Conan the Barbarian was a hit. Marvel was sopping up sales with the color comic and the black and white version. Barbarians were selling it seemed in 1975, so the call went out at DC to bring more barbarians to the table. And that's how we got Claw the Unconquered.
The book was written by David Michelinie and was originally drawn by Ernie Chan who had just left his gig at Marvel inking the Conan comics. It is to be noted that Chan drew under the name "Ernie Chua" when he first started in U.S. comics because of a typo on his immigration documents. Chan is assisted on art chores by Pat Boyette. Claw was apparently supposed to be called "Talon", but Jim Steranko had dibs on that name. The first nine issues were all edited by Joe Orlando.
Claw is the one character in DC's "All-New Adventure Line" that looks like Conan. That the series lasted twice as long as most of its companions and three times as long as more than few it's possibly due to that resemblance. In the first Claw story we meet our hero, a man who suffers a bit of amnesia yet is still a potent warrior. Possessed of a red gauntlet which overs a furry claw, he is a man prophecy suggests will bring down King Occulus of Pytharia. The King orders his underlings to kill Claw, but that proves more difficult than one might've thought.
He also confronts giant creatures with names such as Kann the All-Consuming , often referred to as gods and is able in most instances to kill them or at least escape their clutches. The look of the earliest Claw comics seemed especially designed to evoke the Conan comics being produced over at Marvel.
In the fourth issue he meets Ghylkin, a warrior from another dimension who sought adventure and so came to our world, but not before he got a nifty pair of horns. Claw and his new ally battle N'Hflhss, an ogre-like demon called down to Earth. The story stays open as the threat is not ended, and leads to the first multi-part epic. A prophecy from Asvitar the Burning Man causes the duo to seek the Moonthorn, a sword which will be effective against the threat of N'Hflhss and will give Claw much needed info as well.
"The Gemstone Trilogy" begins the search for the Moonthorn, a sword which will reveal great secrets to Claw. But before they can find the Moonthorn, they must find the Gristone and that's divided into three parts. The first takes them to a territory guarded by strange women with a bizarre secret, the second has them battling a teenager who comes into possession of great magical powers, and the third is found at the bottom of the sea among a society of passivists. King Occulus and his court magician are keeping an eye on Claw and making things none too easy for him.
The cover of issue eight is Ernie Chan's last contribution to the series. He headed back to Marvel, leaving Claw in the hands up new talent Keith Giffen who is aided by a bevy of inkers.
Alas, Claw the Unconquered number nine is the only issue of the run I actually bought off the stands at the time of publication. I must have had some extra quarters in my pocket when it hit the spinner rack. Giffen is inked by Bob Layton in this issue.
Claw the Unconquered returns to the stands after a one and six-month hiatus. Joe Kubert joins the book's regular team of Michelinie and Giffen as the cover artist for the final three issues. So, at long last we are about to get a face-off between Claw and Occulus, foes who battled but never met in the many issues previous. But not before Claw must confront the weird trio of "Those Who Must Abide". This issue was edited by Paul Levitz.
The actual confrontation between Claw and Occulus is in issue eleven and it's an Occulus made even more powerful by the magic of Miftig. To avoid Claw, the palace is even lifted into the air, but that doesn't stop our hero and he finally gets to see the man behind the death of his parents pay a price. This would've been an ideal place to end the series, but we get one more issue. Joe Orlando returns as editor.
In the final issue drawn by Giffen and Layton, Claw is robbed of his red gauntlet and later when he hooks up with a group of fighters, he finds he loses control and the violence gets out of hand, so to speak. We see that Occulus is rescued so to speak from the wreckage of his palace and there are hints of battles to come. Without his protective glove, the Claw we are left with is a man who fears himself, so much so that in the final panels of the story he makes a tragic decision. Larry Hama is the third editor in three issues, probably one good reason this revival didn't get off the ground.
Apparently two more issues of Claw the Unconquered were prepared but went unpublished. I note that the price on issue thirteen is for fifty cents so there might've been discussion of bumping up the price and adding a back-up, like another of the Adventure line. I haven't read these, but those Kubert covers are incredibly suggestive.
Claw made DC's Who's Who line-up in the 80's, suggesting that he wasn't forgotten about. In fact, he makes a few cameos in comics over the years, but nothing of real substance.
Claw the Unconquered was brought back to comic life in a cross-over with Dynamite's Red Sonja. The two shared two issues in 2006 which initiated a revival of Claw in his tittle from the Wildstorm brand. I love the cover Alex Ross produced for the crossover event.
Wildstorm gave us a full-blown Claw the Unconquered limited which featured the slightly reimagined hero, with a full name -- Valcan Scaramax. In this story we are reminded that Claw cut off his hand (again) in the Red Sonja appearance, but the hand refuses to die and in fact regrows on Claw's arm. The abandoned hand also grows and develops into a full-blown copy of Claw but more savage. (Reminded me of the plot to Frankenstein Versus the World.) Claw is recruited by a sorceress and is led to her compound by a gang of werewolves. I'm not that taken with Andy Smith's artwork on this one. The series seems to lack the elaborate detail I like in my fantasy yarns which creates that other world. Sadly, this presentation reeks of those bad old Image days when muscles mattered more than storytelling. They are im freezing temps in much of this story, so put some darn clothes on! I will give the story credit for a bold ending.
Below is a short gallery of the Wildstorm issues.
Next time we meet Stalker - The Man with No Soul.
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