Claw The Unconquered!

Conan the Barbarian was a hit. Marvel was sopping up sales with the color comic and the black and white version. Barbarians were selling it seemed in 1975, so the call went out at DC to bring more barbarians to the table. And that's how we got Claw the Unconquered. 

The book was written by David Michelinie and was originally drawn by Ernie Chan who had just left his gig at Marvel inking the Conan comics. It is to be noted that Chan drew under the name "Ernie Chua" when he first started in U.S. comics because of a typo on his immigration documents. Chan is assisted on art chores by Pat Boyette. Claw was apparently supposed to be called "Talon", but Jim Steranko had dibs on that name. The first nine issues were all edited by Joe Orlando.   

Claw is the one character in DC's "All-New Adventure Line" that looks like Conan. That the series lasted twice as long as most of its companions and three times as long as more than few it's possibly due to that resemblance. In the first Claw story we meet our hero, a man who suffers a bit of amnesia yet is still a potent warrior. Possessed of a red gauntlet which overs a furry claw, he is a man prophecy suggests will bring down King Occulus of Pytharia. The King orders his underlings to kill Claw, but that proves more difficult than one might've thought. 

The first several issues follow a familiar pattern as Claw will encounter an individual, save them from some threat and then see them turn on him either for reward or other recompense. His "Claw" seems to have a will of its own, and moves to save him in circumstances in which he is oblivious to the threat. This is the best cover of the series. 

He also confronts giant creatures with names such as Kann the All-Consuming , often referred to as gods and is able in most instances to kill them or at least escape their clutches. The look of the earliest Claw comics seemed especially designed to evoke the Conan comics being produced over at Marvel. 

In the fourth issue he meets Ghylkin, a warrior from another dimension who sought adventure and so came to our world, but not before he got a nifty pair of horns. Claw and his new ally battle N'Hflhss, an ogre-like demon called down to Earth. The story stays open as the threat is not ended, and leads to the first multi-part epic. A prophecy from Asvitar the Burning Man causes the duo to seek the Moonthorn, a sword which will be effective against the threat of N'Hflhss and will give Claw much needed info as well. 

"The Gemstone Trilogy" begins the search for the Moonthorn, a sword which will reveal great secrets to Claw. But before they can find the Moonthorn, they must find the Gristone and that's divided into three parts. The first takes them to a territory guarded by strange women with a bizarre secret, the second has them battling a teenager who comes into possession of great magical powers, and the third is found at the bottom of the sea among a society of passivists. King Occulus and his court magician are keeping an eye on Claw and making things none too easy for him. 

The cover of issue eight is Ernie Chan's last contribution to the series. He headed back to Marvel, leaving Claw in the hands up new talent Keith Giffen who is aided by a bevy of inkers. 

Alas, Claw the Unconquered number nine is the only issue of the run I actually bought off the stands at the time of publication. I must have had some extra quarters in my pocket when it hit the spinner rack. Giffen is inked by Bob Layton in this issue. 

Claw the Unconquered returns to the stands after a one and six-month hiatus. Joe Kubert joins the book's regular team of Michelinie and Giffen as the cover artist for the final three issues. So, at long last we are about to get a face-off between Claw and Occulus, foes who battled but never met in the many issues previous. But not before Claw must confront the weird trio of "Those Who Must Abide". This issue was edited by Paul Levitz. 

The actual confrontation between Claw and Occulus is in issue eleven and it's an Occulus made even  more powerful by the magic of Miftig. To avoid Claw, the palace is even lifted into the air, but that doesn't stop our hero and he finally gets to see the man behind the death of his parents pay a price. This would've been an ideal place to end the series, but we get one more issue. Joe Orlando returns as editor. 

In the final issue drawn by Giffen and Layton, Claw is robbed of his red gauntlet and later when he hooks up with a group of fighters, he finds he loses control and the violence gets out of hand, so to speak. We see that Occulus is rescued so to speak from the wreckage of his palace and there are hints of battles to come. Without his protective glove, the Claw we are left with is a man who fears himself, so much so that in the final panels of the story he makes a tragic decision. Larry Hama is the third editor in three issues, probably one good reason this revival didn't get off the ground. 

Apparently two more issues of Claw the Unconquered were prepared but went unpublished. I note that the price on issue thirteen is for fifty cents so there might've been discussion of bumping up the price and adding a back-up, like another of the Adventure line. I haven't read these, but those Kubert covers are incredibly suggestive. 

Claw made DC's Who's Who line-up in the 80's, suggesting that he wasn't forgotten about. In fact, he makes a few cameos in comics over the years, but nothing of real substance. 

Claw the Unconquered was brought back to comic life in a cross-over with Dynamite's Red Sonja. The two shared two issues in 2006 which initiated a revival of Claw in his tittle from the Wildstorm brand. I love the cover Alex Ross produced for the crossover event. 

Wildstorm gave us a full-blown Claw the Unconquered limited which featured the slightly reimagined hero, with a full name -- Valcan Scaramax. In this story we are reminded that Claw cut off his hand (again) in the Red Sonja appearance, but the hand refuses to die and in fact regrows on Claw's arm. The abandoned hand also grows and develops into a full-blown copy of Claw but more savage. (Reminded me of the plot to Frankenstein Versus the World.) Claw is recruited by a sorceress and is led to her compound by a gang of werewolves. I'm not  that taken with Andy Smith's artwork on this one. The series seems to lack the elaborate detail I like in my fantasy yarns which creates that other world. Sadly, this presentation reeks of those bad old Image days when muscles mattered more than storytelling. They are im freezing temps in much of this story, so put some darn clothes on! I will give the story credit for a bold ending. 

Below is a short gallery of the  Wildstorm issues. 

Next time we meet Stalker - The Man with No Soul. 

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Showcase Corner - Codename: Gravedigger!

Men of War was the last of the classic DC war comics to arrive onto the comic racks. Like its kin it was an anthology which featured several characters during its run. Enemy Ace was a steady back up feature but I'll be turning my sights on him next month. Jerry Grandenetti turned in some outstanding artwork on features like Dateline: Frontline and Rosa. But the star of the show was Ulysses Hazard who was better known as Codename: Gravedigger. He got his sobering nickname in just the manner you'd expect -- he was a gravedigger who did service for the many men who fell in the line of duty. But he had that distinction because he was a black man in an army that was segregated and was redolent with the racism that brewed in the homeland. 

 

Codename: Gravedigger was the creation of David Michelinie and artist Ed Davis along with Romeo Tanghal who inked all the stories of Gravedigger in the series. Michelinie's story relates the saga of a young black man who as a boy was overcome by polio but works with a demon fury to build up his weakened body and eventually becomes a veritable powerhouse with a range of fighting skills. 

Despite these accomplishments he is relegated to support work and not given the chance to fight for his country as he'd prefer. His solution in the face of racism was to storm the Pentagon and so prove his mettle to the Undersecretary of War. He challenged the leadership to put him in the fight and so they sent him on a series of impossible missions. 

He fights in Europe against the Nazis, invades concentration camps, defends the American coastline from invasion, and rescues more than a few orphans during the war. His stories run the gamut of what one expects of a Bronze Age war comic. 

After a single issue by Arvell Jones the penciling job is given over to Dick Ayers. Eventually the scripting goes to Roger McKenzie. The stories they dream up for Gravedigger are high octane adventures in which he seems never to stop moving, 

To me at least, this seemed somewhat counter to the DC formula which seemed to focus on the time in between the fighting as much if not more than the physical combat. Perhaps it's the presence of Dick Ayers, the main man on Marvel's war comics, but this feature feels more like a Marvel book than a DC one. 

Gravedigger has that same imperviousness which Sgt. Fury and others at Marvel seem to possess as they wage the war against the enemy, and he has a tendency to mouth off quite a bit as he fights. 

The Joe Kubert covers are the most DC thing about this book aside from the back up features. 

Gravedigger fights alone for the most part, doing his best to salvage missions that seem impossible from the get-go. That he's a suicide warrior seems not to dawn on him. He just wants his chance to fight. 

His missions even come to the attention of Joseph Goebbels himself, the Nazi minister of propogranda, who goes on to become something of a main villain for Gravedigger. The fact a black man is so successful against the Nazis rubs Goebbels the wrong way indeed. 

Michilinie had begun a subplot which McKenzie continued about a wounded British officer who is recovering though he cannot walk. He is given the mission eventually of becoming Gravedigger's commanding officer though that is murky for some time. 

At some point he is replaced by a Nazi lookalike and Gravedigger not only has to unmask the villain but is charged with finding the disappeared officer named Burke. That trek leads Gravedigger into the depths of the German homeland where he must confront the horror of the camps. 

Jack C. Harris takes over the helm of the series alongside Ayers and Tanghal. If anything, the series become even more action-oriented. 

Gravedigger is joined in his fight by a trio of British soldiers who make the mag feel even more like Sgt. Fury. One of the three Brits wears a derby and another has beret, evoking Dum Dum Dugan and Percy Pinkerton. 

This little squad hangs out with Gravedigger for several issues off and on, though one never really gets the feeling their addition constitutes a permanent change. 

Gravedigger is ordered on a deadly mission in North Africa, and again his missions seem to suicide runs at best. 

This latest one though brings a permanent change to Gravedigger's face when he is wounded with a crooked scar across his face which resembles a cross, though he calls it a tombstone. Clearly there's a feeling Gravedigger needs a visual boost, though this change is rarely showcased on the covers. 

In North Africa Gravedigger is chasing some important documents, and this particular maguffin drives the plot for several issues. 

The stories while filled with action seem less and less signficant. Ulysses Hazard is more and more a cypher who fights for the sake of the fight. He bickers a bit now and again but follows through most often. 

One notable mission brings him into partnership with Mademoiselle Marie, a longtime DC war favorite. 

Truth told some of Gravedigger's missions don't really make all that much sense but as long as he's got Nazis to fight, the comic rumbles along. 

Toward the end of the run he's led to believe his Mother is dying and he's sent back to the states. This is a ruse for a bizarre Nazi plot to smuggle in doubles for loyal Americans keeping watch on the beaches for enemy incusions. Turns out his Mom is fine but Gravedigger has some fighting to do yet. 

After he single-handedly forestalls the Nazi invasion on the beaches of Atlantic City he heads back to the European front. 

One story even has Gravedigger live up to his nickname, but others end up six feet under and not Ulysses Hazard. 

One of the strangest two-parters yet has Gravedigger assigned to protect FDR. It's a wild and wacky misadventure of a war story and doesn't really have any sense of the essential realism to make a DC war story stick. It felt more like a chapter of All-Star Squadron. 

Under a George Evans cover Gravedigger completes that mission eventually with the world leaders safe and sound as we knew they would be all along. 

The series wraps up with Gravedigger taking command of Easy Company when Sgt.Rock is wounded. We get a nifty story which showcases each of the Joes of Easy as they try to take something called "Nickname Hill". Even with Easy backing him up it's clear that Gravedigger is a one-man act. The series is not nor is it especially good. Dick Ayers turns in unremarkable artwork that is inked with indifference by Tanghal -- they don't appear to be a good fit to my eye. The stories have too much of that zany feel one gets with Marvel war stories and that jars inside the illustrious DC war canon. 

Beginning tomorrow the Dojo takes a most sobering look at World War II and the Holocaust. 

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