2021 “Primal Force” fanfic commission art by Brad Green

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Spinning out from “Lords of the Ultra-Realm” and continuing along similar lines as “Justice League Extreme #1”, I got so jazzed about playing with DC's obscure and unfamiliar sword & sorcery characters that I ask to expand to a diptych. Since I was more or less doing a comics adaptation of the Warlord toy line with the first one, this was a lot less formed of an idea. I hadn't realized when I made the ask that the artist wasn't even advertising commissions at the time, and I here I was asking for two without having a clear idea of exactly who I'd even want.

Thankfully, Brad Green put up with my nonsense (again) and delivered another dynamic piece (again again.) The main reason I wanted to do this was because I was so impressed with Beowulf's 1970s design, and I knew Anj would love to see the Dragon Slayer again. I was such a pain about art direction on the first commission that I tried to keep quiet this time, but I was pleased that Green recognized the same aesthetic appeal and fore-fronted the dude.

I kind of robbed Claw the Unconquered and skewed the premise, but I just really prefer John Chan's design over Valcan Scaramax's Conan repaint. I also was reliant on prexisting logos for the project, and Primal Force was a great fit. The Asian representation was a bonus, but more so, Green threw so much into Claw (especially his sick namesake extremity) that I'd argue this is the best drawing of the character ever. The original Starfire checked a lot of the same boxes, including stretching the gag, but I think including her just enriched it with the Moorcock vibe her co-creator David Michelinie strove for in connecting her to Star Hunters and Claw.

Stalker #1 was one of the first comics I ever owned, so this was my greatest sentimental favorite. Between the two pieces, I also got to revisit a bunch of characters I'd been tantalized with by the 1983 DC Sampler, so Arion helped to round out the lot. Aside from an insane artistic rookie season that included a young Bernie Wrightson, I never had much in for Nightmaster, but his premise and swordcraft sure fit this scene. The only real oddball is Anima, but her dual nature and dark fantasy ties kept drawing me to use her. She weirdly fits here, and with the Marvel Family, another player in my premise. She's even kind of a Johnny Thunder revamp, and you may have noticed that I have a spot for New Bloods.

I continue to admire Brad Greens ability to not only balance out bunches of diverse (and conversely somewhat repetitive) characters, but to find ways to give each their own spotlight while doing things that are visually interesting. Five of these people have swords, but they're all swinging in different directions, striking unique poses, telling you a bit about themselves as individuals. I like to change things up and work with different artists, but when Ive got the opportunity to get a piece from someone this good, it's hard to pass that up!

Brad Green & Company

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Who's Who Stalker

July is a month of Anj Tuesdays as I ease out of my reviews of DC Sword and Sorcery 70s titles by doing a 'once a week' review of some Who's Who pages of the characters I have covered here at Bloodlines.

I reviewed the first 2 issues of this series here and eventually ended up getting all 4 issues of the book. This Who's Who page does a good job of explaining the entire story of Stalker including the open-ended finale of the book. In that last issue, Stalker arrives in the after-life, in the area of Hell that warrior God D'Grth oversees. Stalker fulfills a prophecy that the 'greatest warrior' will mobilize the cursed warrior souls into an army and overrun D'Grth. Defeated by the horde, D'Grth admits that he cannot return Stalker's soul to the nameless one. The only way the soul will be returned is if D'Grth dies ... and the only way D'Grth can die is if all his worshipers are dead. Hell-bent, literally, to get his soul back, Stalker returns to Earth vowing to kill all of D'Grth's followers. And that is where the series ends.

I am amazed that Stalker got a full-page dedicated to him in Who's Who but it does allow legend Steve Ditko to do a nice montage of the character as well as the pin-up.

And who knows, maybe one day I'll do full reviews of the final Stalker issues. Or maybe DC will reboot the character!

Review: Claw The Unconquered #1

Hello again. It's Anj from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary. And once more, I am going to thumb through the long boxes and dust off some 70s DC Sword and Sorcery comics to review here at Bloodlines.  My interest in these comics took root in my youth when I would see visually interesting ads for these books in the 'safer' Superboy and Legion of Super-Heroes books from that time. But they didn't really bloom until Gail Simone's wonderful Ends of the Earth arc in Wonder Woman. Here Diana teamed up with all those heroes who I dreamed of reading.

And from the WW Earth arc here on Bloodlines, I reviewed Stalker #1 and #2. And I reviewed the wildly interesting and semi-bizarre Beowulf #1 amd #2. That left Claw the Unconquered as the only character from Simone's story that I hadn't covered ... until now.

I stumbled across Claw the Unconquered #1 recently and figured I should complete the set.

In Ends of the Earth, Diana is coerced by Stalker to save his soul by killing the demon warrior god D'Grth. To do so, she needs to team up with all these 70s characters ... Stalker, but also Beowulf and Claw. But Stalker is pulling the strings and isn't exactly trustworthy. During this adventure, Diana becomes as cold and bloodthirsty as Stalker and then as cursed as Claw.

In the end, the warriors come together as a team and defeat D'Grth.

But now, having read Claw, this panel where Claw warns Diana not to betray him, resonates louder. Claw doesn't trust her. Now I know why.

Claw the Unconquered #1 was released in the spring of 1975, one of a few sword and sorcery books out at that time, including Marvel's Conan books. The book was written by  David Michelinie, who also wrote the early Starfire books and got acclaim later on with Iron Man. Art is lavishly rendered by Ernie Chan. Chan's stuff seems tailor made for a barbarian book.

Having reviewed these DC offerings, I have to say I like this cover the most. For one, the bold use of electric pink really pops, grabbing the eye and really accentuating the darker purple monstrous shadow that Claw is standing in. While I think the red title gets lost amid the more garish surroundings, the logo itself is solid with the trademark red gauntlet anchoring 'the unconquered. Add to that the 'barbarian with big sword towering over (preparing to mount?) the near naked comely lass' motif which seems standard issue on these sorts of books and this cover is a winner.

The book starts off with Claw, whose name is Valcan, strolling through Ichar the throne city of Pytharia. He is barely covered in some fur which makes the crimson gauntlet he is wearing stand out. It seems out of place and clues us in that its use is more than protection of a sword hand.

As a newcomer, he seems a mark for a pickpocket who almost gets away with Claw's gold. Instead, the thief gets tossed through the wall of a local tavern, providing Claw an unorthodox entrance into the establishment. Within 2 pages we have learned a lot. He is hiding something with that gauntlet. He is incredibly strong.

Michelinie wastes no time in showing us what is under that glove. A serving girl carelessly pours wine on the glove and when she takes it to clean she uncovers Valcan's secret and why he is aptly named Claw. His hand his a webbed demonic hand. No wonder he keeps it hidden.

The woman might have initially been flirting with Valcan, lavishing him with compliments of his good looks and battle prowess. But the sight of that hand sends her reeling a bit and shows where her true loyalty lies.

She immediately informs her master, Tarmag, about Valcan's demonic hand. There is a bounty on anyone with a deformed clawed hand and Tarmag intends to collect.

Tarmag gathers some brutes and attacks Claw in a dark alley. But Claw is very proficient in combat and kills the thugs. Tarmag barely escapes with his life.

And if the bounty can't be claimed directly, Tarmag hope that information about Claw's existence can get him some coin. He heads straight to King Occulas, he of the yellow eye, and tells him that Valcan is in town and has the dread demonic hand. For that info, Tarmag is rewarded with a knife to the back.

It turns out that back when he was Prince Occulua, the king heard from his Wizard advisor Miftung that he will rule but that his time as King will come to an end by someone with a 'webbed hand like a dragon's claw.' Thus the bounty on someone fitting Valcan's description.

We flashback to Occulas' rise to power. First, he kills Kregar, a farmer loyal to King Occulus the first but also possessing a clawed hand. Prince Occulas wants to eliminate the prophecy before he even takes the throne.

Unfortunately, Valcan (then just a baby with a clawed hand) goes unnoticed by the assassins. He is rescued by a mostly unseen by definitely ghostly figure. So a nice little mystery is started. Who is this guy? And what does he want with Valcan? What did he do with him?

With Kregar killed, Prince Occulas poisons his father and ascends to the throne. But his hears of the clawed hand consume him.

I absolutely absolutely love that last panel. There would be many ways that Occulas' fears could be shown but this picture, the clawed hand engulfing Occulas, surrounding him, practically devouring him just wonderfully shows how suffocating this fear is. Just fantastic ... and why comics are such a great medium.

Back in the present, the serving girl who betrayed Claw earlier seems to help him avoid both the authorities (who want to question him about the murder of Tarmag's men) by taking him through the city.

She seem to be more trustworthy here, stating she wishes to thank Claw for freeing her from servitude under Tarmag.

Also interesting is that Claw has no recollection of his life other than the last few days. He only has a nagging sense that he is to play an important part in this world. Where was Claw all this time? Who trained him with the sword? Gave him the gauntlet? Sent him to Ichar? I wonder if any of the mysteries here are answered in subsequent issues.

But the woman turns out to be traitorous to Claw again. She leads him to the Temple of Kann, where Occulas' right hand man Zedon has used a mystic gem to bring forth the old god Kann, a sort of Cthulu-lite tentacled demon.

Despite her treachery, Claw actually saves the woman from being eaten by Kann and then kills the god with a well placed spear. It is a nice page of small interlaced panel which bring a feeling of action to the battle.

In another way of showing just how foul Occulas is, we discover that he sent his man Zedon on a suicide mission. Raising Kann cost him his life.

The woman has now failed her master and Occulas. She has no where to go and so begs Claw to let her travel with him. She even offers her 'charms' ... a way to make a long journey more comfortable. Ahhh ... feminine wiles. Despite having betrayed him twice, Claw can't resist such an offer.

No surprise here. After a short reprieve of ... ahem ... comfort, she betrays him again. At a desert oasis, she tries to slip a dagger between his ribs.

Unbelievable.

And then Claw acts like a barbarian. She has betrayed him three times. Rather than kill her himself, he leaves her to the jackals of the desert and a presumed grisly death of being hunted and eaten. Brutal ... fitting. She has tried to get him killed three times in a couple of days. No wonder he doesn't trust Diana.

In the end, this is sort of your standard barbarian fare. Some common plot themes - unscrupulous dictator, man with no history destined to bring things right - are here. But the idea of the clawed hand adds an interesting layer, especially given that we get so little of what it means here in this first issue. We know much more about the villains in this book from this premiere issue than we do about our hero. He has a claw. He is a tremendous warrior. But we have no back story because he doesn't know it himself. Instead we know much more about who Occulas is here.

Ernie Chan brings a sort of more realistic style to the book despite the seedy locales and older gods present. Certainly this isn't the imaginative layouts we saw Ditko bring us in Stalker.

Still, this seems like a cookbook warrior book. It lacks the absolute zaniness and fever dream feel of Beowulf. It lacks the hook of the spurned soulless warrior and the dynamic Ditko art of Stalker. It doesn't have the hodgepodge sword and sci-fi feel nor the original character styles of Starfire (or Ironwolf - another book from this time period). Of all these books, I think Claw is the one that grabbed me the least. And that despite the great cover and the 'engulfing clawed hand' panel which simply stands out.

Overall grade: B

Review: Stalker #2

Hello, Anj from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary again.

Last week I wrote a post about Stalker #1, a 1970s DC Fantasy title that last 4 issues. Written by then fledgling writer Paul Levitz and drawn by industry superstars Steve Ditko and Wally Wood, the first issue was a fast paced sword and sorcery story that set up the premise of Stalker and gave us a couple of good hooks to get us to come back.

I enjoyed Stalker #1 enough that I thought I would share my thoughts on Stalker #2.

Stalker was recently seen again in the DCU in the 'Ends of the Earth' storyline which ran in Wonder Woman #20-23. In that story, Gail Simone has Wonder Woman meets Stalker in the DCU and is brought to his world. There she meets other DC fantasy heroes Claw the Unconquered and Beowulf. Together the heroes find and defeat Dgrth, the demon lord of Stalker's world and the claimer of Stalker's soul.

Throughout that tale, Diana takes on the aspects of these heroes, becoming soulless  and craving the kill (like Stalker) and actually manifesting Claw's demon hand. I have waxed poetic about Aaron Lopresti's art while on Wonder Woman. Here is a great cover showcasing the different battle outfits he put Diana in as she walked through that world of DC fantasy titles.

I think the purpose of this blog was really to delve into DC's vast history. And if there is one thing I love about DC it is that there is a sense of legend, a sense of a common past. It is why homages and Easter eggs crop up in some issues, a nod to the greatness that has come before.  So I loved that Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti cared enough to not only write this story but to really do the research on the characters, draw them as they were drawn, continue their stories as they were written. Even the name of the arc, 'Ends of the Earth', echoes Stalker's quest of getting to the World's End. Stalker lasted 4 issues, Beowulf 6, Claw the Unconquered 12. But even if brief, they are still part of the tapestry of the DC Bloodline.

As we learned in the Stalker #1, Stalker gave his soul to Dgrth and in return received tremendous combat skills as well as the ability to have his revenge on the Queen who made him a slave. When Stalker realizes that life without a soul isn't all it was cracked up to be, he decides to track down Dgrth and force the god to rescind the deal. It won't be easy as he will need to travel to 'World's End'.

Here, at the sea of World's End, Stalker is tracking Prior F'Lan, one of Dgrth's high priests. F'Lan will be able to tell Stalker where he can find Dgrth.

Getting to F'Lan isn't easy. First Stalker must dispatch a multi-armed demon guard manning the bridge that leads there.

Nothing spectacular here although I did like that Stalker used the bones that form the bridge's hand rail as his weapons to defeat the monster. A similar bridge is seen in the Simone arc, another small nod to history that only a few will acknowledge.

But again, this victory is hollow. The lack of a soul makes joy and happiness an impossibility. There can only be hate.

With the guard defeated, Stalker enters the Dgrth  temple that F'Lan presides over. Pretty wuickly, he is discovered. Unfortunately, despite his demon-given combat prowess, Stalker is overcome by F'Lan's guards and thrown into prison. He will be sacrificed to Dgrth in the morning.

Not surprisingly, not everyone is not treated well in F'Lan's temple. There are slaves here, mostly young women drawn in a classic Wally Wood style.

Wishing to be freed from her life of slavery, one of them decides to help Stalker. She slips him a small dagger and tells him that on the sides of the cliff where he is to be killed there are many nooks that he may hide in. All she asks for in return for helping him is her freedom.

The next morning, Stalker is taken to the cliff to be sacrificed. In what I thought was a nice twist, Stalker actually played along hoping that Dgrth himself might show up to bear witness. Maybe gods manifest often down on this world?

When the demon god does not show up, Stalker makes his play, killing the guards and presumably jumping off the cliff to his death. Naturally, he has found one of the crevices the woman told him of and is able to hide there safely.

Meanwhile, back at the temple, somehow the woman's assistance is deduced and she is tortured. The 'Wheel of Infinity' certainly sounds diabolical.

Unable to deal with the pain, she divulges the site of the cliff's shelter.

This is another example of Ditko's and Wood's excellent art. First, the lower left panel reminds me of Wood's later portrayal of Power Girl. But the layout of the last panel is wonderful. The woman looks utterly defeated, her right hand clenched in a fist as though she is angry that she gave in, her hair down dejectedly; she just looks defeated. That is a lot of information conveyed and that's without even seeing her face. More importantly, the angle looking up from the floor with F'Lan in the background. It is as if we are on the floor too, sharing her defeat. Nice!

Of course, Stalker is alive and well. He makes his way back to the temple, killing F'Lan's guards. Terrified of being killed himself, F'Lan finally tells Stalker how he can get to Dgrth, via a gate to Hell on the Burning Isle.

Stalker decides death is too good for F'Lan. Instead he decides that justice would be for F'Lan to suffer the temple's tortures. Stalker straps him into the Wheel of Infinity and activates it, knowing F'Lan will now spin 'till the end of time'. I love the 'nooooooooo!'

Some twisted heroics there. I like it!

And here is another interesting twist. We see Stalker leave the temple with the woman by his side. I assumed that she would end up being a supporting character, maybe the love interest. But instead, she is sent away by Stalker ... a most chivalrous thing to do. What good would it do for her to now be free only to stay with him and travel to the gates of Hell. That was unexpected. And as someone who has read comics forever, it is good to be surprised!

I also found it interesting that we never find out her name. We don't know Stalker's name either. I wonder if it was intentional on Levitz's part to leave the heroes of the book nameless.

Of course, for all I know, she is in the following issues. I don't own Stalker #3 or #4.

And so Stalker continues on his quest to regain his soul.

As for Stalker's fate in the Wonder Woman story. Diana ends up defeating Dgrth. But in the end, it turns out that Stalker was a traitor. Unable to win his soul back, he had made another deal with Dgrth offering the demon god the souls of Diana, Beowulf, and Claw in return for his own. In fact, in the first issue of the arc, he actually steals Diana's soul for himself.

With his plot revealed and Dgrth defeated, Diana reclaims her soul leaving Stalker once again a hollow shell of a man. What a bitter ending for this cursed being, neither hero nor villain. Have I mentioned that Aaron Lopresti's art was fantastic? He is the only reason I am tempted to get the upcoming JLI book.

As I have said before, Silver Age reviews get a softer look from me. While Stalker #2 was not as strong as the opening chapter, it was done well enough to make me poke around for the other 2 issues of the book.

Overall grade: B

Review: Stalker #1

Hello everyone. It's Anj from  Supergirl Comic Box Commentary. When Diabolu Frank set up this blog and  asked me to join, I was honored. I am a long-time DC fan, a true fanatic for over 3 decades, and loved the idea of having a place where I could occasionally post a review of a non-Super book as well as discuss some of the dustier parts of the DCU. I don't post here as much as I would like to but I thank Frank for giving me a place to go when struck by the muse.

But a review of Stalker #1? I don't know if it can get dustier than that. So why this post?

Stalker, as well as Beowulf, and Claw the Unconquered, and Tor, and Tarzan were fantasy books that DC put out in the mid-70s. I wasn't reading comics back then but I have bought enough comics from that time period to know the characters by name just from the ads within the issues. And, as odd as it sounds, I always thought that 70s DC fantasy was sort of a hole in my knowledge. None of these books lasted a long time but they certainly had tremendous talent associated with them. Tor was written and drawn by legend Joe Kubert. Claw the Unconquered was written by Dave Michilinie with art by Ernie Chua and later Keith Giffen (some of Giffen's earliest work). And Stalker was written by then neophyte Paul Levitz and drawn by mega-legends Steve Ditko and Wally Wood!

I put the idea of looking for these issues in the back of my head and frankly it got lost in the old mental warehouse. 

In 2008, Gail Simone was in the midst of an underappreciated run on Wonder Woman. One of the arcs ran from Wonder Woman #20-23, a 4 issue story called 'Ends of the Earth' in which Diana teams up with Stalker, Beowulf, and Claw the Unconquered to battle Dgrth, the demon god from Stalker.

It was a great arc, showing Diana as a warrior with compassion. It was very interesting to see her interact with these characters - the noble Beowulf, the cursed Stalker, the angry Claw. And it allowed Simone the opportunity to also delve into those 70s stories. After I read the story, I remembered my prior idea of investigating these stories in their original series.

The story ends with a great battle between Wonder Woman and Dgrth in Washington D.C. It ends quickly ... maybe too quickly ... but it is fantastic.

And I have said it many times before, Aaron Lopresti might be the perfect Wonder Woman artist for me. His Diana is everything she should be strong and beautiful, powerful and regal. Lopresti just rocked on this book.

And in this arc, he gets to draw Diana in a variety of battle outfits, variations of her costume for the more medieval settings of  northlands, deserts, and jungles. With such varying settings, Lopresti really gets to stretch his legs.

But that arc came out in 2008. Despite rekindling my interest in those fantasy comics, it wasn't until a recent convention that it finally came to fruition ... at least a little. As I was leaving the Boston Comic-Con, I walked past a dealer with a box marked '70s DC books, $1'. How could I not thumb through the box? And there I discovered, in near mint condition, Stalker #1 and 2, and Beowulf #1. Just a great purchase.

And so ... the story of Stalker ...

I have to say, I expected this to be a clunky read but was surprised at how good the first issue was.

Levitz gets us right into the action, the first several pages shows Stalker working his way into a well guarded castle, defeating palace guards, and the throwing a dagger at the castle's Queen, the blade embedding itself into the throne right next to the Queen's face.

We have really no idea who these characters are or what the motivations are behind Stalker's assault. But it certainly grabbed me.

I also liked the opening little blurb above. The idea of a 'nameless' hero always intrigues me like in the some of the best Clint Eastwood westerns.

And I thought this was just a great hook for the series. There was a note on the dagger. Stalker writes of being wronged by the Queen and taking his revenge by killing her a year and a day later.

I can imagine, had the series continued long enough, a sort of countdown feeling as that day of reckoning approached, how the Queen would become more desperate to rid the world of Stalker as that day approached. That unraveling of the Queen would have been fun to watch.

It turns out that Stalker has some history with the Queen. Living in abject poverty, the nameless boy who would become Stalker runs up to the Queen one day and begs to join her court, to become a knight and soldier in her army. The Queen 'accepts' the boy's request but instead puts him to work as a slave inside the palace, scrubbing floors and hauling trash.

Years later, the boy shows his courage and confronts the Queen saying he wished to be a knight, not a slave. The evil Queen orders him to be flogged. But before the beatings can happen, the now young man escapes and wanders into the land, coming across a temple devoted to the demon god of warriors, Dgrth.

Wishing to become a warrior, the nameless young man prays to Drgth who appears to him.

Dgrth promises to give the boy all the gifts he would need for a new life ... expertise in all forms of combat, unerring marksmanship, the ability to follow any trail while leaving no trace. And he would give him a name ... Stalker. But all these gifts had a price.

Stalker must hunt those Dgrth asks him too. And he has to give Dgrth his soul as payment.

Feeling dead already, Stalker accepts.

I will talk about Steve Ditko later, but I love this panel. Look at how Stalker looks like a marionette whose strings have been cut while his soul shrieks as it is pulled free. Fantastic.

And just like that, Stalker becomes a soulless warrior.

His first act with his new skills is to return to the palace and leave the Queen that note. And while there, Stalker kills the man who tried to beat him earlier.

However, the victories and revenge isn't as sweet as Stalker thought it would be. His lack of soul makes any positive emotion unavailable. He feels no joy ... no relief. Suddenly this deal doesn't sound as good as it did.

Stalker returns to a Dgrth temple hoping to rescind the deal. Unfortunately, Dgrth isn't there, only a faithful priest. Determined to regain his soul, Stalker kills the priest, hurling him into a fire pit.

Again, another great scene here as Ditko changes the point of view, moving the angle from above the battle, to parrallel, to below the battle, to back above. That adds some energy to the scene, especially that last panel as we sense the height the priest is plummeting down.

The issue ends with Stalker vowing to find Dgrth and regain his soul.

Boy, there is a lot of story in that one issue. It is amazing just how much was in those issues. This story would probably be a 6 issue opening arc these days. More importantly, it did just what a first issue should do for me ... gave me some back story, and gave me a great hook to come back, the parallel stories of Stalker's quest for his soul as well as his quest for revenge against the Queen.

Levitz does a good job here with dialogue, letting us feel Stalker's emotions as he moves from pauper to slave to soulless warrior.

I could write many posts gushing about Steve Ditko's work. I can't afford early Ditko, so this 'middle' Ditko will have to do. He clearly has a great sense for panel composition, using close ups, wide shots, and points of view to add to the story. I see mostly Ditko here. But Wally Wood is another legend. I can't believe the two of them worked on this together.

I tend to read these Silver Age issues with a different critical sense. I tend to be kinder when it comes to overlooking some of the sillier aspects. But truth is, I would probably read this book if it came out today. I really thought the story and the ongoing plotlines were interesting. This was definitely ... definitely ... worth $1.

Overall grade: A