We are going to take some liberties on this one. Many of the comics I will mention here were more historical than Fantasy but appeal to the Sword & Sorcery/adventure fan all the same. The 1960s are dominated by Boys’ weeklies with a variety of heroic daring-do in glorious black-and-white. I find it funny that the Brits were enjoying heroic fantasy comics before Marvel would publish Conan the Barbarian in 1970.
The 1980s see a new wave with 2000 AD and Warrior dominating. Some of these were reprinted in the States beginning around 1985. Of them all, only Slaine seems to have survived the 1990s and is still going strong today.
“King Arthur and His Knights” (Swift, 1955-1956) written by Clifford Makins and drawn by Frank Bellamy
“Wulf the Briton” (Express Weekly, 1955-1961) written by Jenny Butterworth with art by Ruggero Giovanni and Ron Embleton.
“Olac the Gladiator” (Fleetway’s Tiger, September 3, 1957-January 3, 1969 continued in France until 1977) written by Brian Leigh and Willie Patterson. Art by Don Lawrence and Pierre Dupius
“Karl the Viking” (Fleetway’s Lion Weekly, October 1960-September 1964) was written by Kenneth Bulmer with art by Don Lawrence. Bulmer would go on to write Sword & Sorcery like Swords of the Barbarians (1970) and for Fantasy Tales.
“Heros the Spartan” (Eagle Comics, 1962-1964) was written by Tom Tully with artwork by Frank Bellamy and Luis Bermejo
“Wrath of the Gods” (Boys’ World, 1963-1964) was written by Willie Patterson (Not Michael Moorcock as is sometimes thought.) Artwork was by Ron Embleton and John M. Burns.
“Kelpie the Boy Wizard” (Wham! 1964-1965) was written by Ken Mennel with artwork by John M. Burns.
“Maroc the Mighty” (Fleetway’s Lion Weekly, October 1964-June 1966) was written by Michael Moorcock with art by Don Lawrence. Here is the second and by far more important fiction writer who would add to Sword & Sorcery with his Elric, Hawkmoon and other inter-related novels.
“Robin Hood: Lord of Sherwood” (Lion Annual 1968) Written and drawn by Patrick Nicholle for the Sun newspaper, it appeals to my love of adventure if not S&S proper.
“Wolff” (Dracula, 1971-1972) was written and drawn by Esteban Maroto. Dracula was an English comic that reprinted Spanish material. Once again, as in America, the Horror comics support Sword & Sorcery.
“Horatius: Hero of Rome” (Look and Learn, 1975) was written by Andy Vincent with artwork by Arturo del Castillo.
“Blackhawk” (2000 AD, August 25, 1979- April 19, 1980) written by Alvin Gaunt with art by Belardinelli. Properly it is Sword & Planet with inter-dimensional gladiators fighting to go back to their own worlds. Belardinelli’s art shows influence from American comics by Mike Grell and Alfred Alcala.
“Nemesis the Warlock” (2000 AD, 1980-1999) was written by Pat Mills and drawn by Kevin O’Neill. it would be reprinted in America in the later 1980s.
“Thrud the Barbarian” (White Dwarf, 1981-2002) was written and drawn by Carl Critchlow. This S&S parody done for the RPG magazine White Dwarf. Later Critchlow did color and more sophisticated stories.
“Father Shandor” (Warrior, March 1982-December 1984) was written Steve Moore and drawn by John Bolton and David Jackson. It was the first of a number of S&S pieces for Warrior, which featured different kinds of genres like Science Fiction.
“Prestor John” (Warrior, March 1982/July-August 1983) was also written Steve Moore and drawn by John Bolton and later John Stokes. It was an ambitious strip that never caught on.
“The Spiral Path” (Warrior, March 1982-August 1983) was written and drawn by Steve Parkhouse with inks by John Ridgeway.
“Megax the Warrior” (Spike, August 13-December 3, 1983) Artist and writer unknown.
“A distant land stranded in time, medieval swordplay. Megax is the only man in the land of Braxas who dared resist Gorab the Terrible. Having escaped Gorab’s soldiers, Megax tries to rally the people against Gorab.”
“Slaine” ( Pronounced “Slaw-Knee” )(2000 AD, August 1983-present) was written by Pat Mills and drawn by M. Belardinelli. The Celtic warrior went on to fill several collections of comics.
“Zirk: All-Girl Amazon Attack Battalion” (Warrior #13, September 1983) Written by Steve Moore as Pedro Henry, it has art by Gary Leech.
“Ektryn” (Warrior, October 1983/December 1984) was written by Steve Moore as Pedro Henry and drawn by Cam Kennedy.
“Jaramsheela” (Warrior, March 1984) was written by Steve Moore as Pedro Henry and drawn by David Jackson.
British Sword & Sorcery certainly didn’t end here. Warrior did fold after 26 issues but not before publishing Alan Moore’s “V For Vendetta” that was made into a movie. 2000 AD continues to this day, producing all manner of fantastic material but most famously Judge Dredd, also made into several films. The late 1980s and then the 1990s saw the major British writers such as Michael Moorcock being adapted by American companies like Pacific and First Comics. Artists like John Bolton also came to work in America, where he drew “Marada the She-Wolf” for Marvel.
Very comprehensive, with well chosen art. I wish that these stories were more readily available
I agree. I wonder if they are in the UK? I am sure I may have missed one or two and I’d like to hear about those too.
GW
That’s amazing to see all those characters in one article G.W. I never thought about how many strips of this kind we had! BTW the Heros artwork you’ve shown is Bermejo not Bellamy
Thanks. I’ll change it.
Just followed Norman over from his Frank Bellamy page…
…And the ‘Shandor’ page, as with the ‘Jaramsheela’ page here, is also drawn by David Jackson -(me!)- only in the original definitive, pre WARRIOR House of Hammer ‘Shandor’ episodes, reprinted in WARRIOR, is the art by John Bolton.
Ill fix that.
In my teens I used to pay regularly a visit to my comic bookstore in my hometown in Flanders and came across on the table with new releases of comic books and magazines a pile of SF and fantasy comic magazines for what I then even deemed as more adult in content. Dutch edities of various British magazines like 1984 and so on. I can’t pin down the exact year, but I reckon it was some time between 1983 and 1985. I didn’t touch them nor peeked in them furtively – to shy to do so. But among them was one with a cover illustration that draw my attention and captivated my imagination. Despite my attempts to trace back the magazine, the title of the magazine has eluded me ever since nor did I manage to find the illustration despite hours of researching images in Google and visiting various online catalogues of science fiction, fantasy, weird and horror fiction magazines from the early twentieth century to the present day as well as home/fanpages of genre illustrators.
I have a fairly good recall of the scene depicted on the cover. Maybe it rings a bell to someone. A mountain range covered in snow. In the left field of the picture rises bleak and solemnly a rather old-style rocket ship – torpedo or sigar-shaped with landing struts and fins. There’s no sign of any activity around the ship nor sight of its occupants. In the bottom end of the right field, on a fair distance the spacecraft, a group of men have gathered. They might be contemplating to ambush the ship, but seem at the same time wary to approach it; so far they cast confused, irate and churlish glances to this anomaly in their environment. They were armed with primarily with primitive weapons, though it might also be that I missed out seeing them wear guns and rifles. Their vestiture was a mishmash of threadbare outerwear, some helmets, sheepskin jackets, and so on; in general, a partly barbarian-inspired apparel with some contemporary street clothing, which hints on a regressed society in some post-apocalyptic setting. It was for a me a very striking picture, the sharp contrast between advanced technology and the rabble, but never again did I come across, and sometimes I do wonder if it was merely a product of my imagination, a false memory…
I guess my description didn’t ring a bell… Well, the search will go on; it was such a striking illustration that I can’t let it go…