The Sword & Sorcery of Gardner F. Fox begins in the 1950s with the creation of the first true S&S comic book hero, Crom the Barbarian. But Fox also wrote several fiction series later in his career that were part of the 1960s explosion, the 1970s paperback era and even into the 1980s AD&D period when heroic fantasy became a sub-genre for gamers. Fox was there throughout the decades and probably doesn’t get as much recognition as he should.
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (1911-1986) began his career as a lawyer but the Great Depression ended that line of work. As a kid he had read the Mars novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs and loved Science Fiction adventure. This lead to him writing for the Pulps, where he contributed to most genres of magazines, including Sword & Planet for Planet Stories and Cthulhu Mythos Horror for Weird Tales. For more on his Pulp career, go here.
But Fox did not write strictly for the magazines. He was a professional and he looked to any market for his skills. This brought him to DC comics in 1937 for a comic about a lawyer (something he knew well) called Speed Saunders in Detective Comics #4 (June 1937). In 1940 Fox focused on text stories to fill the back pages. The first of these was “War in Space” in Flash Comics #1, January 1940. Fox would go onto write three thousand comic stories and strips over his career in comics. He would invent Batman’s utility belt, create Hawkman (giving him archaic weapons because of his love of heroic fantasy) and many more DC comics including Science Fiction and Fantasy for Strange Adventures.
DC wasn’t his only market though. For Avon he wrote the four stories of “Crom the Barbarian” in 1950. Inspired by Robert E. Howard’s Conan, the comic is a blueprint for Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian twenty years later. For a whole post on Crom, go here. Sword & Sorcery as a comic genre would have to wait, though Joe Kubert and Wally Wood certainly took note of Fox’s earlier work.
Gardner’s love of Burroughs’ Barsoom found expression in two paperbacks for Donald A. Wollheim: Warrior of Llarn (1964) and Thief of Llarn (1966). These books aren’t Sword & Sorcery but Sword & Planet, that cosmic cousin. The first novel got a partial comics adaptation in 1972.
Fox left DC in 1968 in a disagreement over health benefits (DC didn’t want to pay for any). Fox could afford to leave because he had other sources of income. As a paperback writer he wrote prolifically under many pseudonyms including Bart Somers, James Kendricks, Jefferson Cooper, Jeffery Gardner, Kevin Matthews, Louise Mackendrick, Lynna Cooper, Margaret Maitland, Troy Conway, Cherry Delight, Rob Gray, Simon Majors and several others. These books ranged from historical romance to slutty spy books to Western novels. For Sword & Sorcery, he only used his real name.
Two series of S&S books appeared in the 1970s. Kothar the Barbarian was modeled (perhaps a little too closely) on Robert E. Howard’s Conan. The series includes five books: Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman (1969), Kothar of the Magic Sword! (1969), Kothar and the Demon Queen (1969), Kothar and the Conjurer’s Curse (1970) and Kothar and the Wizard Slayer (1970). Kothar and the Conjurer’s Curse was adapted as a Conan story by Marvel. The first book is made up of three stories. The one called “The Sword of the Sorcerer” inspired Gary Gygax to create the Lich for Dungeons & Dragons.
He wrote a very different S&S tale for Ted White’s Fantastic called “The Holding of Kolymar” (1972). For critics who think Fox couldn’t write something outside the Conan mold, check out this story. For more, go here.
Kyrik, Warlock Warrior was a descendant of the other top S&S character: Michael Moorcock’s Elric. There were four books: Kyrik: Warlock Warrior (1975), Kyrik Fights the Demon World (1975), Kyrik and the Wizard’s Sword (1976) and Kyrik and the Lost Queen (1976).
In 1970, Gardner returned to Sword & Sorcery comics, choosing to sell them to the current S&S publisher (not yet Marvel), Warren and its line of black & whites. For more on these comics, go here. He also later sold to Warren’s rival, Skywald.
When The Dragon, the magazine that belonged to the role-playing game, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, sought fiction Fox obliged with a series about Niall of the Far Travels:
“Shadow of a Demon” (1976) For more on this first story, go here. “Beyond the Wizard Fog” (1977) “The Stolen Sacrifice” (1978), ” The Thing from the Tomb” (1979), “The Eyes of Mavis Deval” (1980), “The Cube From Beyond” (1980), “The Cup of Golden Death” (1980), “Out of the Eons” (1980), “The Lure of the Golden Godling” (1980), “The Coming of the Sword” (1981) collected in Niall of the Far Travels (2017) with Kurt Brugel.
“The Return of Dargoll” (1982) was another single tale written for another RPG magazine, Adventure Gaming #12 and 13 under the title “Grimm of the Gameboard World”.
Conclusion
Some critics, Robert E. Howard purists in particular, have not been kind to Fox. Richard A. Lupoff, for example, parodied Kothar (and other Conan clones naming: Brak, Jongor, Thongor) in “The Coming of Upchuck”. For more on Lupoff’s parodies, go here. The wrath of the critics may be warranted if you feel S&S should have stayed in the 1930s, but I have always enjoyed Fox’ take in different mediums.
Gardner F. Fox died in 1986 when Sword & Sorcery was headed for hard times (known as the 1990s!) He might have despaired about the state of the sub-genre back in 1986. Gardner F. Fox obviously loved the works of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, penning new heroic adventure tales when possible. He explored the possibilities in comics, prose and role-playing games and was always looking for more avenues for Sword & Sorcery. Thank you, Gardner!
I’ve heard passing mention of Fox’s non-comics work over the years, most recently in the book “Forgotten All-Star” by Jennifer DeRoss, but I’ve yet to read any of it. Thanks for this article; a nice reminder that I should make myself get around to it!