Sword of Sorcery

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This article is about the 1973 comics anthology. For other uses, see Swords & sorcery (disambiguation).
Sword of Sorcery
Issue #1 cover
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
Publication dateVol. 1: March 1973 - December 1973
Vol. 2: November 2012 - July 2013
No. of issuesVol. 1: 5
Vol. 2: 9 (#1-8 and #0)
Main character(s)Vol. 1: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Vol. 2: Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Beowulf, Stalker
Creative team
Written byVol. 1: Denny O'Neil
Vol. 2: Christy Marx, Tony Bedard
Artist(s)Vol. 1: Howard Chaykin, Walt Simonson, Jim Starlin
Vol. 2: Aaron Lopresti, Jesus Saiz

Sword of Sorcery was an American sword-and-sorcery comics anthology featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, heroes and rogues created by Fritz Leiber. Published bi-monthly by DC Comics, it ran for five issues in 1973, with a cover price of 20¢. The title was written by Denny O'Neil and featured art by Howard Chaykin,[1] Walt Simonson, and Jim Starlin. The book was cancelled after five issues due to bad sales.[2]

In June 2012, the series returned with a revival of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld by writer Christy Marx and artist Aaron Lopresti. The title included a backup feature starring Beowulf written by Tony Bedard and drawn by Jesus Saiz.[3]

Publishing history[edit]

Wonder Woman[edit]

A prequel to the series appears the Wonder Woman series, in the last panel of #201[4] and all of #202.[5] In this story, written by Samuel R. Delany, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser team up with Diana Prince (Wonder Woman minus her super-powers), her kung-fu mentor I Ching, and Catwoman, to defeat the dimension-spanning wizard Gahwron.

Original series[edit]

The first issue featured an adaptation of Fritz Leiber's story, "The Price of Pain Ease" by writer Dennis O'Neil and artists Howard Chaykin and the Crusty Bunkers. It featured a cover by Michael Kaluta.[6] The same creative team adapted Leiber's story, "Thieves' House" in issue #2.[7] O'Neil wrote an original story in #3[8] and then adapted "The Cloud of Hate"[9] and "The Sunken Land"[10] in issues #4 and #5 respectively.

The New 52[edit]

The series was relaunched with issue #0 in September 2012 (cover dated November 2012), as part of DC's The New 52 line.[3] This series was written by Christy Marx with art by Aaron Lopresti and featured the adventures of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld.[11] A backup story written by Tony Bedard and drawn by Jesus Saiz told the story of Beowulf.[12] DC cancelled the new series as of issue #8 (July 2013).[13][14]

Collected editions[edit]

  • Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: The Cloud of Hate and Other Stories collects Sword of Sorcery vol. 1 #1–5, 128 pages, June 2016, ISBN 978-1-61655-985-4
  • Sword of Sorcery Vol. 1: Amethyst collects Sword of Sorcery vol. 2 #0–8, 238 pages, September 2013, ISBN 978-1401241001

References[edit]

  1. ^ McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Fantasy became a DC Comics reality when writer/editor Denny O'Neil and artist Howard Chaykin brought forth a new comic based on Fritz Leiber's adventurous and virtuous warriors of myth, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Sacks, Jason; Dallas, Keith (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 978-1605490564.
  3. ^ a b Rogers, Vaneta (June 8, 2012). "DC Adds Four to New 52, Including DiDio's Phantom Stranger". Newsarama. Archived from the original on June 11, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2012. This new series...will launch with the return of Amethyst to the New 52. Written by Christy Marx with art by Aaron Lopresti, the comic will show how Amethyst finds out she's the lost princess of Gemworld.
  4. ^ O'Neil, Dennis (w), Giordano, Dick (p), Giordano, Dick (i). "The Fist of Flame" Wonder Woman, no. 201 (July–August 1972).
  5. ^ Delany, Samuel R. (w), Giordano, Dick (p), Giordano, Dick (i). "Fangs of Fire" Wonder Woman, no. 202 (September–October 1972).
  6. ^ "Sword of Sorcery #1". Grand Comics Database.
  7. ^ "Sword of Sorcery #2". Grand Comics Database.
  8. ^ "Sword of Sorcery #3". Grand Comics Database.
  9. ^ "Sword of Sorcery #4". Grand Comics Database.
  10. ^ "Sword of Sorcery #5". Grand Comics Database.
  11. ^ Marx, Christy (w), Lopresti, Aaron (p), Lopresti, Aaron (i). "Homecoming" Sword of Sorcery, vol. 2, no. 0 (November 2012).
  12. ^ Bedard, Tony (w), Saiz, Jesus (p), Saiz, Jesus (i). "Chapter I: The Perfect Soldier" Sword of Sorcery, vol. 2, no. 0 (November 2012).
  13. ^ Sword of Sorcery vol. 2 at the Grand Comics Database
  14. ^ Melrose, Kevin (February 7, 2013). "DC axes Deathstroke, Savage Hawkman and four other titles". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 11, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2013. DC Comics this afternoon announced the May cancellations of six more series, a mix of first-, second- and third-wave New 52 titles: Deathstroke, The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man, The Ravagers, The Savage Hawkman, Sword of Sorcery and Team 7.

External links[edit]

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