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Robert Greenberger
by Robert Greenberger
During the 1970s, marvel was game for just about anything as witnessed by the large amount of experimentation found in the color comics and black and white magazines. The second generation of creators worked with very loose assistance and it appeared practically anything was allowed. With so much material generated during the decade, fans are always amazed when little-seen nuggets turn up. Well, this spring, readers are in for a treat when the Weirdworld stories are collected for the very first time.
Weirdworld
So, you ask, what is Weirdworld?
According to the Bullpen Bulletin announcing it, the fantasy series was in the vein of J.R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings but if you asked writer Doug Moench, he never read those stories and it all came from his fertile imagination. The high fantasy overtones are unmistakable, however, and during my one year at Marvel, the first Peter Jackson film was imminent so I tried desperately to locate all the film for just such a collection, wishing to profit from the film’s anticipated coattails. Unfortunately, we could not find the film to color magazine issues and scanning the lush printed work was just not in the cards.
While the series was first introduced in the black and white marvel very action #1 in 1976 it is fondly remembered for marvel Premiere #38 released a year later. The initial story was from Moench and Mike Ploog (who used beautiful gray-tone wash, ideal for the magazine) but the second installment came from Moench, Ploog, and inker Alex Nino with much more conventional color.
The series, though, was well received enough to be brought back for more. Moench was approved for a single-issue 60-page story by magazine editor Richard Marschall. Ploog was running late so it was divided into two parts but even then, Ploog stopped after 31-pages and although he told Jon B. Cooke in Comic book Artist, “I had a dispute with Jim Shooter. I had moved to a farm in Minnesota, and agreed to do a hand-colored Weirdworld story. marvel backed out of the deal after I had started. I can’t remember the details, but it doesn’t matter. I think I was ready to relocation on.” Apparently, the problem stemmed from Marvel’s new work-for-hire contracts, introduced in the wake of the 1976 Copyright Act.
Marvel very special #11
With Ploog holding on to the original art, the script was sent to John Buscema. It grew to 106-pages and with Rudy Nebres inking in a lush style, and Peter Ledger’s airbrushed color, it ran in marvel very special #11-13 (Spring – fall 1979).
Peter Ledger was an Australian artist who briefly lived in America and was known for his fantastic use of airbrush in his work. He did some work for the company but his colored painting over Buscema and Rudy Nebres on the “Weirdworld: Warriors of the shadow Realm” story is something you just have to see. Back then, readers had honestly seen nothing like it from a major comic book publisher. It was certainly one of Marvel’s rare experiments in production techniques and is a visual success although given its lack of repetition, it was also probably very expensive. Sadly, Ledger died in a tragic car accident in 1994 and is for that reason forgotten by many.
Moench was given an opportunity by epic Illustrated editor Archie Goodwin to pen four much more chapters, now illustrated by Buscema and Marie Severin which have a good illustrative quality. These ran in issues #9, 11-13. after that came the marvel Fanfare stories and the series seemed to vanish as Moench wrote for DC Comics and Buscema was tapped for other projects. There’s a brief acknowledgement of the world in X-Men first class II #8, a wink and nod from Jeff Parker and Eric Nguyen.
Marvel Fanfare editor Al Milgrom commissioned a new three-parter from Moench and lured Ploog back to illustrate it. Ploog, though, dropped out after one chapter so Milgrom assigned the remaining chapters to Pat Broderick and the story saw print in marvel Fanfare #24-26. P. Craig Russell does a good job inking Ploog while Brett Breeding then Ian Akin and Brian Garvey handled Broderick’s contribution.
While the title initially was Weirdworld it was amended to be Warriors of the shadow Realm, a much more trademarkable title.
Marvel Fanfare #24
Okay, you ask, it has a fantastic pedigree, but what’s it about? Weirdworld was the result of clash between the black god Darklens and his fellow gods sometime in the distant past. Darklens was trapped on this new land and created a floating island from which he conjured up demons and monsters to emerge from the island’s shadow. The island was shattered by a comet sent by a white god and shards of the comet were collected by five Dark Riders. Darklens was seemingly dead, buried in tomb until his future resurrection.
Years and years later, young Tyndall of Klarn wasan elf living with the Dwarves of DwarfHaven and began a series of adventures where he wound up being sent to destroy the Heart of Evil, which [turned out to be] an egg including an elf named Velanna who became his companion. The pair became a trio when they helped save the dwarf Mud-Butt’s life and proceeded to explore their world on land and across the various seas. Tyndall was brave and plucky, able to communicate telepathically with Dragons, giving him some advantages.
The series is amazing for its high fantasy content instead of Marvel’s much more sword and sorcery offerings at the time. It also allowed its creators to stretch in ways that reward the reader with fresh bursts of energy. Ledger’s color was distinct and memorable at a time color in the magazines was limited if used at all.
Moench differentiates his characters nicely and has built a world with a rich history that could easily be explored for years to come, which of course was the initial intent. There’s humor, adventure, dark lords, and an epic scale. One can hope that marvel will run these stories in chronological content purchase not publication order.
Purchase
Weirdworld SC
Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.