Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars Wasn't the Only Comics Project Based on Chariots of the Gods!
Art by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia
The best-known (and most successful) was Jack Kirby's Eternals series, which he began when he returned to Marvel in 1975!
In fact, the series was going to be called "Return of the Gods" with a logo using the same font as the Chariots of the Gods books!
But there was another series, also utilizing the theme of "ancient astronauts interacting with our ancestors" launched about the same time...but it didn't start out that way...
Art by Jesse SantosWriter Don Glut and artist Jesse Santos had conceived a tale about Tragg, a prehistoric caveman in a world where a crashed alien ship leakd chemicals into a lake which turned a human who drank from it into a proto-werewolf!
You can read it HERE!
Glut and Santos tried to promote Tragg again, this time facing a shaman who utilized herbs to control others.
That story appeared HERE.
When neither tale prompted the editors to greenlight Tragg as a series, a new approach was taken, combining Tragg with Chariot of the Gods-style aliens...and that was OKed as a new series...
But there was another series, also utilizing the theme of "ancient astronauts interacting with our ancestors" launched about the same time...but it didn't start out that way...
Art by Jesse Santos
You can read it HERE!
Glut and Santos tried to promote Tragg again, this time facing a shaman who utilized herbs to control others.
That story appeared HERE.
When neither tale prompted the editors to greenlight Tragg as a series, a new approach was taken, combining Tragg with Chariot of the Gods-style aliens...and that was OKed as a new series...
Art by Jesse Santos
With the concept locked in, Tragg and the Sky Gods launched at the same time as The Eternals, but lasted only eight issues.
The aliens from the planet Yargon apparently didn't believe in a non-interference Prime Directive, and manipulated the DNA of a pair of cavewomen to "improve the species", then left, returning 25 years later to check on their now-grown offspring, Tragg, his mate Lorn, and Tragg's older brother Jarn (born before the Yargon altered his mother's DNA).
The Yargonites themselves were a mixed bag of altrusitic scientists and power-hungry soldiers, whose differing motives constantly produced problems among themselves, and resulted in conflict with the humans!
Note: Jesse Santos did the interior art for the "tryout stories" listed above and the first two regular issues, but continued doing covers for the remainder of the run.
Dan Spiegle took over the art the stories for the remainder of the series.
Unlike The Eternals (whom Kirby deliberately kept separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe), Tragg was incorporated into an already-existing universe of characters at Gold Key also written by Don Glut, including present-day mystic Doctor Spektor and ancient warrior Dagar the Invincible, even doing crossovers through space and time with those other characters!
We're not going to re-present the tales in Wednesday Worlds of Wonder (which would end up running from now to Autumn non-stop), but here are links to the entire series....
The aliens from the planet Yargon apparently didn't believe in a non-interference Prime Directive, and manipulated the DNA of a pair of cavewomen to "improve the species", then left, returning 25 years later to check on their now-grown offspring, Tragg, his mate Lorn, and Tragg's older brother Jarn (born before the Yargon altered his mother's DNA).
The Yargonites themselves were a mixed bag of altrusitic scientists and power-hungry soldiers, whose differing motives constantly produced problems among themselves, and resulted in conflict with the humans!
Note: Jesse Santos did the interior art for the "tryout stories" listed above and the first two regular issues, but continued doing covers for the remainder of the run.
Dan Spiegle took over the art the stories for the remainder of the series.
Unlike The Eternals (whom Kirby deliberately kept separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe), Tragg was incorporated into an already-existing universe of characters at Gold Key also written by Don Glut, including present-day mystic Doctor Spektor and ancient warrior Dagar the Invincible, even doing crossovers through space and time with those other characters!
We're not going to re-present the tales in Wednesday Worlds of Wonder (which would end up running from now to Autumn non-stop), but here are links to the entire series....
Spawn of Yargon
Part 1, Part 2
Day the Earth Thundered
Part 1, Part 2
Race Against Death
Standalone Story featuring Lorn
Slaves of Fire Mountain
Part 1, Part 2
Project: Sabre: Fang
Part 1, Part 2
Attack of the Man-Apes
Part 1, Part 2
Death-Duel
Part 1, Part 2
Battle for a World
Part 1, Part 2
Master of the Living Bones
(Crossover story with Dagar the Invincible & Dr Spekor)
Part 1, Part 2
Wher Prowls the Devil Shark
Part 1, Part 2
Plus: Three Text Stories
"Tragg and the Jaws of Death", "Valley of the Shadow" & "Spotlight on Keera"
Next Week: A New World of Wonder!
Day the Earth Thundered
Part 1, Part 2
Race Against Death
Standalone Story featuring Lorn
Slaves of Fire Mountain
Part 1, Part 2
Project: Sabre: Fang
Part 1, Part 2
Attack of the Man-Apes
Part 1, Part 2
Death-Duel
Part 1, Part 2
Battle for a World
Part 1, Part 2
Master of the Living Bones
(Crossover story with Dagar the Invincible & Dr Spekor)
Part 1, Part 2
Wher Prowls the Devil Shark
Part 1, Part 2
Plus: Three Text Stories
"Tragg and the Jaws of Death", "Valley of the Shadow" & "Spotlight on Keera"
Next Week: A New World of Wonder!
