Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "Warriors of the Shadow Realm" Part the First: City of Seven Dark Delights I

And so this chapter of the saga begins, innocently enough...

...with three beings we would consider "fantastic" telling stories about creatures they consider "fantastic"!

You'll find out whose trail tomorrow, elf, and you'll wish you hadn't...

BTW, here's the credits from the never-reprinted Marvel Super Special #11 (1979)...

Kool, eh?

Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "Washed Ashore on WeirdWorld"

Now listen well as the writer/co-creator spins a tale...

 ...of how WeirdWorld came to be in this never-reprinted text story from Marvel Super Special #11 (1979)!

Be here tomorrow when "Warriors of the Shadow Realm" begins...

Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "John Buscema Scrapbook" & "How This Book Came To Be"

Before you begin the actual tale on Monday, here are some of the never-reprinted "extras"...

 ...unseen for 35 years, from Marvel Super Special #11 (1979)!

Tomorrow:

Writer/co-creator Doug Moench narrates the secret history of WeirdWorld!

Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "Lord of Tyndall's Quest" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Elves...

(actually, it's easier if you read the first two tales HERE and HERE, then continue...)

Despite the book selling very well, Marvel didn't use WeirdWorld to leap into the mystical fantasy market for another year.

But. when they did, it was with a new art team and a new approach, both in terms of plot and illustration.

Before we continue with the story on Monday, you might want to familiarize yourself with the geography of WeirdWorld, courtesy of co-creator Doug Moench and new art team of John Buscema, Rudy Nebres, and Peter Ledger...

See you on Monday!

Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "Lord of Tyndall's Quest" Part 1

In the late 1970s, the publishing world clamored for more Tolkein-esque fantasy...

...to satiate the demand caused by the release of the animated Lord of the Rings movie!

So Marvel took a one-shot story that received a suprisingly-strong audience response and had co-creators Doug Moench and Mike Ploog expand the storyline...

A quest we'll learn more about...tomorrow!

You'll note that Alex Nino is inking this never-reprinted tale from Marvel Premiere #38 (1977), instead of Ploog inking his own pencils.

Ploog had done the pencils for this story shortly after the first tale over a year earlier and when the go-ahead was finally given, he had left Marvel for other projects, so Nino stepped in with one of his few inking assignments over another artist, and did a spectacular job!