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Robert Greenberger
by Robert Greenberger
The early 1970s was an exciting period for a comic book reader because two different things were happening. First, it was a period of experimentation as superheroes waned in popularity a bit making room for a lot more war, western, and supernatural titles. and thanks to Roy Thomas’ efforts, sword and sorcery pertained to comics with the successful Conan the Barbarian. nothing indicates success like imitation so while marvel was scooping up Robert E. Howard’s creations and similar barbarians like Thongor, DC Comics wanted in on what might have been a hot genre.
As DC tended to do at the time, they went for something a little a lot more sophisticated, a little a lot more literate. writer Denny O’Neil suggested they acquire the rights to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the gray Mouser.
Leiber was already a prolific writer when he created the pair with his pal Harry Otto Fischer first through correspondence and then prose. The author deliberately created a pair unlike Howard’s hulking, monosyllabic brute. The red-haired Fafhrd was a seven-foot tall gigantic who was as good a singer as he was a swordsman. His companion known as the Mouser was, at best, five feet tall and a rogue in every way. They burst into print in unknown a competitor to odd Tales where Conan held sway, with a story in 1939. Leiber wrote stories and novellas about the duo until 1988 and their collected adventures remain in print, currently in three omnibus volumes from open road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy.
The second thing to happen at this time was that a new generation of artists, whose styles were still-developing but were all utterly unique, were getting toeholds at the big Two. While Barry Smith had sensational work for Marvel, DC’s various anthologies welcomed the likes of Michael William Kaluta, Walter Simonson, and Howard Chaykin.
Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the gray Mouser: Cloud of hate and other Stories
The two events came together in the new title Sword of Sorcery and for five issues, readers were given something very different, and very entertaining. As Richard Arndt wrote in alter Ego #92, “Leiber was certainly the a lot more literate of the two writers, establishing in his fantasy world of Nehwon (“Nowhen” spelled backward) a considerably decadent style and two main characters who actually liked to talk to each other. A lot! compared to Conan, these fellows were regular jabberjaws.”
DC made the unorthodox decision to tease the new series though a guest appearance (alongside Catwoman) in wonder woman #202, an issue written by Samuel R. Delaney and drawn by Dick Giordano. readers were then direct to SoS #1, out at the end of 1972. Unfortunately, the new collection from Dark Horse, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the gray Mouser: Cloud of hate and other Stories, will not include that unreprinted gem.
“There was another person assigned to the Fafhrd and Mouser material,” Chaykin revealed to me during the writing of The Art of Howard Chaykin. “I said to Denny, ‘Boy, I’d really like to do that book.’ Denny had some doubts about the other guy’s ability to deliver in a timely fashion, so he sent us both home on a Friday to do samples, for which we would be paid. I came in with very progressed samples, and this other person dashed them off. I got the job.”
As happened all too typically back then, the series suffered from inconsistent work. “I wasn’t good enough to do the job,” Chaykin admitted. “But that was so normal of me then. once I got the job, I wasn’t up to doing the job. That’s embarrassing and frustrating, but it’s the truth, and I’d rather be there with the truth before someone gets there with it for me.”
Sword of Sorcery #2
As Chaykin struggled to meet the bimonthly deadline, he summoned help. Thankfully, Neal Adams was mentoring lots of of the new generation of creators, using his Continuity Associates as an incubator. It also indicated there was always someone to wield a brush during an emergency, giving birth the designer credit scores The Crusty Bunkers. The finished work was fine and it’s fun today to figure out which pages were touched by which artists. lots of Kaluta can be found, for example.
The first issue saw O’Neil adapt “The price of pain Ease” with art from Chaykin and the Crusty Bunkers under a Kaluta cover. We are introduced to the characters and their world as they attempt to rob duke Danius’ palace. things do not go well.
Leiber’s “Thieves’ House” was the focus of issue #2, which had complete Chaykin art and a great cover from Chaykin and Bernie Wrightson.
Noteworthy in issue #4 is the short story “Young Fafhrd the Barbarian”, an original from O’Neil and some of the first published art by Simonson. The lead adapted “The Cloud of Hate” from Chaykin and the Crusty Bunkers.
Simonson stepped in for what verified to be the final issue. O’Neil adapted “The Sunken Land” and Simonson’s work is just lovely, raw and full of promise. There’s a backup spotlighting the Mouser, this from SF author George Alec Effinger with art from Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom, a team that would migrate to marvel and do terrific things soon after.
Sales were weak for any number of reasons, including the sword and sorcery genre never did catch on to the same degree monsters or martial arts did. Arndt noted, “Scripter O’Neil was clearly getting the grasp of the somewhat tough characters, and the art was normally very good. Simonson’s efforts in the final issue, which displayed his fascination with Norse legends that he later utilized brilliantly in his classic run on Marvel’s Thor comic, were especially tasty.”
Fafhrd and the gray Mouser
The world of Nehwon remained unvisited until Chaykin returned, with artist Mike Mignola in tow, for an acclaimed miniseries, Fafhrd and the gray Mouser, produced for epic Comics and now collected by Dark Horse.
“I was a Fritz Leiber fan from the minute I first read him. I still adore his work, but it wasn’t until I wrote the adaptation of the Fafhrd and Mouser stories that Mike Mignola illustrated for marvel in the nineties that I realized how much of an influence Leiber’s work had been on me as a writer. The Fafhrd and gray Mouser material is sword & sorcery for people who like crime fiction. Lankhmar, after all, is a fantasia of new York City in the 1930s,” said Chaykin.
These five issues are being collected for the first time and supply a fascinating window into Leiber’s world and the nascent work of some stellar talent. They make for an exceptional reading experience.
Purchase
Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the gray Mouser: Cloud of hate and other Stories
Sword of Sorcery #2 cover from the Grand Comics Database.
