Comics featuring Swords, Magic, War, Dragons and a Curse

BACK ISSUE BARGAINS AND READS
By Alex Ness
October 6, 2022

I have mentioned that I am moved mostly by myth, legend, horror and fantasy for my preferred reading genres, but I confess, comic books are less likely found in those genres than pure action or superheroes.  I like them all, mind you, but it isn't always what you find for sale for cheap. If you enjoy fantasy works, here are some bargains sets and a couple back issue box series to consider.

DRAGON CROSS 
From Big City Comics
Writer: Rob Richardson & Jeff Kaufman
Artist: Rob Richardson

The story focuses upon a medieval sort of world, where dragons might become so powerful as to be able to take human form, and perhaps fight humans, monsters and other dragons. The art is the best aspect of the work, and while the story is good, it isn't totally compelling. I got mine as a back issue set for a dollar, and for that it was an enormous value.

NEOZOIC
Published by Red 5 Comics
Writer: Paul Ens
Artist: Jay Korim

This series is composed of a really fun concept, that a people live in an era where dinosaurs did not go extinct, and who exist in proximity of the humans, who must build walls around their gatherings to keep themselves alive. The humans must fight for survival, and the story focuses upon the human leaders and gangs who unite against attack. This isn't a work focused on great art and then dialoguing the action (but the art is good), this is a series where a quality concept allows an exciting story to thrive. It isn't perfect, but it is rather fun, especially for what I paid.

DARK SUN: IANTO'S TOMB  
From IDW
Writer: Alex Irvine
Artist: Peter Bergting

Nobody can tell me that the art of Peter Bergting isn't perfect for fantasy subjects. It has a beatific look, a portrayal of action that is exciting, and human emotions are well illustrated. His work graces the series Dark Sun, later made a tpb called Dark Sun: Ianto's Tomb. It makes use of the well crafted TSR setting of the name Dark Sun, where humans and other beings have been forced to evolve and adapt to the cruelest of environments and conditions, simply to survive. In this story a gladiator escapes his forced labors to fight until death for the pleasures of spectators. It is fantastic, and single issues are cheaper than the collections, so start hunting.

THE ADVENTURERS
From Aircel, Adventure Publications, Malibu
Writer: Scott Behnke
Artist: Peter Hsu

Over the years I've found various sets of Adventurers for vastly different prices, never buying, having paged through the first issue wondering what I was missing. When I recently found the first 5 issues for $2 I said I am going to buy it and read the damn thing. It was essentially a kind of D&D adventure, without much context, lots of death, and very little character development. I don't think that was the fault of the writer or the artist, as it works on a level if you want to watch such a thing, but my tastes changed, and evolved over time, and while my 25 year old self might have enjoyed this, it isn't anything like good enough for me to like it now. I am also not a lover of the pencil and shading style art, it kind of lacks character, being pretty perhaps but not really good at showing action, emotion or actual beauty.  That said, it is ok for 2 dollars.
 
CLAW THE UNCONQUERED
From DC Comics
Writer: David Michelinie
Artist: Ernie Chan/Chua

I read this series in childhood, and thought it was ok. But upon finding it for cheap, in bad condition, I thought I'd try it again. The world of comics has changed a great deal since this came out, as have I. I mean, for me I was 12 years old, and hadn't read mature offerings, and not even many fantasy books. But as an older man, when I read it, I found the roots laid for a solid, but needing more development tale. The main problem was that the stories told then were clipped short, unable to express enough of a story, and unwilling to go beyond the shallow water, due to the lack of time to develop a deeper concept. But the idea here, a warrior is cursed, and has a claw rather than hand, is well illustrated, and able in the few pages to suggest it could have been returned to and developed better. (There is a mini-series of the last 15 years by Chuck Dixon, but it was made to fit a 6 issue format, and strangely, didn't do much more with the concept than the one originally expressed.)

BRATH
From CrossGen
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Andrea Di Vito

Well I just mentioned Chuck Dixon on Claw, but this time, I have to say, Brath is a work that was better than almost any other comic book featuring Barbarians, with them fighting versus Rome or anyone else. The art is fantastic, and the story is crisp, well done, and written with dialogue that I've never seen done so well in a fantasy comic book. Chuck's work on this was magnificent. And that it never was collected in tpb form is a comic book world tragedy since it deserves to be remembered, and if you find it for cheap, grab it and read the hell out of that.

Get Reviews from Me

I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address. I no longer have a post box, although I regret that.  It was a crushing defeat to no longer have a p.o. box, when I came to realize I was getting so little product it made no sense to pay for the privilege to not receive mail at both my home and at the post office. If you send hard copies for review I will always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.



MY LINKS:

Please click upon the link below... it will take you to works that I have for sale, and there are more, but I chose to share these because you can write to me at AlexanderNess63@gmail.com and inquire after books I've written.  Not all remain in print, in fact, about half are in print still.  I have author copies to sell, so, please feel free to inquire...  FOR SALE


My Poetry blog with 5000+ poems:  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com

All of my published Work:               AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html

An Amazon Author Page:                Amazon.com/author/AlexNess

Cthulhu Based Horror:                    CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com

Atlantis & Lost Worlds:                  AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com

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