John Buscema’s Bront was another back-up story from The Savage Sword of Conan. Like Chane of the Golden Hair, it allowed one of Marvel’s major artists a chance to try plotting and writing. Also like that Gil Kane comic it was a one-off that did not lead to a comic of its own. “Bront” appeared in five segments in Savage Sword of Conan #65 (June 1981)-66, 79-81 (October 1982). The long gap in between sections, no doubt, did little to endear the strip.
What makes “Bront” interesting is the amount of control Buscema had. He plotted, penciled and inked the comic. Only J. Marc DeMatteis (and later Bruce Jones) provided scripting and lettering was done various souls. This was John’s baby and he gave it his all. As an example of pure Buscema artwork there is no better. We don’t have the strong inks of Alfred Alcala or Nester Redondo here to change John’s work.
Part One: Death of the Mind – Rebirth of the Soul!
Citizen 09346-NW2 (also known as Emmanuel Cody) is a problem for a society based on order. His emotions and savage strength get him mind-wiped then banished to a distant planet. He is sent there in a capsule that opens upon arrival. Even as he is awakened someone is getting attacked by a lion-like beast.
Part Two
Unaware of who he is or where he is, Bront rescues the young woman being attacked by the lion. He wrestles the beast to the ground and breaks its neck. The woman is afraid of Bront, her words suggesting she is afraid of all men. For his pains, Bront is captured by a band of women warriors.
They want to kill him but the woman he saved intervenes. An older woman wants Bront and the two fight. The younger woman wins, claiming Bront. He doesn’t like being used as a prize and begins to fight back. He is knocked unconscious and tied up. The Amazons head to their city. It is the Amazons who name him Bront.
Part Three: In the Halls of Shilme
On the way to the Amazon city, the party is attacked by a single male, an armored man with hollow eyes. Bront falls into the water when the dark knight destroys the bridge they are crossing. Bront is plucked out of the water and placed in a canoe. (The woman he saved calls out to him like a lost lover. Future love interest?) The warrior takes him to a creepy castle. There he meets an old man, a wizard named Shlime. The sorcerer sends a warrior against Bront and the man defends himself, winning the attacker’s axe. It is now that he sees all of the old man, his legs are a block of granite. (Shlime’s name is fun, sounding like Slime but also a little like Sime or Sidney Sime, the weird Lord Dunsany artist.)
Part Four: The Pact
Shlime gives his back story in this segment. A while ago, the wizard had had the poor judgement to kidnap King Balok’s beautiful eighteen year old daughter. In revenge, the king cursed Shlime’s legs. The odd wizard complains he wasn’t given marble legs but plain old granite. To reverse the curse, the wizard needs an enchanted apple from a certain tree. Bront, as his champion, will retrieve the fruit.
Bront takes the axe and goes. Shlime is in constant contact with him as he walks along. (This is probably the most fun thing in the entire comic, as the swabbling between them liven things up.) Bront finds a man hanging in the forest. He cuts him down despite Shlime’s objections. The man isn’t dead but a monster that attacks him. Only when the axe is firmly in his skull does he stop. Bront goes on but is observed by a band of dwarves…
Part Five: Come Into My Parlor…
The dwarves attack. They overwhelm Bront and take him to their leader, the beautiful Katrin. Of course, she wants Bront to: “Ravage me! Crush me in your arms! Make my blood boil with passion!” which he tries to do but Shlime keeps interfering. In the end, Katrin gets mad and Bront leaves.
He gets past the dwarves, taking one of their spears. He must face a dragon-like lizard monster. He kills the beast then cuts off its hide. The skin makes a fireproof cloak that allows him to descend to the magic garden and his prize, the enchanted apple. He returns to Shlime, who tells him he was a bank teller from Altair Seven, but Bront eats the apple in front of him. He walks away, ready for new adventures. The last caption says: “The end? No, Bront. Just the beginning. To be continued?”
That final appeal to readers must have fallen on deaf ears because Bront did not return. With so much competition for the back pages from all the Robert E. Howard characters (Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane and Red Sonja), there really was little room for new ones.
Conclusion
In 1977, John got the chance to draw Marvel’s Tarzan for eighteen issues. That character, as well as Conan that John made famous, certainly lend themselves to the look of “Bront”. Tall, dark-haired, dower of expression, Bront isn’t all that different though he has lost his memory. He has amazing fighting skills and cunning so he is perfect to survive on a hostile planet. Like settings from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Andre Norton, Bront’s new home is a planet of adventure, ready for more tales. Was it Sword & Sorcery? Perhaps closer to Sword & Planet, the feel is often S&S though the backdrop uses Science Fiction to support it. Occasional references to telephones and such remind us that this is not really a fantasy world.
Where Gil went onto other writing/drawing projects, John Buscema continued with penciling Conan in SSOC until 1984 and Conan the Barbarian until 1987. I don’t know if John ever tried his hand at writing again. The episodic nature of “Bront” suggests he had much to learn about arranging a tale. Though an action-packed romp, it failed to do much beyond set up another fight scene every time. Still, for a first try it is an admirable effort. John’s work will always inspire new artists and Sword & Sorcery fans.
