Claw, The Unconquered

One of my favorite experimental books DC produced in the mid seventies was the sword and sorcery title, Claw the Unconquered. A quarter page black and white spot appeared in those fun add pages (which are few and far between today) in a one hundred page Brave and the Bold issue a few months before it was released. At the end of a fantastic Viking Prince story, there was this half page add of a barbarian, sword in hand, and a blurb that the character would begin in late February. No title of the book was given, so how was a boy to remember what to look for? As a kid though, it peaked my interest, since I always loved the fantasy material, especially from National.

This book was launched with seven other titles that were featured in a full page color advertisement a short time later...First DC gave you the world's greatest SUPER-HEROES, Then DC introduced top quality MYSTERY TALES...NOW DC COMICS presents FANTASY at its best in our all new ADVENTURE comics JUSTICE, INC, TOR, KONG, CLAW, STALKER, WARLORD, BEOWULF, now on sale in there own action packed magazines! The promo had images of the DC stable of heroes, their monsters, and the new characters they were promoting, so I thought they had to be good from the argument presented by my favorite publisher. And most of these books did have an audience, even though a small one, but that could not prevent their quick demise. Only The Warlord survived long enough for Claw to appear in two backup stories with some early art by Tom Yeates. The character was even resurrected to feature in later issues of the 1995 team book, Primal Force. But somebody other than myself must have liked the character with its recent Wildstorm mini-series and cross-over issues with Dynamite Comics of late.

When the first issue appeared in June 1975, the tag line claimed THE WORLD TREMBLES BEFORE THE BLADE OF CLAW. I was excited about this new barbarian feature that looked a lot like Marvel's Conan, but this warrior had a new gimmick, hidden underneath his crimson gauntlet was a horrible dragon's hand. Writer David Micheline provided the mystical scripts for the twelve issue run and the underrated Filipino artist Ernesto Chan provided the pencils for the first seven issues. Keith Giffin, Ricardo Villagran, Bob Layton, Joe Kubert, John Celardo, and Pat Boyette were the artist/inkers for the remaining fantasy tales.


The basic story was our hero searching for his origin and the secret behind this evil hand that often acted on its own accord, since it had a will of its own. In Castle Darkmon, King Occulas had heard of an outlander that would destroy his realm. So with the help of his aged wizard, they sent a legion of creatures to stop the barbarian named Valcan, who was also known as Claw. With a price on his head, Claw had to defend himself against bounty hunters and discover three missing amulets that would lead him to the enchanted silver sword Moonthorn, which was to reveal his unknown past. Along the way Claw is assisted by a devil horned rogue, Ghikyn, the prince of the thousand hills, who saves the barbarian from death on many occasions. The fighting duo eventually discovers and matches together all the talismans pieces that transport them into the Seventh Realm. Here Claw finally confronts King Occulas to find his forgotten past he so desperately seeks.

I have always enjoyed the talented Filipino artists that were working for National in the seventies and eighties, as the artwork on these few pages speak for themselves. Ernie Chan, who also used the last name Chua for a time, once explained that when he arrived from the Philippines a "helpful" immigration officer said that there were too many Chan's in the USA, so the official wrote in Chua on the paperwork. The name was later changed back, but fans often still confuse the "two" artists due to their similar style. Chan after working on Conan and many other Marvel and DC titles put an incredible amount of detail on these pages. He seems to really pull out all the stops when compared to his horror, western, or super-hero work of the same time period. Every panel is action packed, filled with beautiful women, exotic landscapes, fierce creatures, and other features that made him a fan favorite for sword and sorcery tales. The writer and artist weave some nice touches into the story line often using classic mythical figures like the Cyclops and Centaur, as well as developing some unique monsters for Claw to overcome. And often when the fighting really gets going, some villain usually pulls off the scarlet gauntlet only to be shocked at his possessed devil's paw.

The first issue was roughed out in heavy blue pencil, which Chan smoothly inked leaving a moody twilight feel to the pages. The artist must have had some other commitments, because by issue three, Pat Boyette was called in to embellish the next two stories. It was an interesting combination since Boyette usually only penciled and inked all his own material. But with Chan layouts and Boyette finishes, we get the best of both worlds with familiar Claw poses and a new clean inking style. Pat had mentioned before that one of his problems with DC was the editors often marked up his pages with those electric blue markers. Since Charlton and Warren had given him a free hand, he was not too pleased with the scores of requests for small corrections to the art, but as a true professional, he did what was asked of him. But for the original seven fantasy titles that National launched under the same banner, five of the books lasted a mere six issues or less. Claw had a longer run, probably due to its bi-monthly printing and a publishing hiatus of fifteen months between issues nine and ten. Only Mike Grell's Warlord was the real success lasting one hundred thirty-three issues before it ended in 1989. But you can't knock DC for trying! They had a long list of one hit wonder books, but I enjoyed them all the same.

National Cartoonist Society Profile: Dan Piraro

Another wacky member of the NCS is the popular shtick man, Dan Piraro. Here is his zany biography in his own words from a few years ago...Dan Piraro was born in the latter half of the 20th century to a pair of small-town game show hosts in the American Midwest. When not being forced to attend church or Catholic school, he was left alone in the family trailer home with his eleven siblings, five dogs, and a mysterious man named "Betty." At the age of eighteen he fled to Dallas, with little formal education and no job skills. Shortly after his parole in 1985, he got into cartooning and has been unable to escape since. He has been married to a woman well out of his league since 1980 and they have two children of similar gender.

Bizarro was first syndicated by Chronicle Features in 1985, then moved to Universal Press Syndicate in 1995. There have been to date nine Bizarro collections published domestically, as well as a lunchboxful over seas. There have been a number of T-shirt, calendar and coffee mug deals over the years, the memories of which are still too painful to discuss. As of this writing, no one has had the courage to bestow an award of any kind on Piraro for his cartooning efforts, although a colleague once described him a s a pleasant person with adequate manners.

National Cartoonist Society Profile: Howard Chaykin

Continuing in my series of NCS artists is the talented writer and artist Howard Chaykin, whose innovative storytelling techniques and often controversial choice of subject matter have made him a world wide success in his comic works. Chaykin’s main influences are the classic magazine illustrators of the fifties such as Robert Fawcett, Al Parker, and many others. Here is the creator's bio in his own words. --- Born in the early 1950s, in Newark, New Jersey. Raised in Brownsville and East Flastbush in Brooklyn. Finally saw a real tree when I was removed to Queens. Tilden High School, Jamaica High School. Spent what should have been my college years bumming around the States, having a much better time than you did. Started in comics as Gil Kane's assistant. Moved on to assist Wallace Wood, Gray Morrow, and Neal Adams. Freelanced since 1974 for every company in the business. Pioneered the graphic novel in the United States with EMPIRE, THE STARS MY DESTINATION, and THE SWORD OF HEAVEN. Created AMERICAN FLAGG! and TIME(SQUARED). Served as Executive Script Consultant on THE FLASH and VIPER TV series. I freelanced in features, pilots, and episodic television. Outside of comics my primary interests include Jazz, from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis, and crime fiction. I live a quiet life in the San Fernando Valley, living down a youthful attitude problem that continues to haunt me.

More Horrible Collecting Habits

Everyone enjoys a good scare now and them, and that goes for collecting original art from the scores of horror titles that have been with us for over sixty years! My earliest pages in collecting originals came from those wonderful DC horror anthology books that were popular in the seventies by some Filipino artists that really set the mood in those twisted tales. I always enjoyed collecting horror memorabilia whether it be comics, movie posters, or other paper items. But one fateful day I discovered a stack of original horror art at a local comic convention. I was instantly hooked on this one-of-a-kind collectible, which seemed to me to be the best kept secret in comic fandom -- obtaining the art itself.

In the 1940s a few brave publishers experimented with horror subjects in the starring role like Prize Comics' Frankenstein and Hillman's bush creature, The Heap, (which eventually inspired both the Incredible Hulk and Swamp Thing many years later), but Avon's one shot comic Eerie from 1946 is debatably the first true "horror" book. Seeing profits in this budding new genre, other comic companies quickly followed suit developing a host of creepy and crawly characters to scare many kid right out of their socks for years to come.

However, the real explosion in fright comics came from William Gaines EC Comics line. His trio of horror titles, Tales of the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, and The Vault of Horror debuted in 1950 and really started the ball (or head) rolling! Following the lead from the strange late night radio shows hosts of the time, these anthology books were introduced by weird supernatural narrators such as the Crypt-Keeper, the Old Witch, and the Vault-Keeper. Most collectors will agree that EC produced the best comic art of all time rendered by the likes of Wood, Severin, Ingels, Davis, Feldstein, Ingels, Crandall, Kurtzman and many others, who collectively started the most successful horror craze in comic history.

When other publishers couldn't compete with the superior artwork, story, and black humor of the EC books, they tried everything they could to make a difference by using excessive gore, violence, and other shocking effects to try to produce better sales. This trend, coupled with Dr. Fredric Wertham's attack on comics in his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, helped fuel a U.S. Senate investigation into comic books and their alleged connection tothe growing juvenile delinquency in the country.

All the comic publishers quickly realized the ramifications of this modern day "witch hunt" and developed the Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval to better help police their own industry. Though the original investigation was focused more on the very popular and violent crime comics, it also took a heavy toll on the horror genre as well, stopping any references to zombies, vampires, ghouls, werewolves, and other classic horror characters. The Code even banned the words "terror" and "horror" from any comic book title, which effectually killed off all the booming fear books of the day.

But you can't keep a good genre down, so spook comics did bounce back in the early 1960s with Atlas Comics' Lee and Kirby stories of space born "big foot monsters" attacking mankind, following closely the science fiction creature features of the time. There still were a few watered-down horror titles hanging around, including Ghost Stories from Dell and Gold Key's Twilight Zone that still made decent sales. When the Code restrictions were revised in late 1971, National, Marvel, and Charlton launched loads of gritty new titles bringing back all the ghouls and goblins that were so missed by the fans. Many publishers even developed their own wicked legion of narrators as modern day "horror hosts" to present their scary new storylines. A favorite of mine were Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, and the beautiful blood-sucker from Draculon, Vampirella, from Warren's excellent collection of books. Launched in 1965 James Warren's graphic black-and-white horror titles luckily escaped the Comics Code since they were carefully issued in the larger magazine format to avoid any censorship.

If EC was the high point of the Golden Age of horror comics, most would agree that Warren's fantastic collection of artists and writers from around the world created the finest terror tales of the Silver Age. Bringing back many of the original EC creators, Warren also tapped new talent from Spain (Maroto, Aureleon, Gonzales, Torrents, Ortiz, Sanjulian) and the Philippines (Nino, Cruz, Alcala, Nebres). But even now, renowned authors like Stephen King and Clive Barker have made their mark with recent developments in modern horror comics, though today it's a small share of the market when compared to the "gory days" of the past.