Dagar The Invincible!

Now technically this series was titled Tales of Sword and Sorcery - Dagar the Invincible, but as the creator and writer Don Glut points out, almost no one calls it that. For most of us it's just Dagar the Invincible, one of the many comic imitators of the highly successful Conan the Barbarian from the House of Ideas. That this version comes from Gold Key is somewhat remarkable as generally sword and sorcery might be deemed a bit too bloody for the family-friendly line which still had some Disney comics on the stands at the time. But also it should be noted that some of the more successful Gold Key books were Twilight Zone and Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery. 

The first issue comes after much planning and revision. Glut and artist Jesse Santos had already created a barbarian hero named "Durok" who had appearance in Mystery Comics Digest. (To read those stories check out this link.) But for whatever reason he was deemed not worthy of his own series and so Dagar came about after many name adjustments. He's supposed to look somewhat like Kirk Douglas in Spartacus and that sure seems to be the case. Dagar is the last of his kind, a member of the "Tulgonian" society. If you happen to the name "Glut" in that word it's no accident as the writer pulled this trick several times in his Gold Key work which didn't necessarily have credits. Dagar's eventual love interest is named after one of Glut's girlfriends for instance. 

The sorcerer who destroyed Dagar's society was named "Scorpio" and the first four issues of the serires concern Dagar's search for this villain. 

After killing the fiend who killed his pa and ma the series is left with a conundrum. Dagar purports to be a "mercenary" who fights only for gold and says such more than once. But that hardcase attitude gives way more often than not and he is a proper hero who reluctantly does the right thing because as it often turns out he's the one who can. 

Dagar battles werewolves, vampires, zombies and such classic monsters, though these critters are often given a fantasy world gloss. Dagar even travels through time to battle dinosaurs alongside primitive cavemen. Glut had apparently wanted to co-star Tragg, his own caveman creation, but the editor Del Connell nixed that idea. 

Generally Dagar and his squeeze Graylin wander the landscape falling in and out of trouble and battling a host of magicians and monsters. This collection has the first nine issues and of that lot the ninth offers up the best story since the debut with a new black hero joining forces with Dagar. But most of the stories are a bit by-the-numbers sword and sorcery gags with Dagar trying to come across as a tough guy when really he's a sweetheart, albeit a sweetheart who might stab you in the chest if you cross him. 

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Solar Reflections Four!

In the fourth and final Dark Horse Doctor Solar Man of the Atom volume we find a delightful blend of vintage superhero yarns from across many many years as the series winds down and then gets revived a time or two.

Doctor Solar battles King Cybernoid in all the remaining Gold Key issues of the series, the android with the brain of Solar's longtime implacable foe Nuro. The series loses much of its distinctive science fictional flavor in attempting to achieve a purely superhero tone.

Dick Wood is the writer of record as the series tumbles along and Al McWilliams does one issue before giving way to Ernie Colon who gives the series a lighter touch and a bit more zip in terms of action. Jose Delbo steps in to handle the last issue of the 60's run.

Then in 1980 Whitman (formerly Gold Key) attempt to revive the series and publish for the first time the second part of the Wood-Delbo story which had begun a decade before. After that scribe Roger McKenzie is brought in to craft new stories with veteran Dan Spiegle handling the artwork. The tone of the McKenzie-Spiegle issues is completely different, very much in keeping with the slightly darker tone of comics of the late Bronze Age as Solar battles King Cybernoid for a final fatal time and a dour villain called the Sentinel.

The volume closes out with a blast to the Gold Key past with a singular issue of The Occult Files of Dr.Spektor in which Doctor Solar appears as a guest star to help rescue Spektor from a charge of murder. The story by Don Glut and the artwork by Jesse Santos is quite yummy.

And that's a wrap. Doctor Solar Man of the Atom was a product of the Cold War, when the glamour and effects of the atomic bomb were an all-consuming fascination for much of the world. Starting in 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis and wrapping up in the early 80's when the Cold War was nearing its final years, the character seems to embody that phenomenon in many ways.

But Solar was not done, not yet. More on the valiant efforts to revive Doctor Solar after Western Publishing's Gold Key and Whitman brands were long gone next time.

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The Day Of The Beak!

Turkey is the order of the day, but it's perhaps wise to remember that despite all we've done as a society to tame and domesticate the wildlife around us, it could still rise up and demand its share. Maybe turkeys aren't as dumb as we think, maybe they are just lulling us into a false security against that day when they get their revenge.

Eat well. Then sleep well...perhaps. (Tryptophan is part of the long war they've been perfecting themselves for.)

On the other hand.

It's Thanksgiving at last and I hope one and all have a happy holiday, and I hope you don't have to work unless you want to.

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Dagar The Duplicate!

Here is the rather exciting debut cover for Gold Key's Tales of Sword and Sorcery - Dagar the Invincible< from 1972.  Dagar created and produced by Don Glut and Jesse Santos was Gold Key's entry into the then burgeoning world of comic book sword and sorcery which had been sparked by the unexpected success of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian. Here is what Don Glut has to say about the creation of his memorable barbarian comic hero.

Here is a real treat, the original artwork produced by Jesse Santos for the debut cover. I found this gem here.

And here is the painted cover art by Gold Key mainstay George Wilson developed from the Santos drawing.

And here's a real oddity. This is the nineteenth and final cover of the series which represents the debut story along with the a variation of the same artwork. At this point in 1982 Gold Key was no more and this single edition of Tales of Sword and Sorcery - Dagar the Invinible is from the Whitman brand. Note the cover art is no longer painted, which was typical for Whitman covers at this time, but also note that this is not the Jesse Santos original artwork. This cover seems to have been drawn by Dan Spiegle, at least it looks so to my eye. Was the original Santos artwork lost? Was it deemed inappropriate for some reason? I would love to know.

To read this epic barbaric debut in its entirety, check out this link.

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Santos The Invincible!

Gold Key Comics were always exceedingly well polished productions, featuring seasoned artists who offered up reliable and often beautiful pages of  comic art. With talent like Russ Manning and Dan Spiegle, there's no denying the competence of what Gold Key produced. But it could be a bit quiet, it could be overly calm. As lovely as it was it sometimes lacked  punch. Not the work of Jesse Santos.

When Gold Key brought on Jesse Santos, an experienced artist from the Philippines they added more than a reliable and competent storyteller, they added raw energy to their line-up. They added someone able to draw pages with the same imposing quality as John Buscema at Marvel and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez at DC. Santos drew then new Dagar the Invincible and The Occult Files of Dr.Spektor.

He also had a hand in some of the venerable Brothers of the Spear stories, even doing the cover for their debut spin-off comic after decades as a back up. He started the Chariots of the Gods inspired comic Tragg and the Sky-Gods and did other covers here and there for Gold Key. One thing you knew when you picked up a Gold Key comic drawn by Santos was that it would be exciting.

Sadly Jesse Santos passed away a few days ago. Below is a small gallery of some of his work for Gold Key among other things.

Here's a link to a trio of exciting Dagar the Invincible stories written by Don Glut and drawn by Santos.

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