The Savage Comics Of Solomon Kane!

Aside from the two Kane appearances in Marvel Premiere, the six-issue run of The Saga of Solomon Kane is apparently the only color comic run featuring the Puritan from Mighty Marvel. I've never owned nor read them before getting them along with the aforementioned Marvel Premiere issues in the color trade collection from Dark Horse.

This is an odd set of stories because there's precious few of Howard's Kane stories to adapt and Marvel adapted some of them two separate times. One story is adapted twice in this very volume, a most strange happening, but interesting in that it allows a pretty close comparison of the interpretations.

 

"Red Shadows" is the first Kane story by REH and it was adapted first by Roy Thomas and Howie Chaykin and it's a great rousing version of the story. Chaykin's style is perfect for Kane and he's at his best in this tale. I'd love to see him adapt all of the Solomon Kane canon using his modern style. It would be a masterpiece I suspect. The story is adapted again by Ralph Macchio and Steve Carr and Bret Blevins. This one is more briskly paced, but a pretty good rendering. Macchio really has a solid handle on the Puritan.

There are several other stories here that are originals and I have to say they are quite smashing, especially one titled "The Prophet" which pits the Puritan zealot Kane against a Muslin zealot, both of them men of good intent but blinded by their faiths to some degree. It's got art by Mike Mignola and it's a darn fine story with a very effective ending.

Two other REH stories get adapted, "Hills of the Dead" and "Wings of the Night", both of which had been adapted previously by Marvel in black and white. These are decently done, but I prefer the black and white versions, especially the one by Alan Weiss for "Hills".

There's a neat little subplot that runs through the Macchio stories about Kane and his conflict of faith regarding a fetish staff he carries that clearly seems to contradict his Christian faith. At times he rejects it, but is drawn back to Africa and comes to embrace a larger worldview apparently. This storyline running quietly through the stories gives a neat texture to works.

These color Kanes aren't great, but they are darn good. And they look good in this Dark Horse reprint. 

Next up is the Dark Horse B&W reprint of Solomon Kane's adventures from Savage Sword of Conan and elsewhere. Aside from a few of these very early stories, I'd read almost none of this, so it was all new-old Marvel for me.

The earliest Kane stories with artwork by Alan Weiss are superb. Weiss gave Kane a distinctive flavor, similar but not at all aping what Smith did with Conan. Kane's stories under Weiss's hand were lush and had a crisp modern feel to them, even today. There's another great story by Howie Chaykin. The storytelling is by Roy Thomas and Don Glut. In fact, much to my surprise I learned here that Glut was the primary scribe for Kane's adventures, writing the majority of these stories.

The artwork in the later stuff is by journeymen. David Wenzel still many years from his Hobbit stuff is on board for several stories, but in nearly every case the storytelling seemed to suffer by insufficient page count. I'm not one who usually bickers about this kind of thing, but there was a distinct cramped quality to many of the middle stories, even those which got serialized. Following the action was hard at times, but perhaps that has to do with the reduction of the page for this format.

The latter part of the book reprints stuff from the 90's. At one point there's a jump from the mid-80's to the 90's and the change in styles is remarkable. Many of the later stories are well told with some artwork that grew on me as I read the stories. There's even a crossover with Conan to close out the volume. The pin-ups throughout are nice, especially from solid pros like the late Berni Wrightson. 

I'd give this volume a solid B. It's a decent read, it adapts most of the key Kane stories, but the artwork is suspect at times. The high romance that should permeate a Kane story is often missing in these. The first few stories with Kane encountering Dracula are fantastic, and there's a sequel to this classic clash that I'd never read. All in all, not that bad, it opens and closes very strongly.

More Kane later today. 

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Richard Dragon - Coming Of The Dragon!

DC looked upon the Kung Fu craze of the early 1970's and saw that it was good. And then in 1975 when the fad was in retreat, they decided to dive in. Their offering was Richard Dragon Kung-Fu Fighter. This was a series created by Denny O'Neill and in its earliest days was drawn by a wildly disparate range of artists, including the legendary Jack Kirby. 

Richard Dragon though did not come from nowhere. It's source is Kung Fu Master Richard Dragon -Dragon's Fists, a novel written by "Jim Dennis" in 1974. "Jim Dennis" was Denny O'Neill and Jim Berry, a cartoonist famous for his long-running Berry's World feature. 

That novel (more or less) supplied the story for the first four issues of the comic book. The first issue was written by Denny O'Neill. O'Neill wrote all the issues save for a couple during the original run. The first artist to tackle the series was Leo Duranona. We meet Richard Dragon, a spiteful teen-age orphan and thief who is taken in by the martial arts master O-Sensei and another young student named Ben Turner. These two men study under O-Sensei for six years and then are sent off into the world to do good. They encounter an organization named G.O.O.D. (we are never told what that represents) led by a character named Barney Ling. He recruits them to put an end to a white slaver overseas. 

The artists for the second issue are Alan Weiss and Jim Starlin with Carl Potts pitching in. In this tale Richard and Ben encounter a young woman named Carolyn Woosan, who is O-Sensei's goddaughter. She is being pursued by "The Swiss" and international villain who wears only white suits and is particularly vicious. Ben is shot in the leg so it's up to Richard to save Carolyn. 

The third artist to tackle the series in as many issues is Jack "King" Kirby inked by D. Bruce Berry. Somehow or other this book fell into his lap as he was wrapping up his time at DC and was in need of pages to fulfill his contract. In this story we first learn of the jade claw necklace that Richard wears which when stroked the right way gives him extra power. He attacks the Swiss's hideout but fails to save Carolyn or capture he Swiss after a massive explosion. 

In the fourth issue we finally get an art team that will linger for more than one issue. Ric Estrada steps into the position, supplying layouts for Wally Wood and his studio. While Ben Turner recovers from his leg wound Richard once again tracks down the Swiss and attempts to free Carolyn but there is a tragic turn of events. And that wraps up the first saga. 

It is to be noted that Dick Giordano has done all but one cover for the series and they look great. It's truly unfortunate that he or Frank McLaughlin couldn't have been available for the insides of the book at some point. In the fifth issue, the first not to adapt the novel, we meet Carolyn Woosan's sister Sandra who is upset about the fate of her sister. Ben is recovering still and has found some romance at the Dojo. The man who hired the Swiss is named Guano Cravat and he tricks Sandra into fighting Richard under the identity of "Lady Shiva". 

Barney Ling of G.O.O.D. shows up again and employs Richard and Lady Shiva in a mission concerning a nuclear bomb. Barney thinks it's a good idea to drop said bomb into an active volcano. On the same island as the volcano is "Slash" the leader of a gang of pirates who knock down planes with a giant magnet. (Goofy enough for you yet.) Despite all this madness Richard and Shiva survive. 

Ben is still on the mend. (Actually, he seems to have taken a backslide since he's on crutches again.) So once again he is sidelined while Richard and Shiva take on Guano Cravat and his new partner Dr. Moon who supplies him with super-powerful henchmen. 

Slash is back and he schemes to trap Lady Shiva and Richard in a trap which will blind them, making them open to his attacks. But Richard is able to tap into the O-Sensei's training which included dealing with the loss of the senses. Despite my adoration of Wally Wood, I must say the inking in these last several issues has been sleek but uninteresting. There has been little depth to the art. 

That changes in the ninth issues which sees Ric Estada come out in a blaze of glory doing both pencils and inks. This might be my favorite issue so far, largely due to Estrada's extremely energetic artwork. In this one Richard, a recovered Ben and Shiva investigate a strange villain who dubs himself "The Preying Mantis". 

Alas, the art takes a slide back when Jack Abel joins up as inker. In a strange story in which Ben gets some land deep in logging territory, he and the gang come up against a baddie named "Hatchett" who does his best to chop up our heroes to keep them from claiming the land. Ben meets up with his nephew who has lost his mother thanks to Hatchett and his gang. Richard is hurt when he is forced to run through some fire. 

The next issue begins with Richard in the hospital when a Samurai attacks Ben for reasons unknown. This issue was guest-edited by Gerry Conway and scripted by David Anthony Kraft, who will also write the next issue. The trio head to Barney Ling for answers and are sent to China to stop a scheme called "Moonage Daydream". There is much intrigue and betrayal as the trio parachute into China and weirdly find themselves fighting a samurai. 

Under a cover by Jose Delbo, we get the end of the China story. Jack Abel is still inking Estrada's pencils with diminishing effects. Our heroes encounter a villain named Madame Sun and an unreliable agent named Blodwyn. In a story which seems to ramble along and then wrap up with incredible speed, they bring down the plot and save the day. Ben alas after all this still doesn't know who is trying to kill him. 

Ernie Chan and Vince Colletta gives us the next cover. Inside Ric Estrada is unleashed again and the art looks wonderful. Ben is gunned down at the opening of the story and will spend the next several issues recovering from that. O'Neill seems intent on keeping Ben Turner out of the mainstream of the adventures, preferring to have Lady Shiva be Richard Dragon's partner. Ben has been poisoned and the source seems to be a chap named Viper who is hidden in Mongolia. Using the resources of G.O.O.D. Shiva and Richard head there and fight furiously but with little effect. 

Then in a bit of cross-promotion The Brave and Bold gives us a teaming of Batman and Richard Dragon by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo. In this one an assassin named "The Stylist" is after Richard on the behalf of a villain who is scheming to keep a fortune which he imagines might be willed to Richard by an eccentric billionaire Richard assisted a year before. This is not one of Haney's better efforts but Aparo's art always looks magnificent. 

Rich Buckler is the cover artist in the next regular issue (and the next one as well) in which Richard Dragon must battle a man who claims to have been trained by Bruce Lee. It's 1977 and this martial arts comic is finally getting around to referencing the source of the Kung Fu fad who had died four years before. After much bumbling around Ben is saved from the poison. 

The Axeman cometh in a story which sees Ben Turner seek the hand of a lovely young woman we've seen just once before I think named Janey. During an attack on Janey's Dad she is killed and Ben swears vengeance. Ben and Richard go Ninja to try and stop the theft of a submarine which might be linked to the attack and learned startling news about who was behind the attack. Estrada is still unrestrained and the book is looking excellent at this point. 

Al Milgrom steps into supply the next two covers for the series. Richard and Ben and Lady Shiva head to the Arctic to try and capture the villains who have stolen a submarine. We meet the leader of our gang of miscreants who goes by the name of "Professor Ojo" and who wears a stupid looking hat he calls the "Orb-Helmet". 

Our team battle ferocious Killer Eskimos and other villains. They are set upon by a hailstorm of knives directed by magnetic power which Professor Ojo controls. In the end they end a world threat to shipping but the villains escape. Ben stays behind to look for the killers of his beloved Janey. Richard and Shiva return to NYC. 

In the final issue of the run, sporting a cover by Rich Buckler we see that Ben Turner is captured by the villainous Professor Ojo but then seemingly killed when the Arctic base explodes. Richard is distraught and falls apart in the months which follow over the loss of his friend. He eventually enters a martial arts tournament which has some unsavory aspects and encounters a fighter named the Bronze Tiger. It will come as a shock to no one that the Bronze Tiger is Ben who has been brainwashed since falling into the hands of the ultimate villain, the man who has been trying to kill him all along. But the series comes to an abrupt halt, and that mystery will have to linger. 

Then in 1981, nearly three years after the last issue of Richard Dragon Kung Fu Fighter we find out what happed in a series titled appropriately enough "Whatever Happened To,,," which appeared in the back pages of DC Comics Presents. In issue thiry-nine of that comic in a story by Mike Barr and Alex Saviuk, we find out that Barney Ling was the man behind the curtain all along and had been using Bronze Tiger for his own purposes. Apparently G.O.O.D. didn't live up to it's anagram. 

Richard Dragon Kung Fu Fighter is a breezy read which gives some mild attention to the details of martial arts. What we really have is a character who seems to know anything he needs to know whenever he needs to know it. It serves the purposes of the plot but does make a mangle of the martial arts aspect of the series. I do love the partnership between Richard and Lady Shiva, who fight together many more times than do Richard and Ben. After introducing him, O'Neill seems to want to get Ben off stage as quickly as possible in most stories. He comes back in the last several issues of the run, but with mixed effect. I'm used to series from the Bronze Age to have a feeling of haphazardness in plotting and direction, but that's usually because of changes in the creative team. Aside from two issues O'Neill writes them all and after the first three Ric Estrada draws them all, but the direction of the series still feels wobbly. It was strange to read a novel adaptation which was drawn by four different talents.  I do enjoy Estrada's artwork though, especially when he inks himself, the high point of the series for this reader. 

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Shazam! The World's Mightiest Mortal - Volume Two!

DC had brought Captain Marvel back to life again after decades in limbo thanks to DC's very own lawsuit. They had brought back one of Captain Marvel's original creators in C.C. Beck. Despite this though the book seemed to not be catching on. Beck himself was disgruntled and after a year slipped away from the title. Artists like Kurt Schaffenberger (another original Cap artist) and Bob Oksner among others moved in to make the book look a bit more like other DC titles. But the attempt to target especially young readers seemed a failure. That is until TV took an interest. 

 

DC slapped a little blurb on the cover which said "Shazam! Saturday's TV Hit Show!". The live action Shazam! show from Filmation was making people take notice. So in another brilliant move DC decides to double down and give the comic reader even more new wonderful Shazam! stories. Well actually they didn't. 

What they did was turn the book into a reprint magazine for four issues. While still touting the TV connection the reader found solid but aged Fawcett stories inside the comic which was for sell on the stands. It wasn't until the TV show got a second season that DC finally got gears going to revise the series to fit and they gave us all some wonderful surprises as well. 

E. Nelson Bridewell and Kurt Schaffenberger gave us a new more DC friendly version of the hero. Billy Batson is sent on an across-country odyssey during the United States' bicentennial year to visit important cities. His companion is Uncle Dudley who functions as his "Mentor" on the trip. This new mentor and Billy use an RV to traipse across the land and there they meet others and save lives from various plots by Dr. Sivana or Mr. Mind. Further Billy is given a device which allows him to contact the very "Elders" who give him his powers for useful advice. In other words, DC made the comic as much like the TV show as possible and thanks to Bridwell they did it in a rather clever way. 

And then there was Isis. Dick Giordano knocks out some typically handsome art to introduce the Filmation-created female counterpart for Captain Marvel. She's a teacher who is empowered by Egyptian gods. She gets her very own comic for a time and so the Saturday morning comic corner at DC gets a little bit larger. 

So Billy Batson and his "Mentor" Uncle Marvel (sporting a mustache to evoke that Les Tremayne look) travel to the cities of Washington D.C., Philidelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Columbus meeting TV executives and battling the menaces they find there. They are aided in the battle by Kid Eternity and Minute Man. The "Superman" featured on the cover of one issue is not who you think it is. They battle the schemes of Sivana and the brawn of Black Adam and IBAC.  

Then Schaffenberger steps aside and is replaced by artist Tenny Henson, a Filipino talent. He's really good and wraps up the peripatetic adventures with stops in Detroit and Indianapolis. Mr. Mind steps in as the uber-villain while Mr. Atom shows up to supply the muscle. Bridwell's scripts are smart and clever and do a grand job of transferring the essence of the TV show to the handsome comic. But things are about to change big time. 

The cross-country odyssey is ended when the threat of Captain Nazi resurfaces. But the biggest change is the art which is done in this single issue by Alan Lee Weiss with inks by Joe Rubinstein. The classic appearance of the Marvels is at long last abandoned and a more realistic look wins the day. I liked the classic look, but I loved this new more muscular modern Captain Marvel. 

In the next issue a new artist appears by the name of Don Newton and Captain Marvel and the Shazam Family will never look the same. Under a rugged Mike Nasser cover we have a Cap who is at once more real and still evocative of the classic in a battle against the evil King Kull which blows the top off. Sadly this is the last issue of the classic Shazam! run, but it's not the end of E. Nelson Bridwell's and Don Newton's Captain Marvel. But first there's this. 

DC had teased a meeting between "The Man of Steel" and "The Big Red Cheese" several times over the years since they had procured the rights to Fawcett's number one hero. But despite many tempting covers, the contact always proved less than advertised. Superman makes two appearances on Shazam! series covers and is not featured in the comic book. Lex Luthor does make contact with what was dubbed "Earth-S" but thinks he had a dream. DC worked extra hard to make the first conflict between these two mega-heroes a big deal and they succeeded with the "All New Collectors' Edition" of "Superman Vs. Shazam!". Rich Buckler is tapped to draw this oversized epic with a script by Gerry Conway, the writer who had previously given the world the first ever team-up of Superman and a certain friendly neighborhood wall-crawler. Supergirl and Mary Marvel have substantial parts to play in this yarn, but after all these years the excitement of that first big clash seems somewhat dimmed. 

Still, it's a great way to wrap up this volume. Next time we get to see what I think is perhaps Captain Marvel's most shining moments at DC when we follow Bridwell and Newton to Worlds Finest and beyond. 

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