Beowulf comics are a natural. The idea of a hero who faces off against weird enemies is the comic book’s very essence. The 6th Century Anglo-Saxon classic is one of the few mythic masterpieces belonging to England. The work was written down by monks so it has a strange Christian over-lay to what is a very Pagan story. J. R. R. Tolkien gave us the first insightful examination of the story in 1937 with “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”.
The Story of Beowulf
The story of Beowulf is broken into three sections. In the first, King Hrothgar is despondent because his drinking hall is terrorized by the monster, Grendel. Beowulf and his crew show up and take care of the problem. Beowulf and his men wait in the dark for the monster to show. When Grendel does, he gets in a wrestling match with the King of the Geats. Beowulf rips his arm off. Grendel runs home to mommy.
The second part has Grendel’s mother — who sadly never gets a name–taking revenge for her son. Beowulf tracks her to her swampy home and fights her. No arm pulling this time. It looks like mom is going to get even when Beowulf finds a sword and kills her.
The last section of the tale is years later. Beowulf is an old man now. A dragon comes to his kingdom when a slave steals some of its treasure. Beowulf (and his only faithful retainer, Wiglaf) kill the dragon. Unfortunately, Beowulf dies from the poison.
The critics before Tolkien mostly focused on Anglo-Saxon grammar and not the meaning of the tale. Tolkien points out the story of Beowulf is one of military preparedness and sacrifice for your people.
Four Color Savagery
Beowulf comics date back to the Italians Enrico Basari and Kurt Caesar in 1941. The tale of Beowulf is popular in Italy. The 1970s saw an explosion in Sword & Sorcery comics with the first American popularizing with Michael Uslan‘s Beowulf Dragonslayer at DC Comics in 1975. But Uslan wasn’t the only one using the traditional story in the 1970s. Franco Caprioli (1912-1974) did a cool adaptation around 1970. It appeared in English in Look and Learn #440-451 (June-September 1970). The comic appeared in many other languages all across Europe.
Franco Caprioli worked in comics as early as 1938. He focused on adventure comics and did Jules Verne adaptations in his last years for the French market. His Beowulf is another later piece.
Caprioli’s Beowulf
I’m not sure who wrote these comics but they did a wonderful job of condensing the story. By comparison Jerry Bingham did a graphic novel in 1984 for First Comics that was 48 pages long. Caprioli had only a dozen pages but seems to tell more of the tale than Bingham. (More on this book later in another post.) These weekly writers know their craft!
Franco Caprioli’s background in historical comics serves him well. His costumes and figures look very convincing. His monsters seemed to be inspired by old book illustrators like Arthur Rackham, who I am sure had a horse-headed dragon like that somewhere. Henry Justice Ford and John D. Batten’s black and white work also lurks here.
I didn’t realize there was such an interest in Beowulf in the comics. Interesting.