Random Reads: "In the Crypts of Yamath!" by Fox, Mayerick, and Alcazar

Okay, Ol' Groove makes bonehead boo-boos from time to time, but when I find out, I will fess up! When we last visited Lin Carter's Thongor, I mentioned that Creatures on the Loose #26 was the final ish for regular series artist Val Mayerick. Well, the Keeper of the Cool was wrong! T'was CotL #27 (October 1973) in which Mr. Mayerick bid farewell to Thongor. "In the Crypts of Yamath!" was inked by Vincente Alcazar, who would take over the full art chores beginning with CotL #28 (for sure!). So ish 27 truly is the final for penciler Val and also writer Gardner Fox. Steve Gerber would finish out the series in partnership with Alcazar, and we'll see those in the not-too-distant future! Enjoy!

Cover art by Vincente Alcazar

Ol' Groove's Request Line: "Tower of the Serpent-Women!" by Carter, Fox, Mayerick, and Howard

"More Thongor!" cried Groove-dom! "More Thongor you will have!" replied Ol' Groove! "Tower of the Serpent-Women" by Gardner Fox, Val Mayerick, and Wayne Howard (continuing the adaptation of Lin Carter's Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria) was published in Creatures on the Loose #26 (August 1973). It's the first of two issues authored by Golden Age great Gardner Fox (who also was a pro at prose sword and sorcery, natch), but it's also the final issue for penciler Val Mayerick (who replaced him? Stay tuned for future Thongor posts, Groove-ophiles!) Also of interest is the fact that this is a rare Marvel job for Charlton mainstay Wayne Howard. His Wally Wood-inspired inks give Mayerick a very different look, don'tcha think? Enjoy!

Random Reads: "Red Swords, Black Wings!" by Effinger and Mayerick

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Would ya like to groove to another chilling chapter of Marvel's adaptation of Lin Carter's Thongor? Ol' Groove thought you might! This third chapter in our savage hero's saga, "Red Swords, Black Wings!" is by our regular creative team of writer George Alec Effinger and artists Val Mayerick and Vinnie Colletta and comes from Creatures on the Loose #24 (April 1973). If ya need to catch up, click here for part one and here for part two.

Cover art by John Romita and Ernie Chan

Stay tuned! Ya never know when the next chapter will show up!

If You Blinked You Missed: Thongor, Warrior of Lost Lemuria

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! During the Groovy Age, due mainly to the success of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian comic, the spinner racks became filled with sword and sorcery characters. Some (like Dagar and the Warlord) were created especially for comics, while others (like Kull and Beowulf) were adapted from other sources. Marvel, DC, and even Gold Key threw their headbands into the blood and guts arena, but most of their efforts were short-lived. Case in point: Marvel's adaptation of Lin Carter's Thongor.

Thongor was a unique twist on Robert E. Howard's Conan as it combined Howard-style characters with and Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired world. Carter's character first appeared in the mid-60s during the ERB boom and appeared in a series of novels, as well as starring in several short-stories that popped up in a variety of fantasy anthologies. The coolest part of the history of Thongor? He could have been Marvel's premiere barbarian. S'truth! The story goes that writer Roy Thomas planned to get the rights to Thongor before he tried for the Conan license because he figured the Conan folks would want too much money. Thomas learned that he could get Conan for the same price as Thongor (though he offered more money out of embarrassment), so it was Conan, not Thongor, who became the star of Marvel's first and best-loved sword and sorcery mag.

So, Marvel was having success with Conan, added Kull, and tried to add more S&S properties to their line-up. Creatures on the Loose seemed to be the "barbarian try-out mag" since Kull made his debut there with ish 10 (December 1970), followed by Gullivar Jones of Mars (December 1971), and finally Thongor with ish 22 (December 1972). (Hey--barbarians for Christmas three years in a row!) Thongor's strip lasted through CotL #29 (February 1974) with sci-fi writer George Alec Effinger writing the first four issues (with Tony Isabella helping out on ish 25), then Golden Age great Gardner Fox wrote issues 26-27 before the unique voice of Steve Gerber took over the wordsmithing with issues 28-29. The hugely talented then-newcomer Val Mayerick handled the art from issues 22-27, with Vincente Alcazar taking over for the last two issues.

It was a cool series, really. Unlike many of Marvel's experimental titles of the period, it had a pretty stable creative team--only 3 writers and two artists for an eight issue run, all of them turning out some pretty inspired work (with the exception of the colorist who gave Thongor black instead of red hair for the first few issues). I think Gerber was heading into some pretty trippy places, and I would've loved to have seen where he was going. Sadly, we'll never know.

What we do have are some great memories--and some far-out scans!--of the Warrior of Lost Lemuria, including his debut tale which Ol' Groove is gonna lay 'pon ya right now! Who loves ya, baby?