If you missed the last one…
This post is brought to you by the Sirtago & Poet series by Jack Mackenzie. These tales are collected in two volumes (so far) including Blades & Alchemy and Blades & Abominations. Sword & Sorcery’s greatest duo since Fafhrd & Grey Mouser, Ka Sirtago is a massive swordsman but also the heir to the Trigassan Empire; and Poet is his companion, smaller but equally deadly. The two blunder their way through the earlier adventures, gaining skills and knowledge that lead them to even bigger trouble. There is a reason these two are a fan favorite.
Sword & Sorcery comics were well-established by the 1980s, really only ten years after the first appearance of Conan the Barbarian in October 1970. Conan had been followed by Claw, Kull, The Warlord, Beowulf and many others as well as anthologies like Eerie, Heavy Metal, 1984, Epic and a number of black & whites and color magazine stories. One of the best writers of single S&S tales was Gardner F. Fox, a veteran of DC Comics as well as Sword & Sorcery novels with Kothar and Kyrix. At this time he was writing the Niall stories for The Dragon. Fox had written heroic fantasy comics since 1950 with Crom the Barbarian. His work also appeared at Warren and Skywald as well as in independents like Star-Studded Comics. It is fair to say, outside of Marvel Comics, Fox was the guy.
Timothy Truman was a much newer guy. He was a recent graduate of the School of Cartoon & Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. He got his start doing artwork for role-playing game magazines, then some comics for the same, Ares, in particular. Later he would go on to write and draw the post-apocalyptic Grimjack in the 1980s, and later still, a few Conan comics. But before that, he asked Gardner F. Fox for a story…
In the editorial in 1985’s Killer, Tales by Timothy Truman from Eclipse Comics, Tim tells how he met Gar at a convention, suggested they collab on a piece. Fox replied with the script for “The Saving of Sayera”, which Truman wanted to draw but got side-tracked by comics like Grimjack. Fox was cool about the delays. Eventually, by 1984 he had drawn the comics but it never appeared anywhere until Eclipse collected all his early stuff in this comic. As part of our Forgotten Fantasy series, “Daral” makes a logical choice, appearing in what is really an obscure title. The comic had zero chance of ever getting another episode, though I suppose Truman could do one in memory of GFF now.
After a full page splash of Daral standing with spear and shield we dive into the strange events in Gondwana, a world before Atlantis…
Lord Kordonor, a powerful wizard, has sent three warriors to retrieve his kidnapped daughter, Sayera, from the witch Elva. All have failed. Using his scrying stone, he seeks out Daral who hunts in the forests of Zandamoor.
The wizard sends a message via a bat-like familiar that finds Daral and gives the message. Daral remembers Sayera being a “fair maiden” and accepts and rides his Ax-Beak mount, Azal, onward. Elva watches through her own magic and summons Xalth.
Xalth pops up and ambushes the rider. Daral attacks with his sword Ravensbrand, but the scaly hide repels the blade. Xalth overwhelms the ostrich mount and Daral desperately thrusts into the monster’s heart. Xalth is slain. Daral remounts and arrives at Kordonor’s tower. The lord explains that Queen Elfa (earlier Elva) will sacrifice Sayera to the sea-god, Skaatha, if Daral does not hurry. We see Elfa, buck naked praying to the demons. She asks for help against Daral.
The demons of the sky respond by zapping poor Azal with a lightning bolt. This makes Ravensbrand useless unless Daral can save it. Which he does by lassoing it and charging it again in the sky flashes. Now armed, he goes after the stolen girl. The land is covered in snow. Daral must hurry, so he uses his shield as a sled. Entering a cavern, he finds Skaatha about to devour the naked Sayera. Hanging over the sacrificial pole is a sword.
To reach the weapon, Daral uses his spear as a pole-vaulting device and flies up to the sword hanging on a chain. Daral takes the Sea-god’s sword and slays Skaatha. Releasing Sayera she speaks her thanks. Daral tells her to save her breath for the long journey home. The tale ends with not a subtle hint of the sexual reward Daral will get. (Ah, the 1980s.)
Conclusion
Well, what can we say? The Tim Truman art is great. Not Fox’s best work, but nothing unusual either. The sports elements were kind of weird but again, not really different than some Batman comics Fox wrote. Mostly, I noted the nudity, which was a part of the Direct Sales movement of the 1980s, where the old Comics’ Code rules did not apply. Not quite as raunchy as Underground Comics, but certainly part of the mix. Am I sad, there wasn’t more? Not particularly. This is a pretty good example of derivative Sword & Sorcery, not much different than the stuff Fox did for Warren and Skywald (though it had an up-beat ending which those old stories usually didn’t. At Warren, the daughter would turn out to be a monster disguised as a naked girl and would have eaten Daral’s face.) “The Saving of Sayera” is a good example of what S&S haters hate. Buff dude, gorgeous girl, evil witch, lotta monsters. The only thing we were missing was the barbarian killing the sorcerer. Where did Elfa go? I suppose she would have returned for the next story. As an end piece to old-style S&S, Daral is a nice tribute to Fox and a fading style of heroic fantasy.
Sword & Sorcery from RAGE machine Books
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