Brothers Of The Spear Volume Two!

The Brothers of the Spear Volume Two continues the saga of King Dan-El and King Natongo from the years 1955 through 1959. We see Natongo become a king in this volume which gives some needed solo attention to his story. The Brothers of the Spear is a story about devotion. Devotion to friendship and loyalty of course but also devotion to a faith, a "one true faith" as it said in this story. That focus on faith is the result of the writer Gaylord DuBois who was a devout Christian and who said in interviews that he prayed before writing each of his stories, asking for guidance. So, in the eyes of the writer at least the Brothers of the Spear was much more than a mere adventure yarn, it was a story which was intended to impart values to its young readership. 

It is suggested by some that both the Brothers of the Spear and Turok Son of Stone are adapted or at least inspired by Young Hawk a series developed by DuBois as a back-up in the long-running Lone Ranger comic, about two young Native Americans roaming the early West. In the case of Turok the case is strong in that an editor perhaps took a Young Hawk story and added the luster of dinosaurs to the mix. With the BotS, the scene was merely shifted from the early American plains to the veldt of the Dark Continent. 

Tarzan #68 May 1955

That devotion to family values was not a surprise I guess for the Dell and later Gold Key brands which never submitted to the oversight of the Comics Code, but rather used their own seal of approval and suggested that their standards were above those of Code. They wanted to lock up that comic market which was monitored by concerned parents and they wanted still to make comics which were fit in the eyes of the broader society for the eyes of youngsters. Which makes the exceedingly unusual relationship of Dan-El and Natongo even more important. Their brotherhood was projected as an unalloyed good by folks with a strong reputation for upholding values considered noble and even patriotic. 

This volume picks up the saga with the war against Nagopa and his Witchmen heating up with much palace intrigue and betrayals and ultimately with the kidnapping of Tavane. The Brothers find and rescue Tavane but are unable to get back to Aba-Zulu and in their travels the long way around help out the Prince Molithi who is the leader of the M'Tembo a city which uses elephants in their warfare. There is more palace intrigue but once the Molithi is safely in power the Brothers along with Tavane head back to Aba-Zulu atop great war elephants. These prove useful in putting down the uprising of the Witchmen. Then we see the wedding of Dan-El and Tavane.

Natongo gets a prophetic dream that his father is dying and needs him to come home to Zululand, and so the Brothers part. Natongo is headed home when he rescues the Princess Zulena of Tungelu.The two fall in love and after some hair-raising misadventures are married, though we never see this grand event alas. Natongo does not get home to Zululand in this volume but does become a King in his own right. The Brothers and their wives are reunited, and many more challenges confront them with threats both to Tungelu and Aba-Zulu. It seems that whenever the Kings are away the challenges surface and the Kings are away a lot. I have neglected to mention the mighty steeds of the Brothers, two white mules named Hatima and Alissa. These beasts with their braying save the Brothers and their brides more than once. It is atop one of these steeds that Tavane is percieved to be a white goddess in a lightning storm. 

Tarzan #109 December 1959

There are more dangers but as the volume closes we see Natongo and Zulena with Dan-El trying to escape danger. What becomes of them will wait for next time. 

To begin reading the Brothers of the Spear online at ERBZine check out this link.

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