From the Sorcerer’s Scroll: A Sword and Sorcery Review Thread

[MRP]

As someone else mentioned earlier, this was prefaced by what is truly one of the most bizarre comics DC has ever put out, Wonder Woman #202. In which, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser team up with Wonder Woman to battle... Catwoman. In a story written by legendary sci-fi author Samuel R. Delany of all people.

It's inexplicable if you read if as a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser fan, but it's even more inexplicable when you read it as a regular issue of Wonder Woman, which it was - it was even continued from the previous issue, which had not one damn thing to do with Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

Bringing randomness to new, incredible heights.

That issue is definitely on my list of stuff to look for this con season, but I haven't read it.

-M

[Polar Bear]

As for Sword of Sorcery #1, I think I rated the art lower than you did because young Chaykin's storytelling is just nowhere near where it needed to be. Lots of backwards-y panels, right-to-left motion, and unclear "where's the next panel?" moments. No foul on him--like I said, he was young--but it seems to me that the editor should have caught this stuff.

[Rob Allen]

The editor might not have had time to catch and correct stuff. I recall reading at the time, either in a lettercol of a later issue or in the Comic Reader, about O'Neil virtually wrestling the very late pencilled pages away from Chaykin and running away with Howard in pursuit wanting to change one of the figures in the splash. The fact that it was inked by the Crusty Bunkers (i.e. Continuity Studios) suggests that the inking was done platoon-style with many pages being worked on simultaneously in order to get the job done quickly.

[MWGallaher]

As someone else mentioned earlier, this was prefaced by what is truly one of the most bizarre comics DC has ever put out, Wonder Woman #202. In which, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser team up with Wonder Woman to battle... Catwoman. In a story written by legendary sci-fi author Samuel R. Delany of all people.

It's inexplicable if you read if as a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser fan, but it's even more inexplicable when you read it as a regular issue of Wonder Woman, which it was - it was even continued from the previous issue, which had not one damn thing to do with Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

Bringing randomness to new, incredible heights.

And yet, for all that, I, who had read only 2 or 3 issues of WW prior to this one, and who had never heard of Lieber's S&S duo, adored everything about this issue and made a priority of picking up Sword of Sorcery #1. So they were doing something right.

[MRP]

I just realized I never gave a guide to what my ratings equate to, so here we go (I edited the initial post to include this as well)

What the ratings mean:Ratings are done a scale of 1-10...

10/10: Superior, near flawless, outstanding. Nothing is perfect but this comes close.
9/10: Excellent, possible minor quibbles but nothing to mar enjoyment of the story or art
8/10: Very good; no major complaints but enough minor quibbles to keep it from the upper echelon
7/10: Above average, enjoyable but may have noticeable flaws, however they can be overlooked and still enjoy the book.
6/10: Acceptable average work, warts and all
5/10: Almost but not quite good, enough flaws to hinder enjoyment of the overall work
4/10: A failed attempt. There may be quality elements here or there, but not enough to save the book or make it worthwhile
1-3/10: Abysmal failures all

Hope that helps give the random numbers a little more concrete meaning.

-M

[MRP]

Review #10



Title: Sword of Sorcery #2 (1973 short-lived ongoing)
Written by: Denny O’Neil (adapting a Fritz Leiber story Thieves’ House)
Art by: Howard Chaykin
Cover by: Howard Chaykin & Bernie Wrightson
Letters: uncredited; Colors: uncredited
Edited by: uncredited
Publication date: April-May 1973 (cover date)
Publisher: DC Comics

Revenge of the Skull of Jewels
24 story pages, color

Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Overall Impression: 7/10

Synopsis: Fafhrd and Mouser are brought into a job by Fat Fissif, who betrays them, drugs, them, and makes off with the booty, a jeweled skull and skeletal hands. Faf and Mouser steal into the headquarters of the Thieves’ Guild to find Fissif and the skull, but run into problems, and are separated. Mouser escapes, but Faf runs into the ghosts of ancient thieves who warn him to return the skull by midnight next or be killed, just before he is captured by the thieves.

The thieves’ leader sends word to Mouser to return the skull or Faf will die, Mouser retrieves the skull and brings it to the guildhouse, but his plans are foiled, but the ghosts return and take their vengeance on the leader of the guild for defiling the skull, and Faf and Mouser have escaped another tight spot.

Commentary: Another tale that read better in prose as it felt cramped and rushed here. Chaykin’s are suffers the same problems here that Polar Bear mentioned, some pages with insert panels with no clear indication where they fit in the narrative flow, and others flowing awkwardly and resorting to a trick I despise, i.e. arrows pointing the way from panel to panel to make the page readable. However, Chaykin’s depictions of Lankhmar itself, especially its architecture, is superb, and his action sequences are dynamic and fun, so the story and art overcome some of its flaws.

Reading these makes me want to go back and reread the prose tales, or even the Chaykin/Mignola adaptations of 20 years later.

-M

[Aaron King]

Review #10
Reading these makes me want to go back and reread the prose tales, or even the Chaykin/Mignola adaptations of 20 years later.
-M

I love the source material, as I've stated here before, and I think the Chaykin/Mignola books are perfect adaptations. The reprint volume by Dark Horse a couple years back is very pretty and has some nice introductions too. Highly recommended.

I always keep an eye out for these issues of Sword of Sorcery (and the aforementioned Wonder Woman issue), but I've never seen them quite cheap enough.

[shaxper]

Funny, I thought that was Killraven on the cover at first glace.

[MRP]

I love the source material, as I've stated here before, and I think the Chaykin/Mignola books are perfect adaptations. The reprint volume by Dark Horse a couple years back is very pretty and has some nice introductions too. Highly recommended.

I always keep an eye out for these issues of Sword of Sorcery (and the aforementioned Wonder Woman issue), but I've never seen them quite cheap enough.

I got #1 from Half Price Books for like $4 last year and the other 4 shortly after at a con for under $3 each. Most are in VG/F which is good enough for me as I mostly just get reading copies.

-M

[dan bailey]

They must have been available fairly recently at some point for half that or less, almost certainly from Lone Star, because noted cheapskate me owns the run.

[MRP]

Hmmm just cracked open #3 for the first time since I picked it up at the con last year, and realized it is a double cover copy. It's only in G+ but I didn't think I had any double covers, guess I do.
-M

[MRP]

Review #11



Title: Sword of Sorcery #3 (1973 short-lived ongoing)
Written by: Denny O’Neil
Art by: Howard Chaykin (uncredited ink assists according to GCD)
Cover by: Howard Chaykin
Letters: uncredited; Colors: uncredited
Edited by: uncredited
Publication date: July-August 1973 (cover date)
Publisher: DC Comics

Betrayal
24 story pages, color

Story: 9/10
Art: 7/10
Overall Impression: 8/10

Synopsis: Faf and Mouser are passengers aboard a ship that is raided to capture a woman on board. The crew is killed, the ship sunk, and Faf and Mouser left adrift. They are eventually rescued and return to Lankhmar to seek the noble responsible, who tells them the captain of the ship acted on his own and had betrayed him to capture and ransom the princess. He offers them the aid of his wizard, who provided an airship and a winged woman who is under the effects of accurse. They track down the captain, defeat him and his crew only to find the princess has fallen in love with the captain, and tries to kill Mouser, but the winged woman sacrifices herself to save Mouser.

Commentary: An original tale from O’Neil, it doesn’t suffer from the pacing problems or feel cramped like his adaptations of Leiber did. O’Neil captures the tone and wit of a Leiber tale, and has a handle on the voice of the characters, and I think being freed of the limitations of adapting another work into a limited page space has allowed O’Neill to use his talent for the better.

Chaykin’s layout and storytelling are improving, but he still uses insert panels that interrupt the narrative flow. Some of the pages feel rushed, with little to no background in them, but when he does fill out the panels his design for Lankhmar, the sailing ships and the raider’s island lair is very good, but these fully rendered panels are too few and far between. When reading the tale, the sparseness of background is less noticeable, but flipping through to look at the art alone the blank panel backgrounds really stand out, especially since the colorist made some odd choices how to fill in the blank space. Still, I enjoyed this issue more than the previous two because it flowed a lot better than the earlier adaptations

As a side note, the letter's page contains a letter from Greg Potter, who I believe is the same Greg Potter who went on the write Jemm Son of Saturn and co-write the early Perez issues of Wonder Woman. O'Neill also notes in the letter page that both Harlan Ellison and Fritz Leiber himself called to express their enjoyment of the first issue. He notes initial sales results were good, and that despite rumors there would be a fourth and fifth issue of the series as it was going to continue. Obviously something changed, but it is interesting that rumors of the series' demise were already circulating by #3.

-M

[MRP]

Review #12

Two tales for the price of one this time around…



Title: Sword of Sorcery #4 (1973 short-lived ongoing)
Written by: Denny O’Neil (story 1 adapted from tale by Fritz Leiber)
Art by: Howard Chaykin (as Chaykin Inc. in story 1), Walt Simonson (in story 2)
Cover by: Howard Chaykin
Letters: uncredited; Colors: uncredited
Edited by: uncredited
Publication date: September-October 1973 (cover date)
Publisher: DC Comics

The Cloud of Hate
14 story pages, color

Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Overall Impression: 8/10

Synopsis: Broke, Faf and Mouser trail a mysterious cloud that is pilfering weapons, until it slays an innocent, then they vow vengeance. Tracking its source outside the city, they are overwhelmed until in desperation they combine their efforts to defeat the vile creature.

Commentary: Chaykin seems to be improving his storytelling flow, there was only one panel that flubbed me up in the reading. His art is also more detailed, but it could be because he only did 14 pages not 24 and had art assists, so he was not as rushed. O’Neil’s flow is better this issue as well, as things do not feel cramped despite the smaller page count.

The teamwork by Faf and the Mouser anticipates and predates the famous Wolverine/Colossus fastball special though, and highlights the difference between Leiber’s tales and most sword and sorcery tales. The typical protagonist is a lone wolf, and has the “me against the world” vibe. Leiber has the whole buddy cop vibe in a sword and sorcery world going for it, and O’Neil captures that aspect of it well.
______________________________________

The Prophecy! A Tale of Young Fafhrd the Barbarian
6 story pages, color

Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Overall Impression: 7/10

Synopsis: Young Faf takes a girl form his village on a romantic walk, but they are interrupted by a hooded stranger who warns them they near the lair of a snow serpent and utters a prophecy on how the serpent may be vanquished. The serpent appears and steals off with the girl despite Faf’s best efforts, but his dirge for the lose of the girl overcomes the serpent and they steal away safely, fulfilling the prophecy.

Commentary: I love Simonson’s landscapes of the frozen north, but he left the backgrounds of the action sequences blank, and whoever was coloring decided the best color to fill the background with in a frozen landscape was red. Blech! Horrible coloring decisions just undermine the mood and setting of this story, to the point, it probably would have read better in black and white.

The story itself reminded me of elements of the “Snow Women” collected in Swords and Deviltry, but I don’t think it was an adaptation so much as an attempt to capture the mood and tone of Fafhrd’s early adventures from that story. Not sure though, as it has been years since I read the Snow Woman and my memory of it is hazy at best.

Here again, O’Neil felt a bit rushed, but six pages is a cramped space to tell any story, so it is understandable. As a huge fan of Walt’s work, I wish I could see him have a chance to cut loose on a full length Faf and Mouser tale.

[MRP]

Review #13

Two tales for the price of one again…



Title: Sword of Sorcery #5 (1973 short-lived ongoing)
Written by: Denny O’Neil (story 1 adapted from tale by Fritz Leiber); George Effinger (story 2)
Art by: Walt Simonson & Al Milgrom (in story 1), Jim Starlin & Al Milgrom (in story 2)
Cover by: Walt Simonson
Letters: uncredited; Colors: uncredited
Edited by: uncredited
Publication date: November-December 1973 (cover date)
Publisher: DC Comics

The Sunken Land
14 story pages, color

Story: 8/10
Art: 9/10
Overall Impression: 8/10

Synopsis: While at sea, Faf discovers an artifact of a sunken civilization but their boat is overturned by a sudden storm. Faf lands on ship seeking that sunken civilization, but they mistake him for a spy and chaos ensures. Faf is subdued and they find an entrance to the hidden land, but Mouser rescues Faf and the mysterious lords of the sunken land strike down the invaders while Faf and Mouser escape.

Commentary: As much as I enjoyed Chaykin’s work here, Simonson’s art has a vibrancy that brings a new dimension to the story. O’Neil again manages to pace the story so it doesn’t feel cramped or rushed. A solid final effort for this far too short-lived title, despite there still being some odd coloring choices for the backgrounds and in some panels. The sunken civilization is a parallel to the Atlantis myths translated to Leiber’s Newhon mythos.

The Mouse Alone
6 story pages, color

Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Overall Impression: 9/10

Synopsis: Mouse, not yet the Mouser, is sent by his master to the big city and learns a valuable, but costly lesson that puts him on the path to becoming the Grey Mouser we know and adore.

Commentary: Mouser to me, is the more layered and nuanced of the pair, and the one I would be more interested in reading solo stories of. Faf, is big and boisterous, but Mouser is the one I would be afraid to turn my back on. This little glimpse of an origin vignette, shows us a younger more naïve character, still the sorcerer’s apprentice (a part of the character that often gets overlooked), on his first trip to the big city. The ego and flair for putting his foot in his mouth are there already, but the ability to back it up isn’t there yet. Starlin’s art is engaging, typical Starlin fare, but well suited to the sword and sorcery tropes. The barbarian in the marketplace on page 2 looks like Starlin’s Conan, not sure if it is meant to be a nod or Starlin using one of his fall back faces to fill in the crowd, but it is a prominent figure in the panel.

_______________________________________________

So the series ends after 5 issues, no announcement is given in the letters page or end of the issue either way, that the series is cancelled or to look for another issue on the newsstands.

Overall, the series was a solid adaptation of the Fafhrd and Mouser stories with a few original contributions. The creative team was made up of budding superstar artists (Chaykin, Simonson, & Starlin) all early in their career paths. Their work evokes the classics they would create but is still raw with evidence of their learning curve.

O’Neil’s adaptations were a bit problematic at first, feeling rushed and cramped, but improved over the course of the series. He had a feel for the characters from the get go, but adapting the prose stories to the shorter venue of comics seemed to be where he had issues.

I wish the series had lasted longer to see what direction the stories would have gone-more adaptations or more original tales, but the point is moot as it did not last.

[MRP]

Review #14

Not sure I would have included this in the sword and sorcery genre, but the cover boldly proclaims Sword versus Sorcery in the Epic Tradition of Conan




Title: Worlds Unknown #7 (short-lived ongoing)
Written by: Len Wein (story based on the screenplay by Brian Clemens
Art and cover by: George Tuska and Vince Colletta
Letters: John Costanza; Colors: Glynis Wein
Edited by: Roy Thomas
Publication date: June 1974 (cover date)
Publisher: Marvel Comics

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
19 story pages, color

Story: 6/10
Art: 5/10
Overall Impression: 6/10

Synopsis: Sinbad’s ship encounters a winged creature that drops a golden amulet on board when they drive the creature off. The amulet causes Sinbad to have strange dreams and fell the tug of destiny, leading him to the city of Marabia, where he is awaited by the Vizier. The Vizier asks Sinbad’s help to find a treasure based on a map unlocked by the golden amulet and its mate that the Vizier had, and to aid the city against the evil Prince Koura. Sinbad agrees and they set sail, followed by Koura’s ship and plagued by Houra’s magic.

Commentary: So I am a huge fan of Ray Harryhausen’s movies, and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is very familiar to me, and I love the Harryhausen monsters and effects-but George Tuska and Vince Colletta do a very poor job of capturing the charm and wonder of these creatures in this adaptation. I have to cop to a strong bias against George Tuska. He is among those artists I dreaded seeing in the credits when I bought comics as a kid. His efforts here are not horrible, and I can see some of his strengths, but Colletta’s inks do him no favors. He also has to resort to the follow the arrow trick to navigate some of his page layouts, which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.

Wein’s adaptation however, captures the wit and personality of Sinbad, however, none of the other characters stand out, which is particularly disappointing with Koura who has a mad sense of menace in the movie as portrayed by the wonderful Tom Baker of Doctor Who fame. So as an adaptation, this misses the mark, as a sword and sorcery story on its own, it is ok, but the lackluster art really handicaps the enjoyment of the issue. In other artistic hands, this could have shined, but it is what it is, and it just kind of falls flat. Passable, but nothing spectacular.

Edit: Noticed a copy and paste error from the previous review-I forgot to change the issue # from 5 to 7, apologies.