Well, what can I say? Another one. This time in Ace’s The Beyond #25. It appeared in March 1954, six months before Charlton’s “Quest of the Beyond” but seventeen months after World of Fear #7 “Journey to Chaos”. I think we can pretty much chalk up the tale of the guy with a sword rescuing his wife from death became a standard trope. That being said, and Orpheus aside, “The Long Journey Outward” is too close for comfort. Drawn by Jim McLaughlin, this version has no author credit either. (None of them did.) You know what is going to happen: car accident, sword and cloak, trip to hell, face off against Cerberus, Charon and Death, return and touch Satan. Repeat ad nauseum…
You know that guy…let’s make a deal, Michael Long…
The poor sap is always given a sword and cloak. These will come in handy.
Charon looks like a troll, not a skeleton. That sword is good and sharp.
Cerberus isn’t a dog this time but a head with tentacles. Weird.
The spirits of the dead come before their master.
This guy looks like Death, or a Halloween decoration.
And the same ending, of course. I’ve got to wonder how many more of these I will find….
I suppose no one thought to challenge these copiers. The tale of Orpheus is as old as antiquity, so it is well within the public domain. I don’t think comic publishers as a rule wanted to end up in court. The obvious exception is the National Comics Vs. Fawcett case of 1951. This was just one story, not an entire empire built around a character.
