New Talent Showcase: Heroic Fantasy Edition

DC Comics had a comic book with the expressed purpose of promoting new writers, artists and letterers called New Talent Showcase, later Talent Showcase. It ran for nineteen issues from January 1984 to October 1985. This was a bit of a risk as unknown artists have no draw like established professionals. But DC knew two things: 1) there were many young people interested in getting into comics. They would buy it. And 2) They needed new talent. Many of the older writers and artists were retiring, leaving for better contracts, exploring self-owned projects. In the past, comics like The House of Mystery and other anthology titles served this purpose of bringing in new people. But the anthology comics were ending.

The majority of the material produced by NTS was superhero comics. And pretty awful as a general rule. But hiding in and amongst the caped crusaders were several heroic fantasy pieces. I would not go so far as to call them Sword & Sorcery, since none of them featured a muscular dude with a sword. We get Arthurian stuff, a Dungeons & Dragons parody and something closer to Epic Fantasy. As you will see, no one was too interested in drawing the next Conan the Barbarian. (Well, maybe one.) DC had no leftover barbarians from the 1970s. In three years time, they would have the official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic but more about that later.

Issue #2 February 1984

“Danger Dungeon” written and drawn by Gary Kwapis (Gary Kwapisz’s name was misspelled but he went on to draw Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan.) The scenario is certanly one I remember from the last days of High School, stuck in a boring class while looking forward to future adventures of AD&D. Not that I ever had a teacher as old and crotchety as Ms. Galstone…

Tod Hunter falls into a dream and lands on one of a party of creeps and schleps in a dark wizard’s dungeon. They cajole him and finally manipulate him using sex (the witch becomes a wench), to attack a huge troll who has a treasure. Tod is forced to use a grenade hidden behind a portrait of Ronald Reagan. Monster killed he tries to kiss the wench and gets Ms. Galstone instead. He is off to the office. A fun romp in a general sense but not much specific AD&D humor. For that, go to The Dragon Magazine. It was better than the Archie Comics version.

Issue #3 March 1984

“By Ancient Agreement” was written by Beppe Sabatini with art by Dan Day and Rick Bryant Dan Day is the younger brother of Gene Day. His art work shows an obvious influence. Dan would go on to draw the Sherlock Holmes comics for Renegade Press. Rick Bryant went on to be a prominent inker at DC, working on Superman. Beppe Sabatini went onto work at DC and Marvel.

This story is a nice little knot that will untangle itself by the end. The King and Queen of the city are good people but they do not wish to keep the treaty they have agreed to. Vulmic is to be king and he comes to take his throne. He has magic and a fleet of warriors. The soldiers attack the city riding on a giant lizards, while a spidery demon is sent to kill the king. The king is victorious over the monster while the enemy climbs the walls. But suddenly the giant lizardsteeds shrink back to mere lizards. A son has been born and the treaty has been canceled. Vulmic can not rule if there is an heir.

A good story for this length of comic with a wide variety of frame shapes and visual splendor. This one should have sparked some excitement in Sword & Sorcery circles. (I never heard of it.)

Issues #5-7 May-July 1984

“Return of the Dragonknights, Part 1-3” was written by Peter Scianna with art by Louis Scarborough Jr. and Reuben Pharms.

Lord Thrash and his barbarian horde are taking over villages in an attempt to prepare the way for their evil master, Braug, who is trapped in another realm (shades of Cthulhu!). Meanwhile in a castle, the wizard Abergast calls the twins together, the magic-using, Danyah and her sword-swinging bro, Garnath. The wizard gives them a history lesson and explains about the First Cycle and who their parents were. The Lord Prince Jerrod who saved the world from Braug.  There is an icon that can free the dragonknights but it was hidden by a wizard named Kwenlus. The bad guys are already killing dragons in search of the device.

The twins save a dragon named Bartholomew. He is the son of Kraken, the dragon who hid the icon. Bart knows about a cave where the icon rests. It is guarded by giants. Meanwhile Lord Thrash gets a reward from his master. Braug steals his body so he can walk on earth. He visits Abergast at his castle and reveals he is Kwenlus. The twins go to the cave, face the giants. Where Garnath’s sword fails, Danyah’s magic doesn’t. They go inside and free the dragonknights. Lord Jerrod approaches them but refuses to aid the earth.

Danyah asks her father why he does not want to fight for earth. Lord Jerrod is angry at being shut away behind a portal for centuries. He is convinced to fight when his children show him what great lengths they went to free him. He learns that Braug is loose in the world. He makes Garnath a knight, abandoning his sister and Bartholomew. A terrible battle is fought between dragonknights and Braug’s army. Lord Jerrod defeats Braug but is dearly wounded. He ends up in a Christian church and is healed. Finding Abergast and the children, Jerrod decides he can not stay for the world has changed too much. Abergast agrees and they pop off to some other realm, leaving the twins and Bartholomew to have further adventures.

We have seen all this before but it is no better or worse than say Marvel’s Warriors of the Shadow Realm, if not as well drawn. The Christian element surprised me. I prefer Poul Anderson’s take on the Christian versus Elfland dynamic in The Broken Sword and The Merman’s Children.

Issue #11 November 1984

“The Night Mare” was written by Mindy Newell with art by Tom Grindberg. (Tom Grindberg went on to draw for DC and Marvel but my favorites include 2000 AD covers and Tarzan at Dark Horse. He is without doubt my favorite artist of the last few decades.  Mindy went onto become an editor at DC as well as a writer on Amethyst.)

Thika is a cripple who is despised by the other Warriors of the Wind. His father is chief but will not always be. The new chief will send Thika off to die. Thika’s father sends him to the far meadow. (He travels by dog sled.) There he finds a coal-black horse that allows him to become the warrior he is. He rescues a princess and returns her to his father. This deed done, Thika wants to join his tribe as a warrior. There is opposition. The tribe is attacked and Rood, one of Thika’s worst tormentors gets a spear in the back and is now a cripple too. Thika tells him that his sickness is not in his legs but his mind. The black horse has disappeared and left no hoofprints. Not quite Sword & Sorcery, but close.

Tom Grindberg did three pieces in NTS. The other two look like Neal Adams art. This should not surprise anyone, since Grindberg worked with Adams for a time before these appearances. This one is different though. Here he is channeling John Buscema. Grindberg’s art looks like John Buscema inked by some lesser talent.

Issue #16 April 1985

“The Potion of Kathpuur” was written and drawn by Eric Shanower (Eric Shanower went onto producing Age of Bronze, a retelling of The Iliad. He won the Eisner Award for that comic.)

The priest of Kathpuur, Anpa’aset, has a dream that leads him to a vial of sacred water. With this liquid, he can take control of the minds of the king and queen, who he will marry the next day. His treason is discovered by Senna, a serving girl. On the morrow, we meet the bride and groom, King Nebuthenka and high-priestess Damekhet. Damekhet hates her groom, calling him a pig in her mind. She would rather marry his brother. The two kneel to drink from the sacred cups. Senna interrupts but not before Nebuthenka drinks. He turns into half of a terrible monster, Kathpuur itself. Anpa’aset panics and drinks the other cup, becoming the other half. The two join but since they are not male and female, the monster disappears. Damkhet is free to marry the younger brother.

Conclusion

Some other talents that went on from this experiment include Tom Mandrake, Scott Hampton, Rick Magyar and Geoff Isherwood. The comic ran for as long as DC could afford to take a loss on it. As many of those who participated went onto careers in comics, I think we can say it was a win. What it also did was establish a certain look for DC Fantasy comics. What I would call the thin DC look, typified by Ron Randall and Jan Duursema. The later issues of Arak, Son of Thunder, Arion, Lord of Atlantis and that aforementioned AD&D comic all had it. What I mean by that was figures and backgrounds were drawn with a line-oriented feel. There was no lushness or ornateness, like what Dan Day displayed here. Whether you like it or not (obviously, I don’t) is a matter of taste. I grew up on John Buscema inked by Alfred Alcala, Mike Ploog and Alex Nino and Joe Kubert, who had a line-oriented style but a wonderful feel he developed over the decades. The “thin look” seemed like a step down to me.

NB. Coming in August, the third volume in the Swords of Fire series with fiction by G. W. Thomas, Jack Mackenzie and others.