When Archie Goodwin left Warren in 1967, he was replaced by Bill Parente, who took over as editor and chief writer. This time period is called the “Dark Age of Warren”, not really because of anything Parente did. What he did do was continue to use Sword & Sorcery stories. He even wrote four of them.
Bill’s first S&S appearance was as co-writer (re-writer?) on “A Silver Dread Among the Gold” (Creepy #24, December 1968) Written by George Hagenauer and Bill Parente, it was drawn by Tony Williamsune.
The first of his own stories, he inherited the character. “Thane” first appeared in June 1967 in a strip written by Archie Goodwin, but Parente wrote the third segment “Barbarian of Fear” (Creepy # 27June 1969) with art by Tom Sutton. Thane ends up in a hidden valley where a race of men hide from the outside world. Thane is blinded and must recover, while Enor, Chief Elder Valon’s daughter plots with him about escaping their solitary world. Thane heals then sneaks off with Enor to face Batu, the immortal giant to guards the pass. Thane slays the demon only to find it was created by the elders’ minds, causing Valon to die. Enor and her people are free but Thane rides on alone.
Parente returned to with “A Cloak of Darkness” (Eerie #20, March 1969), probably his least S&S fantasy. Eerie starts the show off with “Sharpen up your sorcery swords…” so it wasn’t completely non-S&S. This time the art was drawn by Reed Crandall. Xanthus the sorcerer wants greater power. He plans to get this from a demon he has conjured. The demon tells him that only one magician is greater than he. And that is Lord Lucifer. But if Xanthus could get the Cloak of Darkness he could defeat Satan. Using his magic to create a champion armed with a sword, Xanthus cuts his way into the chamber. He takes the cloak and stabs Satan himself. There is only one problem, whoever uses the cloak has to stay in Hell forever.
“Journey Into Wonder” (Eerie #27, May 1970) with art by Ken Barr, is Parente’s masterpiece. Grendel, a deformed dwarf, wants to be a knight of the court. King Xenia sets him an impossible task so that he will fail. Grendel must retrieve the Sorceress Eleen from her solitary lair. What Grendel doesn’t know is that it is guarded by the fearsome Grinka. On the way, Grendel meets a witch who gives him a magic ring. he goes on to find Eleen, a beauty who is blind. the Grinka shows up but Grendel kills him by causing an avalanche. Grendel returns to Halidom but he doesn’t receive his reward. A knight accuses him of bringing an imposter instead of Eleen. To decide the matter there is a trial by combat. Grendel beats the knight then offers his ring to the king. Xenia places Eleen’s ring on his finger and a transformation happens. Grendel becomes a handsome knight and marries Eleen. A happy ending! Some of these elements will show up in Skywald’s horror magazines.
“Avenged by Aurora” (Vampirella #5, June 1970) saw the return of Tom Sutton as artist. Thomas is rescued from the Duke’s wrath by Zorac, the court magician. The old man trains Thomas as his apprentice. Thomas falls for the sweet-faced Elaine, but so does the lecherous Duke. When Elaine is killed in a race to escape, Thomas is given to the executioner. Before he can cut off the wizardling’s head, a lion appears from the stars. The beast floats away with Elaine’s shining spirit. The inspiration for this one seems obvious, Belit and Conan in “Queen of the Black Coast”. The movie version where Valeria is substituted for Belit is still 12 years away.
These four stories feature a lot of magic and magicians, though a couple of sword-swinging heroes too. Parente doesn’t have either the love of Robert E. Howard or the sarcastic tone of other writers. He obviously knew King Arthur, Conan and Beowulf. Bill Parente left Warren shortly after this. He seems to have left comics altogether, for unlike Archie Goodwin, he didn’t resurface elsewhere to do more S&S fare.
