The Saga of Dragonus is a short but fascinating two-story entry into early Sword & Sorcery comics. These were done by Frank Brunner, an artist known for his own style of comics. Like all my favorites, he has an immediately recognizable way of drawing (or “mystique”) that is perfect for Sword & Sorcery.
The first segment is entitled “Sword of Dragonus” and appeared for the initial time in Sal Quartuccio‘s independent Phase #1 (1971). It was reprinted in Marvel’s Monsters Unleashed #2 (September 1973). The writing was done by Nick Cuti as Chuck Robinson. The artwork is clearly labeled copyright 1970. There is a good chance this piece was drawn before the October 1970 premiere of Conan the Barbarian #1.
Sword of Dragonus
The story has Balthus hire a barbarian, Dragonus, to go to the house of his rival to take the beautiful Zareen. In return, Dragonus can take any of the wizard Talvuras’s treasures. None of the warriors Balthus has sent before has returned.
Dragonus rides to the castle and is attacked by a guardian that looks like a flying skull. He is knocked unconscious. He wakes to find himself chained in the dungeon with three other men: a bald warrior named Thald, an unnamed old man who is a wizard and a fat, cruel warden who feeds their food to the rats.
Escape to Madness
The old man tells Dragonus that they are doomed to stay in the dungeon until they die. It is worse for him because he is immortal and will be locked up forever. Dragonus gets the old man to use the last of his powers to pull a sword from a pile of loot that sits just out of reach. The sword is Dragonus’s blade that was made from a single dragon’s tooth. Once in his hands, the barbarian cuts the unbreakable chains. Thald beats the warden and feeds him to the rats.
The trio escape the dungeon and head for Talvuras’s chambers. The wizard is waiting for them. He is not surprised and sends his mightiest guardian against them, the Soul Eater, a gigantic lizard monster. The creature bites down on the old man’s arm and begins draining his soul. Instead of waiting in a cell forever, the unnamed wizard will be devoured by the monster for all time. Dragonus kills the man to save him this fate.
Battle of the Demons
Dragonus takes his sword to the Soul Eater and kills it, freeing thousands of captive souls. Talvuras responds by summoning the Lord of the Flies himself, Beelzebub. Thald attacks the demon with his ax and gets crushed to death for his trouble. Dragonus uses the distraction to stab with his magic sword and dispel the demon. After cutting off Talvuras’s head, he claims his prize. He will take Zareen and by the time Balthus learns of this, they will be far away.
The artwork in “Sword of Dragonus” is fun for me because there is no Barry Smith or John Buscema Conan influence. The soft drawings remind me more of Berni Wrightson’s “The Skull of Silence” (Creatures on the Loose #10, March 1971) or the work of Tom Sutton. Of course, Frank has a style all his own. Some find it too cartoony but I love it.
The Wizard’s Venom
Between these two segments, Frank did some horror pieces for Warren Publications (1971-72) before going to Marvel to draw horror comics and then superheroes. Working for Stan Lee didn’t mean Frank gave up on independent comics. The second story in the Saga of Dragonus was “The Wizard’s Venom” in Mike Friedrich’s independent Star*Reach #3 (September 1975). This time Frank did both the writing and the drawing. He also painted the cover.
Fifteen years after the last story, Dragonus is still alive though missing an eye. He rides a unicorn named Max, the last of his kind. A conclave of wizards summon the barbarian for a special mission. They want him to go to the legendary city of Xando. Necrodamus, their spokesman, provides a history lesson in a vision. The king and queen of Xando were devastated when their infant son was taken. They blamed wizards for they knew magicians used babies in their magic. Many wizards were tortured and killed. The surviving necromancers promised revenge and sent plagues against the city.
Lost City of Death
The wizards offer Dragonus a fortune as well as the very beautiful Ursula if he can retrieve a vial of venom from the lost city. (Brunner includes some material here that would insure that Marvel wasn’t going to reprint this one!) The two spend the night before the barbarian decides to take the woman with him on quest to Xando.
Arriving at the ruined city they encounter an old man who chides them for fools. He is the lost son of the king and queen, now ruler over a dead kingdom. Dragonus has Ursula stay with his unicorn while he follows the old man to the vial. It is a trap and the old man tries to send the warrior to the tentacles in the pit. Unfortunately, the cunning old man gets caught instead and devoured. Dragonus kills the tentacles but loses his sword. Taking the vial, he returns to Ursula.
Deceit and Destruction
Back together, Ursula reveals that Dragonus has been a fool after all. Her beauty fades to reveal she is an old crone. The magicians were really after his unicorn, which they took. The necromancers appear, laughing at the barbarian. When he attacks them they tear out his heart. They will resurrect him as the general of their army of the undead. The story ends with a “The End?” No follow up was ever done, so I guess, yes, it is.
This time the artwork is maturer. I can see small influences from Tim Conrad and Barry Smith in some of the portrait shots and effects that remind me of Jim Starlin. The softer drawing has been replaced by bolder areas of black and white but the shading remains in the background. Mostly the art looks just like Frank’s adaptation of “The Scarlet Citadel” in Savage Sword of Conan #30 (June 1978) with Roy Thomas.
Conclusion
At Marvel Comics, Frank worked mostly on characters like Howard the Duck, Man-Thing and Doctor Strange. He left comics in 1979, feeling his romance with the medium had come to an end. He did draw Elric for Heavy Metal and Warp! for First Comics but remained as an artist in film and animation work. The saga of Dragonus ended on a bummer ending so typical of underground and independent comics. Many of the Sword & Sorcery elements found often in Warren’s Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella of the late 1960s and early 1970s show up here. Perhaps “Sword of Dragonus” had been created with those stories in mind since Conan had yet to take over the Sword & Sorcery field. No matter the origin, the tales of Dragonus remain as an example of what could be done with the Sword & sorcery genre.
