Beowulf #3's a perfect example. I can't comment in any way, shape or form about the contents of the mag - having totally forgotten them - but I do know a Ricardo Villamonte cover like that should never be forgotten. It's a thing of absolute beauty - even if flinging yourself into a monster's mouth doesn't exactly strike me as the best tactic for defeating it. Still, at least he's got Shanna the She-Devil to help him out.
Not only that but the comic's about Beowulf.
I'm assuming it's about that Beowulf and not just some bloke who shares his name. If so, how could anyone ever forget they once had a comic about Beowulf? It'd be on a par with forgetting you ever had a comic about William Shatner.
Was the comic any good?
I've no idea.
A quick glance at the Grand Comics Database tells me It only lasted six issues, which I suppose isn't a good sign but maybe it was just a victim of there being too many sword and sorcery comics launched in the wake of the success of Conan. Then again, maybe it wasn't.
Trust me, the comic's not that great. And yeah, it is supposed to be THE Beowulf. It's one of the many crappy titles DC threw out in an attempt to choke out Marvel in the early 70's, who were waging their own war of throwing out countless crappy titles to choke out DC. It was a war of attrition and crappiness won.
ReplyDeleteI quite liked this comic which was one of DCs better attempts ( along with Claw) at trying to edge into Marvel dominance on the sword and sorcery front - it want really mean to be an accurate adaptation of the poem, or to be taken that seriously like Conan, it was basically just a sword and sorcery boys adventure strip with it's "Zatanaesque" backwards sounding spells and other silly ideas - with as you note some really nice covers and good interior artwork well worth a read from the 50p bins. McScotty
ReplyDeleteI think the most interesting S&S effort from DC circa 1975 was Stalker by Levitz, Ditko and Wood.
ReplyDeleteObviously, Grell's Warlord, with its Rice Burroughs trappings was the most successful but Stalker had a melancholy feel that set it apart from Conan rip-offs like Claw.
I had forgotten about Stalker that was pretty good series(got a few of these in my collection) Grells early Warlord was excellent although strangely I never really considered it as S&S (although your right Dougie it was)ws never a big fan of DCs Sword of Sorcery (or Starfire etc either) I think both companies were good a certain types of books (assuming they were both good at super-heroes) ie Marvel did mostly really good S&S comics and were good at horror whilst DC did good Westerns and War - then there was Atlas with Iron Jaw etc nuff said! McScotty
ReplyDeleteI have all six issues of the Beowulf series, and I believe No 3's actually the best. It's heavily based on The Tempest, and has some odd yet strikingly memorable panels.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, I have every issue of Claw, Kong, Stalker, Tor, and Justice, Inc as well. Ironically, the only title from DC's mid '70s S & S line that I'm not overly familiar with is the only one that managed to last for a notable run: Warlord. I have only the one issue of that!
Actually, I've been thinking about writing a piece on this infamous (so-called) 'Adventure' line of DC's for my Comics Decoder site....