If you missed the last one...
Here are some odd Bronze Age Sword & Sorcery comics you might have missed. All the big companies (Marvel, DC, Gold Key Charlton) tried out tales of heroic fantasy, usually in their horror comics, as an experiment in the early 1970s (some in the 1960s). By 1980s, after Conan the Barbarian and other S&S comics had a firm grip on the market, these S&S tales were just part-and-parcel of writing a strange tale. Of the experiments, two here are masters, Wally Wood, who had been at it since the 1960s, and Berni Wrightson, who got pulled into mainstream Horror and away from S&S. Of the others, we see both brand new artists like Howard Bender and Larry Mahlstedt, as well as old pros like John Celardo and Win Mortimer.
Later we saw the rise of the independent comic for better or worse. The explosion of comic shops selling product outside the usual grocery or convention stores was a game-changer in the 1980s. Cerebus the Aardvark, Elfquest, The First Kingdom were all successes that sprang from this new place to buy comics. It was now possible to produce a comic that sold less than 100,000 copies without being cancelled. (The big guys put down any title that couldn’t stay above that mark.) A comic creator could write, drawn, print a comic and sell it to comic shops. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began this way, then became a cultural icon. What artist wouldn’t want to try and get some of that success?
The results were variable. Some comics exploded and were picked up by the big publishers. Others were not up to the standards of Marvel and DC, and often disappeared after an issue or two. Some of the other pieces included here appeared in the comics of the big publishers but hid inside Horror comics where you might have missed them…
“The Ghost-Beast!” (Tower of Shadows #6, July 1970) was written and drawn by Wally Wood. Wood borrows a figure from literature, Beowulf. The savage raider and his men have their eye of Vanara, a prosperous kingdom. After Beowulf saves a woman to be sacrificed to a monster, a creature whose stare will drive you mad, he takes over Vanara. He makes the Princess Ulana his serving maid, kills her father. Beowulf sees the king wears a magic ring and wants it. The Princess takes it and drives into the moat, presumably to her death. Later his men see the beast has returned and are being driven mad. The Vanarans tie Beowulf to a tree for sacrifice. Ulana comes to Beowulf with the ring. He fights the beast and wins. Only after does Ulana explain he is dead like the beast, the ring coated in poison.
“Of Swords and Sorcery” (Tower of Shadows #7, September 1970) was written and drawn by Wally Wood. Vandal the Barbarian and his two companions, Pit Tippit, an elf, and Trolkin, a dwarf who has been cursed by a wizard to look like a lizard, fight off the beast-men. They discover a forest filled with statues. A girl living in a tree saves them from Arak, a flying wizard. His gaze has turned men into stone statues. The girl proves to be Princess Lizzal. Vandal and the others plan to sneak into Arak’s castle and catch him by surprise. He is watching them the whole time with a crystal ball. Leaving the tree house, Vandal is attacked by a monster made of melding dozens of bodies. Trolkin is taken by a pterodactyl and the princess and Pit run from a giant spider monster. Arak turns everybody into statues except Trolkin. When he tries to turn the dwarf, the magic is reflected because he is already under an enchantment. The dwarf saves everyone.
“The Task” (Badtime Stories, 1972, Colorized version, 1984) was written and drawn by Berni Wrightson. We get a first person account of a warrior who has been cursed with a magic axe that is chained to his wrist. He is doomed to go about the world killing evil creatures. We follow his battle with a demon-like thing that is kidnapping a girl. They fight and the axe gets stuck in a log. The warrior uses the chain to strangle the monster. Now, like so many S&S stories, he can have the girl for himself. Unfortunately he sees the evil in her eyes and must finish his task…
“Warrior’s Burden” (Zombie #3, January 1974) was written by Tony Isabella. A samurai is called back from the dead to fight a dragon. Alcazar’s artwork is a fine example of the Spanish school that was big in the early 1970s.
“Two Illos” (Promethean Enterprises #5, 1974) was drawn by Frank Brunner. This one is a trifle but I always liked Brunner’s S&S so what the heck…
“The Gnark is Coming!” (The Amazing World of DC Comics #13, October 1976) was written by Steve Skeates and was originally intended for Plop! It was done in a similar vein as “The King of the Ring”. Barnyard Bruce is at the tavern to stop the Gnark’s coming. Things don’t go as planned. Around this time Ditko and Wood drew Stalker for DC.
“The Shadow in the Starstone” (Fantasy Book, 1976) was written by Steven G. Mitchell using character from Robert W. Chambers. Follow Hastur on his quest for Aresura, the black mountain where a stranger waits for aid…
“A Vision of the Black Stars” (Fantasy Book, 1976) was written by Steven G. Mitchell using character from Robert W. Chambers. More Carcosian weirdness.
“Bones of the Ancients” (Haunted #32, October 1977) was written by Wayne Howard. This story is set during the time of the Cliff-Dwellers, not one you usually associate with Sword & Sorcery but the story is certainly a dragon-slaying tale. Ti-Kan-Yut goes on a vision quest for rain and finds the great snake god. After he kills the dragon, the weather changes.
“Invincible” (Haunted #35, April 1978) was probably written by Joe Gill. The wizard Morka has created a suit of armor that makes him invincible. Using this, he kills Sir Langwood. Returning home to his castle, where goblins and demons are his servants, he finds his cousin, Grimwald, has arrived. Using his crystal ball, he sees Grimwald and his wife, Nynde, plotting his death. Nynde has put poison in Morka’s wine. If he can just make it to his armor he can survive the poison. A figure in armor appears and Grimwald is forced to fight him. Knocking off his helmet, the plotters see that the armor is empty. Morka has died from the poisoned wine after all.
“O’ Murderous Crown” (Ghosts #107, December 1981) was written by Robert Kanigher. In Wales, King Llewelyn has three wastrel sons, Howell, Griffith and Dylan. Griffith is the first to take the crown after their father dies. Howell kills him with a spear and takes the crown. Dylan lures him to the cellars and drowns him in a cask of wine. Dylan is the last king but he dies in the forest when he falls into quicksand. A peasant boy finds the crown and the curse goes on….
“The Darker Shade of Death” (Ghosts #109, February 1982) was written by Gary Cohn and Dan Miskin. Malakhim the Deathbringer was created by the dark god, Dorn the Destroyer, to kill all things in their time. Athon Jorlain goes on a quest to destroy death. Each house he goes to receives him with suspicion for death follows him. Jorlain and Malakhim duel at last and the warrior slays death. Thinking he has freed the world of death, Jorlain finds he has simply unleashed many kinds of death on the world.
“The Burton Method” (Ghosts #111, April 1982) was written by Gary Cohn and Dan Miskin. We had to have at least one story that embraced Sword & Sorcery video games. The Virtual Reality game that Burton creates allow the player to attack his own mental demons in the form of a heroic fantasy game. But like all VR stories in the 1980s, what happens when the character representing the “Death Wish” breaks through the barrier between fantasy and reality? For Burton, it means a sword in the belly.
“Sword of Mankind” (Comico Primer #1, October 1982) was written by Phil Lasorda. Az helps Danen take the Sword of Mankind on a quest to rescue Danen’s sister, Lena. They battle monsters and defeat evil but Az ends up alone. Az looks a little like the Michelin Man.
“The Atlantis Scrolls” (Heroic Fantasy #1, February 1984) was written by Chris Pepo. Lord Altair, the Sky Charioteer, meets flying enemies before going on a quest to destroy the evil scientist who has plagued the land. He faces off against dinosaurs, animal mutant warriors and finally the wizard himself, Balphagor. Things end with a nuke so the Atlanteans had super science.
“Yalan’s Revenge” (Heroic Fantasy #1, February 1984) was written by Marcus Boas. Valon, son of Bullgannon, goes on a quest to find Vendicon the Vicious. He gets sacrificed to a giant snake but kills it. To be continued…. The art for this one looks like it was done from movie stills from a Steve Reeves Hercules picture.
“Immortal City” (Heroic Fantasy #2, February 1985) was written by Marcus Boas. One page of this comic was used as a cover for Heavy Metal, November 1978. This was not the continuation of the last story but a new one about Randas, who visits Troy. He fights the beast-men then meets Helen. She takes him to her new city, a fantastic space castle.
“In the Dark” (Shadowlord #1, Winter 1986) was written by Brian Thompson. This one is a portal fantasy, beginning in our world then moving to the heroic fantasy setting of Kendra. The Shadowlord faces off against demons and the March Queen. This one was followed by Triune, a sequel that is more of a space opera comic.
“…Of Gods and Bondage” (The Cosmic Book, 1986) was written by Pat Boyette. This twisted tale begins with the last of the king’s subjects wanting for everything. The kingdom has fallen because the monarch killed a wizard in the mystic mountains. The land is cursed. The king’s last friend deserts him but returns. Well, at least his head does. Reminded me a little of “The Return of the Sorcerer” by Clark Ashton Smith.
“The Woman’s Scream…” (Corban the Bearbarian#1, April 1987) was written by Phil Greene. Corban is in the mountains looking for the Frost Stone. He comes across Ailea, who wants him to defeat the giant snow spider. She turns out to be deceiving him but he still has to fight that spider.
“Welcome to Narok!” (Thorr-sverd, The Sword of Thor #3, 1987) was written by Jeff and John Vincent. This is the third and last of the run. The comic follows a group of warriors in a fantastical version of Scandanavia. They ride around in capsules carried by giant eagles. According to the inner back cover, “the action picks up” in the fourth unpublished issue. Too bad. It could have used some earlier.
Conclusion
Now a stickler could say that these last two are technically not Bronze Age comics because they appeared in 1987. If they reflected the coming years of the 1990s I would agree, but they are really Bronze Age hold-overs. They embody the trend we saw in the 1980s of the independent product sold exclusively in comic shops. Their quality may not have been that high but they were labors of love by artists who wanted to produce their own Sword & Sorcery comics. The 1990s would see most of this activity fall away, as even the big publishers found it hard to produce S&S. The flame that began in the 1960s that saw the rise of Conan the Barbarian was on the wane by the 1990s. Soon only the big winners, Conan, Xena, Elfquest and Elric would be left to fight over the crumbs…
