American Heroic Fantasy Graphic Novels
The term “Graphic Novel’ was coined in November 1964 by Richard Kyle in the pages of the fanzine, Alpha-Cappa. It started to get more traction Read More
Category: Sword & Sorcery
Link: Careful What You Wish For…
I was recently ruminating with my cousin about how our kids, now all in their twenties, don’t want the legacies we have gathered. Legacies? Millions Read More
Just Add Monsters: Conan Rewrites
L. Sprague de Camp found himself in the position of editor and collaborator on the Conan series after 1951, when he read Conan the Conqueror. Read More
Sword & Sorcery Goes North
Sword & Sorcery comics, especially long-running ones like Conan the Barbarian, will eventually take their cast to the frozen North. When they do it is Read More
Link: Sword & Sorcery – What’s in a Name?
Sword & Sorcery has become a term of derision since the 1980s. There are good reasons for this but much of that derision is out Read More
Gardner F. Fox in the Fantastic Pulps
We live in a time when the creators of Science Fiction’s legacy go unacknowledged. For example, in the 2015 Ant-Man film Scott Lang goes “subatomic” Read More
Marvel Treasury: Conan
Of the twenty-eight issues of Marvel Treasury (1974-1981), super-size format reprints 10×14 inches, four of them featured Conan the Barbarian. The only other character who Read More
Artists of Sword & Sorcery: Berni Wrightson (1948-2017)
Berni was one of the early comic book artists who produced pre-Conan the Barbarian work and helped to develop an audience for Sword & Sorcery Read More
Link: Harlan Ellison & Sword & Sorcery
I am going to admit I’m not much of a Harlan Ellison fan. He’s much too literary for my tastes. I’ve never made any secret Read More
Sword & Sorcery Cliche #4: The Barbarian Who Hates Magic
In 1982, Gary Gygax of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fame gave us the character class “The Barbarian” in The Dragon #63 (July 1982). One of Read More