Trump Reading Room aka the Outhouse HICKORY "Dewey Drip: Bar"

A new feature...comics that appeal to the intellect of Don the Con's audience!

The one-page filler, created, written and illustrated by John Devlin, appeared in most issues of Police Comics, beginning with the very first one.

It also popped up in Crack Comics and Plastic Man when a one-pager was needed.

This appearance in Quality's Hickory Comics #1 (1949) was the strip's final one.

Reading Room: WOLFF "Lady of the Wolves"

When Last We Left Our Post-Apocalyptic Barbarian...

...he had been cursed to become a literal version of his name...a lycanthrope!

Is Wolff fated to repeat this nightmare whenever the Moon is full?

Or is there a way to defeat the curse?

While this chapter of the Wolff saga, written by Luis Gasca (aka Sadko) & Estaban Maroto and illustrated by Maroto from New English Library's Dracula #5 (1972) leaves us hanging, the next chapter will offer an answer...though it might not be one Wolff likes!

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Wolff et la Reine des Loups

(aka Wolff and the Wolf Queen)

French Graphic Novel reprinting this storyline with superb printing!
BTW, note the cover art is from Page 2 of this chapter!

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Reading Room: WOLFF "Night of the WereWolf"

When Last We Left Wolff the Barbarian...

...well, that doesn't sound promising, does it?

I don't remember this ever happening to Conan...

This tale from Dracula #4 (1971) was written by Sadko superbly-illustrated and co-written by Esteban Maroto.

Reading Room: WOLFF "Sorceress of the Red Mist"

Return to the barbaric, post-apocalyptic future Earth of Wolff...

...where technology and magic are both considered "dark arts" by the majority of inhabitants of this barbaric future!

Is it just me, or does the Sorceress of the Red Mist remind you of sexy space heroine Agar-Agar, who was also published in the Dracula anthology magazine (and was also written by Wolff co-scripter Luis Gasca under the pen-name "Sadko")?

Or was that eye-makeup thing just a fashion trend in the early 1970s?

Esteban Maroto rendered this tale from Dracula #3 (1971) with his usual superb linework.
Not sure who colored it, though..

Reading Room: WOLFF "World of the Witches"

Return to the post-apocalyptic future Earth of Wolff the Barbarian...

...where technology and magic are both considered "dark arts" by the majority of inhabitants of this barbaric future!

Is it just me, or does the Sorceress of the Red Mist remind you of sexy space heroine Agar-Agar, who was also published in the Dracula anthology magazine (and was also written by Wolff co-scripter Luis Gasca under the pen-name "Sadko")?

Or was that eye-makeup thing just a fashion trend in the early 1970s?

This tale from Dracula #2 (1971) was superbly-illustrated and co-written by Esteban Maroto.

Reading Room: WOLFF "Path of the Dead"

Wecome to one of the best "barbarian in a post-apocalyptic future Earth" strips...

...as we present the saga of Wolff the Barbarian.

Written by Luis Gasca (under the pen-name "Sadko") & Esteban Maroto, illustrated by Maroto.

Published in England in Dracula (1971), a 12-issue partworks magazine* by New English Library, the first 6 tales made their American debut in Warren Publishing's HTF Dracula TPB in 1972 which reprinted #1-#6 of the British Dracula's run.
The remaining tales from #7-#12 have never been published in the US.
This week, we'll be catching up with chapters 1-5.
We will be presenting the remainder of the complete Wolff strip (including the never-seen in US tales) over the summer on our brother RetroBlog Hero Histories!
Watch for it!
*Partworks magazines are a limited series issued from weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
They usually run 12-24 issues for each volume.
When the final issue in a volume is published, the publishers offer a wraparound cover to make the complete set into a hardbound book. 
The buyer is offered the option to bind the magazines themselves or send the set to the publisher who professionally-binds the mags and sends the bound volume back to the customer.
This concept is extremely popular in Europe, but has never caught on in America, despite numerous attempts.

The Barbarian Cometh!

Here's a one-time World of Wonder for you before the New Year!

(BTW, isn't it weird how most fictional barbarians have a "hard C" or "hard K" name...Conan, Crom, ClawFang, Claw, Kull, Kothar, Kyrik, etc.)

This two-pager was published in a couple of Harvey's short-lived 1960s adventure books to promote the strip,
It was also utilized as the prologue to the strip itself in Unearthly Spectaculars #2...

We'll never know, since this was ClawFang's only published adventure!

A cool mix of sf/fantasy genres written and laid-out by Wally Wood with pencils and inks by Al Williamson, appearing in Harvey's Unearthly Spectaculars #2 (1966), part of a short-lived line of action/adventure comics produced by Harvey Comics in the mid-1960s.

Oddly, while there were numerous "jungle hero/heroine" strips and books with sci-fi/fantasy elements, Clawfang was only the second actual barbarian strip in comics history, after Crom...which was also from Harvey Comics!

Five years later, Marvel would launch Conan the Barbarian, and suddenly, an entire new genre bloomed in comics with almost every publisher launching at least one barbarian-themed comic!
Speaking of which...

The "barbarian in a post-apocalyptic future Earth" concept is an oft-used trope in sci-fi/fantasy from ClawFang to Teenage Caveman to BlackMark to Kamandi to Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds to Lost World (from Fiction House's Planet Comics) to IronJaw, to Talos of the Wilderness Sea,  to Planet of the Apes (Yes, PotA qualifies since mankind is reduced to primitives) to Thundarr the Barbarian to Yor: Hunter from the Future, scantly-clad heroes using primitive weapons against super-science and/or sorcery in a devastated world has proven to be a popular trope in various media, not just print.

Join us next Wednesday as we begin our re-presentation of one of the best (though least-known) series featuring this concept...

Wolff the Barbarian

by

Esteban Maroto, Sadko, and Laurence James