Stalker #2. Darkling Death at World's End Sea.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

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There are many times in the life of a sword-wielding battler of sorcerers that he may find himself being told to go to Hell.

Mostly, he ignores those sentiments.

Usually, because he's too busy murdering the person who's said it to him.

But the man we know as Stalker's cut from a more obliging cloth, as he's the one hero who'll take you up on the offer.

That's because he's on the hunt for Dgrth, the demon-god of warriors, who gave him the supreme battle skills he's happily making use of.

For, you see, in return for these skills, Dgrth claimed his soul as payment. And, now, as far as I can make out, our hero's out to claim a refund.

As part of this quest, he decides to pay a visit to a priest of Dgrth, called Prior F'lan, who's the one mortal who knows how to get to Hell.

Sadly, not only does the prior not have anything that resembles a priory but he proves to be totally unaccommodating and goes for the sacrificing-Stalker-to-his-god option.

Stalker doesn't like that and, with an assist from the obligatory maiden, Merilla, who slips him a knife, escapes from the cell F'lan has put him in and tortures the villain to extract the necessary info.

If this was Conan, at this point, our hero would celebrate his triumph by giving Merilla a good seeing-to.

But Stalker has no time for such pleasures. Instead, he simply puts her on a horse and sends it departing while he prepares to single-handedly invade Dgrth's realm.

And that sums up the main problem with the tale. No matter how you dress it up, Stalker is a very dull character.

So devoid of charisma is he that you actually end up wanting F'lan to bump him off. Having a protagonist without a soul may seem a compelling idea on paper but, in practice, it gives us a man devoid of any spark, warmth, style or social skills.

Not only that but he doesn't even seem that good at fighting.

The thing's drawn by Steve Ditko and Wally Wood which is always an appealing combination but, there's no getting around it, when it's the mid-1970s, you've had five years of seeing comic book swordsmen portrayed by the likes of Barry Smith, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala and, in comparison, Ditko and Wood's more traditional approach feels too workmanlike to impress.

Likewise, Paul Levitz's writing is also uninspired, offering no twists or turns, as one-dimensional characters do and say the things we expect participants in these kinds of things to do and say.

In truth, possibly the only thing memorable about the tale is its title Darkling Death at World's End Sea which feels like something Don McGregor would have knocked out for a Killraven tale. Sadly, this is no Killraven.

In the issue's editorial column, Levitz (or possibly editor Joe Orlando) talks about his excitement over what's coming up in issue #7 but, sadly, it was not to be. Stalker only lasted for four issues and, with its total inability to engage the reader, you can see why.