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.
“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…
“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.
“Duel to the Death” (Grimm’s Ghost Stories #57, December 1981) was written by Paul S. Newman. The Red Knight and the Green Knight have been fighting each other for a long time. It is the serfs of these two factions who suffer hunger for it. The serfs of both sides demand that the two knight duel and end the long struggle. The knights agree, jousting then fighting each other hand-to-hand. Both die but their ghosts go on fighting for eternity.
“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.
“Valhalla” (Grimm’s Ghost Stories #60, June 1982) was written by Roger McKenzie. A warrior wakes to find a woman fleeing wolf-headed warriors. He fights but dies at their deceitful hands. He wakes in what he thinks is Valhalla. A beautiful woman waits for him there. When he sees her reflection in a mirror he knows she is death. Her head becomes a skull. She wants to embrace him. Instead he crushes her skull in his hands. Warriors arrive. It is time to ride out and fight. If they are slain, it doesn’t matter, for in Valahalla they will be resurrected the next day to fight again. As the warriors die around him, he learns he is not in Valhalla but in Hell.
Conclusion
Well, there were some odd Bronze Age Sword & Sorcery comics you may or may not have read. Some stories were more obviously meant for the heroic fantasy reader than others. Horror comics were so often the place to find S&S comics because they are part Horror as well as Fantasy. Warren Publications and Archie Goodwin certainly knew that and did many of the first ones in black & white. If you’d like more from DC read here and here.
Next time…we go independent!
