There were blades a plenty at DC as the women warriors kept on coming....Travis Morgan the WARLORD had a love of his life as well..her name was TARA if she aint a SONJA clone if ever I saw one!!!
Then came ARAK another attempt to compete with CONAN by DC but this one was different it was created by longtime Marvel,editor and Conan scripter Roy the boy Thomas. In this series he introduced an character even moreso directly inspired by Joan of Arc than Sonja was...in fact she looked exactly like Joan...it was VALDA the Iron Maiden....both comics did have respectable runs...but still...no match for Marvels liscenced properties by REH.
Being a sword and sorcery fan I have to say I am not ashamed that I bought both of these titles regularly...and they were good..very good comic books. I always liked how the companies worked off each others ideas..it kept the reading fresh.
ReplyDeleteArak is an excellent series. I collected the entire 50 issue run and re-read them occasionally.
ReplyDeleteMike Grell, author and artist of Warlord, has said that Tara was based on Raquel Welch of One Million Years BC.
I believe it. It's the fur bikini I think lol
ReplyDeleteHmm...a young Raquel Welch as Sonja...what could have been?
Don't get me wrong.. Just because these books followed CONAN and Red Sonja and hoped to garner success based on the genre does not mean the ideas were ripped off. The idea process was different in every case...ARAK was Native American and raised by Vikings and Warlord was more of a Lost world / David Innes kind of deal. But subsequently followed CONAN. Movies and Records and comics and novelists all followed suit for every genre out there. Create something like something else but with it's own flair and flavor and fresh idea. I collected all sword and sorcery titles and appreciated them all for what they were. Good stories. Attempting to compete with one another has always been and always will be. It's a good thing.
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