrinth — I mean what else can you do? Ask Jennifer Connelly.
The Minotaur shows up and grabs Nan-Zee. The fight is on!
Nan-Zee tries to get the Zumak fruit for Beowulf but she has not drank the viper’s poison and can’t pick the fruit.
Meanwhile back in Hell, Grendel is about to make a move.
There will be a new King in Hell.
With Satan’s death, the Minotaur loses steam. Beowulf goes Jack Dempsey on him and gets the fruit.
The quest has been finished. Beowulf has the power to defeat Grendel. Too bad he doesn’t have a comic book anymore so we can see this play out. He and Nan-Zee will find their friends then defeat Grendel.
Now for all the questions: Why did DC cancel the comic? Poor sales. Why couldn’t they go one more issue and provide the final fight between Grendel and Beowulf? Did I mention poor sales? Was Ricardo Villamonte on the way out to replaced by Ric Estrada? If Beowulf defeated Grendel, now the King of Hell, what would the comic have looked like afterwards? How would Beowulf find and rescue his lost friends?
These and other questions remain unanswered. I can dream of a comic that never degenerated into a bad Conan copy. That’s the nice thing about unfinished works. They don’t dwindle off in a whimper, but remain ever-promising of great things. (Look at The Warlord after Mike Grell left, or the later issues of Arak, Son of Thunder when Roy started phoning them in. Even Claw the Conquered, that started as a Conan imitation then lost itself then found itself again….) My disappointment would not be as bad again until DC cancelled Starfire in October of 1977. This time the DC Implosion was to blame.
But the biggest questions is…what’s up with Grendel’s mom? In the first issue she looked like a werewolf but in this one she has Princess Leia’s cinnamon bun hair, and this a year and a half before Star Wars would appear in studios in the Spring of 1977. I am unable to answer this. Perhaps you know.
