Forgotten Comics: Captain Fear

If you missed the last one…

In previous posts in the “Forgotten Comics” mode we looked at mostly fantastic themed comics: Sword & Sorcery, Space Opera and jungle adventure. This time we dial back the SF/F/H for a straight adventure comic. That word “Adventure” is important here. The greatest adventure Pulp of all time was simply called Adventure. Under the editorship of Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, it was the foci of authors from Talbot Mundy to Rafael Sabitini. It was an inspiration to writers like Robert E. Howard, who never made it into the pages of the Pulp but created Sword & Sorcery partly with its many fabulous tales.

Adventure Comics’ history is equally long. It began as New Comics in December 1935, became New Adventure Comics in January 1937, and with Issue #32 (November 1938) became simply Adventure Comics. From the very beginning, the title was an anthology comic that featured “funnies” along with serials of actual adventure novels like Haggard’s She (1887). After the coming of Superman, DC used the comic as a proving ground for more superheroes. Sandman, Hour Man, Starman. By Issue #103, April 1946, it was all about Superboy. Issue #381, Super Girl. The comic was part of the Superman franchise along with Action Comics, Superman and the various sidekick comics like Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane.

That changed with Issue #425, December 1972-January 1973. For the first time since 1939, the cover of Adventure Comics did not feature a superhero. It was Mike Kaluta’s version of a flying horse versus balloon rider from Lynn Marron and Alex Toth’s “Wings of Jealous Gods”.

Editor, Joe Orlando, discussed the changes in an editorial. He especially promotes “Captain Fear”. (It’s funny to see Alex Nino referred to as a newcomer to DC, but in 1973, I suppose he was.)

“Captain Fear” made only six appearances, so I suppose the reception was lukewarm. He never got headline status with covers or his own comic. It’s too bad. We have plenty of superhero comics but so very few good pirate comics. Robert Kanigher started the strip off but quickly handed it over to Steve Skeates. Alex Nino drew all six segments. This predates his work on the Korak series for Tarzan and “Space Voyagers”, another Forgotten Comics, by a few months.

The story of “Captain Fear” is one of ruthless action set in 1850. The French, Spanish and other European nations are claiming the islands of the Caribbean with greed and cruelty. We will follow Fero from his life as a fisherman to captain of a pirate ship. He will meet several beautiful women along the way but his head is not turned easily. His mission is to take the fight to the Europeans. The comic’s anti-Colonization message might seem more familiar today, and was something unusual in 1973.

Adventure Comics #425 December 1972-January 1973

Fero and his father are fishing when Spanish ships arrive and begin shooting. Fero’s village is enslaved. The fishermen revolt during a storm and Fero escapes. He is found by Chinese pirates who enslave him was well. Fero fights the captain of the junk for captaincy and wins! Fero has his first ship. It won’t be his last.

Adventure Comics #426 February-March 1973

Fero sneaks into the Temple of Thu and steals their sacrifice, a beautiful French woman, Denise. After a fight in the jungle, he takes her to the pirate junk. The cultists follow them to the ship and make one last attempt to retrieve her. Denise has a gun but doesn’t try to kill Fero. She claims to be the daughter of a rich plantation owner. Fero will ramsom her.

Adventure Comics #427 April-May 1973

Fero’s ship is attacked by a larger pirate vessel. It belongs to the French woman’s actual father. Fero’s crew fight but lose after being rammed and sunk. Only Fero is kept alive. Denise helps him to escape. While doing that, the pirate captain sees them and Fero fights him to the death. He is now captain of this larger vessel. This was Denise’s plan all along. Fero doesn’t like being manipulated and dives overboard. Denise declares her hatred for him.

Adventure Comics #429 September-October 1973

Fero swims to an island. Unfortunately, it is Denise’s base of operations. Her revenge is not to kill him but to sell him into slavery. Fero leads another galley slave revolt and the ship is lost in a storm. He escapes and finds himself back on his old island. All his people are dead or enslaved by Spaniards who have taken the land.

Adventure Comics #432 March-April 1974

Fero is sold as a slave to the rich and beautiful Senora Hernandez. Hovering around the Senora is Captain Gomez, the Envoy of the King of Spain. He is poor and wants to marry her for her money. Fero makes a poor slave. The Senora wants him to be her bodyguard but he refuses. Gomez steps in and the two have a sword duel. Fero beats him, is prepared to let him live but the Captain fights on and dies. Fero flees into the jungle, falling into a pit trap. Some blacks come to find him.

Adventure Comics #433 May-June 1974

To Fero’s surprise, the blacks pull him out and take him to others who have fled the plantation. Some of these are his old friends from the village. The new group, under Fero, attack the Spanish’s ship. Fero duels with the captain, who refuses to put down his sword. Fero kills him and the escaped slaves become the crew of a new pirate ship. Fero adopts the fancy clothes of the Spanish and declares himself “Captain Fear”.

And that was it. There was no Captain Fear comic to follow. And I’m not surprised. The average DC comic book buyer only knew superheroes. This sword fighting pirate stuff must have seemed pretty odd. Sword and Sorcery comics were getting big by 1974. I wonder where those fans were? Did it need some monsters in it? (That is always my solution.) Looking ahead, Mike Grell would do a similar comic in space with Starslayer in 1983. Butch Guice and Bill Mantlo did Swords of the Swashbucklers in 1985. But you really had to wait for Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) to see pirate fever come again.

Conclusion

Based on any number of famous pirates, “Captain Fear” is the essence of pirate yarns from the old days of Adventure Magazine. Today he might be seen in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ mascot Captain Fear. Sadly, when we often think of pirates we recall Captain Hook from Peter Pan (1904). Hook was a parody pirate, named after celebrated explorer Captain Cook. J. M. Barrie had no wish to portray Hook with any historical accuracy. The same can be said for his “Red Indians”. The entire thing was a Boxing Day pantomime. It was meant to be silly and over-the-top. Well done pirate fiction is quite enjoyable. Its effects can be seen in the Conan saga of Robert E. Howard. Part of Conan’s days were spent as a buccaneer captain, along with his gal, Belit, Queen of the Black Coast. I think what Kanigher and Nino were trying to do was recapture some of that excitement that readers of Adventure knew in their Pulp wood pages. I think they mostly succeeded.