Sword & Sorcery Comic Strips

If you would have asked me what was the oldest Sword & Sorcery comic strip I would have said The Sword of Shannara. And I would have been wrong. So let’s look at comic strips for a change. Not comic books, not graphic novels, but those wonderful little three panel bits you find in newspapers.

Newspapers have included comic strips since the 19th Century, with The Yellow Kid being credited as the first. (It’s where we get the expression “Yellow Journalism” from as well.) The real hey-dey of the strips is the 1930s when both funny stories along with serialized adventure story became the draw. The first strip of note here is Tarzan, drawn by Hal Foster beginning January 7, 1929. Since Foster, artists like Rex Maxon, Burne Hogarth, John Celardo, Russ Manning, Gray Morrow, Gil Kane and Tom Yeates have drawn the jungle lord. Tarzan is often seen as a progenitor of Conan, who will get his turn, eventually.

Sword & Planet rather than Sword & Sorcery also offered us Flash Gordon. Alex Raymond began the strip in January 7,1934. He was a copy of the popular Buck Rogers who started on the same day as Tarzan, January 7, 1929. It was Flash rather than Buck who offered sword fights with winged men and planet hopping action. The artwork of Alex Raymond outshone the simpler stuff of Dick Calkins.

Another “not quite” Sword & Sorcery character of importance was Prince Valiant, again done by Hal Foster. He appeared in his first color Sunday on February 13, 1937. His adventures were largely historical but there was plenty of swordplay, the occasional dinosaur or witch. Valiant was a huge influence on all the heroic fantasy comics to follow. Later artists include John Cullen Murphy, Mairead Murphy, Gray Morrow, Wally Wood, Gary Gianni, Mark Schultz and Tom Yeates.

The Sword of Shannara, what I thought was the first S&S strip, was found in newspapers after the book appeared in 1977. I won’t go on about how it was a very close imitation of The Lord of the Rings. It was meant to appease rabid Tolkien fans who craved more. I believe Brooks adapted it himself. The comic strip was drawn by Gray Morrow. It ran in 1978.

Well, let’s talk about Conan. Back 1978, while Shea and Flick Omsford were dodging Skullbearers, Conan also rode the comic strip trail. Written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema and Ernie Chan, the comic looked a lot like his comic books. These had been around since 1970. Red Sonja, who was created by Thomas, also appeared in the strip. It ran from September 4, 1978 to April 12, 1981.

Another strip of note is the European comic strip, Axa. Beginning in the British Tabloid, The Sun in 1978, it ran to a sudden stop in 1986. The comic was written and drawn by Romero with scripting by Donne Avenell. Unlike American funnies, Axa doesn’t wear a lotta clothes. She exists in a post apocalyptic Earth where her adventures ranged from Science Fiction to Sword & Sorcery.

So if it wasn’t Shannara, Axa or Conan, then who?

The answer, and it should be no surprise that Ray Harryhausen was involved, is Sinbad. A Seventh Voyage of Sinbad adaptation in comic strip form (not to be confused with the comic book versions) appeared in 1958. They appeared in the Hearst papers in five strips. The writer is not known. Artwork by Bob Lubbers.

Thanks to Buddy Lortie for pointing these out.

Conclusion

Sword & Sorcery comic ctrips seem to me to be the perfect choice for a comic strip adventure strip. Surprisingly, not many have tried. By the time Shannara and Conan broke in, 1978, the adventure comic strip was a dinosaur. Not one Conan killed by collapsing a stone column, but a form of entertainment that had seen better days. Despite the loss of statue for comic strips in recent years, the few Sword & Sorcery strips we have are worthy of attention.