Clark Ashton Smith Comic Adaptations

The Clark Ashton Smith comic adaptations are peppered through out the decades, with the first of them being unofficial swipes first by EC Comics then Quality Comics. His work appears in strange corners until the 1990s when Marvel Comics pilfered a few tales to convert into Conan adventures. (Having run out of Robert E. Howard fragments to use.) Perhaps the best adaptations are those of Richard Corben, an artist unafraid to offer us the goriest of CAS’s story events. Corben uses Smith’s Horror and Science Fiction works. These are the only bread crumbs we will get until someone either adapts all of his work or creates a comic that can cannibalize the material in a way that the Conan stories did for Robert E. Howard.

Unattributed Adaptations

“Terror on the Moors” (Vault of Horror #17, February-March 1951) was inspired by the story “The Nameless Offspring” (Strange Tales, June 1932) and was adapted by Johnny Craig. A man spends a night in a house cursed by a terrible secret, a son born of eldritch evil. This tale is a Cthulhu Mythos story, the original starting with a quote from Abdul Alhazred. The comic’s title sounds like it is going to be a werewolf story (which the cover showed for another comic.)

“The Corpse That Wouldn’t Die” (Web of Evil #2, January 1953) was based on “The Return of the Sorcerer” (Strange Tales, September 1931) and was adapted by Jack Cole. This story is part of the severed hand theme that was made famous by “The Beast With Five Fingers” back in 1928. Smith goes one better, an entire body of pieces that seek revenge on Carnby who cut the sorcerer up and hid the pieces. The story was filmed as an episode of The Night Gallery on September 24, 1972. Vincent Price played Carnby. Richard Corben would do a proper adaptation in 1993 (below.)

Attributed Adaptations

“The Spawn of Cthulhu” (Skull Comics #4, May 1972) has a CAS quote at the top. This one pager may seem irrelevant but it does show the underground comics scene was into Smith and Lovecraft. Skull Comics would do several Lovecraft adaptations in its later issues.

“The Ninth Skeleton” (Third Rail Magazine #1, June 1981) was adapted by Tom Yeates. There was another version in Asylum #1 (1989) attributed to Yeates and Jon B. Bright but I suspect it is a reprint of the 1981 story. The original story appeared in Weird Tales, September 1928. It was Smith’s first fiction appearance in “The Unique Magazine”. A man crosses into another dimension where people look like skeletons, even him.

“The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan” (Conan the Adventurer #8, January 1995) was adapted by Roy Thomas. The original story appeared in Weird Tales, June 1932. This story is part of Smith’s Hyperborea series, one that lends itself to Sword & Sorcery adaptation. Smith never wrote heroic fantasy in the bold style of Robert E. Howard but some of his stories come close. It wouldn’t have been too difficult for Roy Thomas to do this. In fact, I am surprised he didn’t do more of them, say, “The Testament of Athammaus” (Weird Tales, October 1932) or “The Coming of the White Worm” (Stirring Science Stories, April 1941).

“The Abonimations of Yondo” (Conan the Adventurer #12, May 1995) was adapted by Roy Thomas. The original appeared in Overland Monthly, April 1926. This story is more of a surprise since it is really a prose poem with a man wandering in a cursed land. The monsters are cool and this is what must have attracted Thomas to adapt it.

“The Seed From the Sepulcher” (Heavy Metal v22 #3, July 1999) was adapted and drawn by Richard Corben. If this reminds you of The Ruins by Scott Smith or the 2008 film, well, CAS went there seventy years earlier. In a short story Smith hits all the same marks that Scott Smith does in a novel. The original appeared in Weird Tales, October 1933. This story is a classic in the Terror Garden tradition.

“The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis” (DenSaga #2, 1993) was adapted and drawn by Richard Corben. This oddly-titled story is considered by many to be Smith’s most horrific tale. Humans on Mars go with the local Martians to open a tomb better left alone. Some critics have seen a parallel between this story and the film franchise of Alien.The original appeared in Weird Tales, May 1932.

“The Return of the Sorcerer” (DenSaga #3, 1993) was adapted and drawn by Richard Corben. Corben gets to be far more graphic about it than Jack Cole did in 1953.

“The Necromancers of Na’at” (Conan the Savage #10, May 1996) was based on “Necromancy in Na’at”. It was adapted by Roy Thomas with art by John Buscema and Stephanie Buscema. The original appeared in Weird Tales, June 1936. This story is not part of the Hyperborea cycle but that of Zothique. Zothique is the earth in its last days as the sun turns red and magic has replaced science. Despite all that, it is fairly easy for Roy Thomas to make the setting the Hyborian Age.

Clark Ashton Smith’s Hyperborea (2004) contains “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” adapted by Jason Thompson. The original appeared in Weird Tales, November 1931. As the comic’s title tells us this one is set back in the Hyperborean ice age. In fact, this story is the most popular of the Commorian tales. It is also part of the Cthulhu Mythos, introducing the liquidy Spawn of Tsathoggua. The story was used in one of my favorite Call of Cthulhu rpg scenarios by Keith Herber. When you go into the temple you find written on the wall: “Satampra Zeiros was here.”

Legacy

Clark Ashton Smith was one of the Big Three from Weird Tales. It should be no surprise that his person has appeared in comics even if his stories haven’t been adapted as often as Howard and Lovecraft’s. CAS appears in the comics Dylan Dog and Providence. As a member of the Big Three, his participation in the Cthulhu Mythos guarantees he will appear once in a while. I only hope we will see more faithful comics from his work, his Fantasy in particular, though his Horror stories may find a home easier.