Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser Omnibus!

Despite the sales domination of Conan the Barbarian for many years from Marvel, other sword and sorcery properties discovered limited or little success in the market. They tried Thongor of Lemuria, Gullivar of Mars, and Elric of Melnibone. But never had they attempted Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, a series which had been adapted to comics once before by DC in the early 70's. Then in their Epic Comics brand they tried it out and brought back a much more experience and seasoned comic talent Howard Chaykin to do the writing. He'd been the artist on the early DC effort with uneven success and this time he was joined by the up and coming artist Mike Mignola and the respected veteran Al Williamson. And finally we see these two heroes as they should be in the four issue limited run titled Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser.

The first issue adapts "Ill Met in Lankmar" and we see the duo pair up for the first time to carry out raids on the Thieves Guild of Lankhmar. Spurred on by their loves Vlana and Ivrian and no small amount of drink they invade the thieves sanctuary and confront the leader and his resident sorcerer. But they fail to realize that for an earlier attack they were already being targeted for sorcerous destruction, a destruction which tragically claimed the lives of their lady loves. Filled with vengeful rage they attack the Guild again and blood is shed in abundance. Overcome by grief and regret the freshly minted team vow to leave Lankhmar never to return.

The next issue gives us "The Circle Curse" in which we meet Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and we find that despite their best efforts our heroes eventually return to Lankhmar after a long time wandering across the varied and dangerous landscapes of Newhon looking for some measure of solace.

"The Howling Tower" is a properly scary tale which starts with the duo led by native guide encountering ghosts on the plains of Newhon. A mysterious disappearance leads the two of them and later just the Mouser (when Fafhrd too disappears) to an ancient tower in which a weird menace presents itself. Mouser must become a wraith himself to help Fahrd put down the threat but they escape just barely and justice served to some extent.

"The Price of Pain Ease" is adapted for a second time by Chaykin and this time with the proper back story of loss which gives it the emotional depth to the tale that it requires. The duo are in a contest to claim the mask of Death itself for their magical mentors and must compete with the depraved Duke Danius for the prize.

"Bazarr of the Bizarre" has the Mouser fall victim to an other-dimensional marketing scheme which sells garbage but makes the customer convinced it is of great value. Not only is he being swindled but he is about to die when thanks to Fafhrd and the intervention of their mentors he is saved barely.

"Lean Times in Lankhmar" is a classic tale, perhaps the single finest in the canon and is adapted here with skill. Fafhrd and Mouser have fallen out (over how to spell Fafhrd's name it is suggested) and since have followed separate paths. Fafhrd has become a zealous acolyte of the god Issek of the Jug and Mouser has become the top enforcer for the gangster Pulg. The two come into some conflict when Pulg for his own reasons wants to put the pinch on the priest of the cult of Issek and a bizarre and peculiar set of circumstances lead to one of the better finales in all pulp literature. This adaptation is not as deft as the original Leiber text (a masterpiece) but it does a good job nonetheless.

"When the Sea King's Away" closes out the four-issue run with Fafhrd and Mouser seeking treasure and a bit of romance at the bottom of the sea. They snake their way down through a weird tunnel of air and find strangely attractive women but have to make a dash for their lives when the sea closes in.
We leave our heroes adrift in a small bark seeking as always new adventures. 

And that's a wrap for the team. Dark Horse reprinted these stories in 2007 and that's the collection I read this time out. It's surprising that in all the time that has passed there have been no other attempts to adapt these tales. Over forty years since the first try and twenty-five since the second. Whole generations have come since anyone's tried. But maybe they don't think they can do better. It would be hard. But we're not done yet. 

Not included in the collection but rather in another which put together the last of Wonder Woman's Diana Prince stories is the debut of Fafhrd and his pal the Mouser. The story is bit of windy one and in the first part Diana and her mentor of the day I Ching seek to rescue their sometimes partner Jonny Double from the clutches of I Ching's daughter who has kidnapped him to motivate Diana to steal a certain gem. This gem along with its other-dimensional counterpart opens a portal to the world of Newhon. The Catwoman is involved as any decent jewel their might be. At the close of the first part of the story by Denny O'Neil and Dick Giordano the portal is opened and Diana, I Ching and Catwoman find themselves at the mercy of two distinctive swordsmen.

In the second part of the story Fafhrd and Gray Mouser introduce themselves properly and join forces with with our heroes (of a sort) to confront the menace and find a way back to Earth. The battle is at first between the comrades then shifts to the cavernous lair of a sorcerer and his weird machinery. This tale by Samuel R. Delany is magnificently drawn by Dick Giordano and at its end Fafhrd and Mouser find themselves in New York City (and not its Newhonian counterpart Lankhmar) but reject the noise, smell, and hubbub of modern machinery.

They want to return home and thanks to a jewel they still have they disappear. It's a rouser and sets up the series in a manner of speaking. Note that the series was called "Swords Against Sorcery" in this ad.

Under a lush action-filled cover by Mike Kaluta, the series dubbed Sword of Sorcery begins with an adaptation by Denny O'Neil and near novice artist Howard Chaykin of Leiber's "The Price of Pain Ease". This story is seriously clipped with the removal of the core tragedy which motivates the duo of Fafhrd and Mouser, the murders of their twin loves Vlana and Ivrian as a backstory.We get the raid on the Duke Danius and we get the mission by Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Nignguable of the Seven Eyes for the mask of Death itself but without the underlying regret of those tragic deaths our heroes seem to lack a bit of motivation and sense they need to ease pain is all but lost. A young Howie Chaykin's artwork is merely adequate. and the storytelling is often clumsy with some truly peculiar character designs.

Things look a little bit better in the second issue under a Chaykin cover, this one inked by Berni Wrightson. The story O'Neil adapts this time is "Thieves House" and simplified though it is for comic book purposes most of the misadventure makes it to the page. The horror of the encounter with the bones of ancient thieves is largely lost but the action is ever present. Fafhrd and Mouser trade barbs and quips and they come across with the proper blend of adventure and satire which informs the stories themselves, but again missing the underlying gravity of lives suffering loss.

In the third issue we get an original story by Denny O'Neil and a new cover by Chaykin who is getting a wee bit better at the storytelling. We have our heroes waylaid by pirates who steal a girl. After some effort they find the one they thought did them dirt and discover it's more complicated. A beautiful and silent girl with magenta wings and feathers leads to the lout who killed their shipmates and they rescue the girl but find a surprise. With the aid of a dandy deck of cards they wind the day. At long last a death seems to impact the duo, but truth told this story seems to be missing a page or two in its finale. Not that reprint messed up, but I suspect the original dropped at least one page and it makes the end a tad clumsy.

The fourth issue gives us two stories. The first is The Cloud of Hate, an early Fafhrd and Mouser story about a cult which uses a potent fog to enthuse pliable villains to turn to violence in the streets of Lankhmar. The story is simplified a bit but the core remains and our heroes find a solution.

The second story is a tale from the teenage years of Fafhrd himself and tells of his early romance with a blonde beauty and how a Snow Serpent seeks to steal her away. Fafhrd saves her by chance though a prophecy might've shown him the way had he been more attentive. Denny O'Neil's script this time was illustrated wonderfully by Walt Simonson and immediately it's obvious that he should have been at the helm the whole time.

Simonson takes over the lead story in the next issue when the classic Leiber story "The Sunken Land" is adapted by O'Neil. Fafhrd finds a magical ring when fishing and soon enough he and Mouser both run afoul of a no account who is seeking treasure when the hidden land of Simorgya rises from the sea. They get out with their skins barely when dark magic takes over as it usually does in these affairs.

A second story written by George Alec Effinger and drawn by Jim Starlin gives us a peek at the apprenticeship of Mouse (not yet grown to Mouser) and his training in subtlety by a knife artist named Shendai the Deft. This is dandy little tale and features a few cameos, one by a certain Cimmerian is appears. Nice exchange for the appearance of Blackrat and Fafnir in an early Conan story.

(Is that a certain Cimmerian in your background?)

This series was not a success in terms of sales. Five issues seem hardly a worthy outing but it was for a very long time the only adaptation of these heroes to comics until Marvel took a tumble in the early 90's. As for DC, they dived deep into the barbarian craze. More on that next month. 

Rip Off

Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser - Book Three!

This volume offers up some of the best of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser canon, mature stories rich with the distinctive characters we identify with Leiber's creations.

The Cloud of Hate" (1963 Fantastic)

This is spiffy yarn which has a cult of Lankhmar send out a miasmic mist which enshrouds various and sundry folks of a violent nature (or not) and compels them to murder, sometimes very specific ones. The duo confront some of these thralls and battle their way through.
 

"Lean Times in Lankhmar" (1959 Fantastic)

This just might be the very best story of the whole lot. Fafhrd and Mouser split up and the former finds religion and the latter finds excess. Both really we see fall head over heels into new pursuits, compulsions which are not good for anyone. Fahrd's faith is really zealotry and Mouser's dissolution with food and drink demolishes his skills. Eventually they are of course drawn back together in what is arguably the funniest finale in all of sword and sorcery storytelling. 

"Their Mistress, the Sea" (1968 first publication)

After the former story they go to sea to find renew themselves as proper heroes and whatnot. 

"When the Sea-King's Away" (1960 Fantastic and Swords and Sorcery, ed. L. Sprague DeCamp and The Mighty Barbarians)

The duo find weird romance beneath the waves in a strange and dangerous lair beneath the waves. This is a stunner as they peculiar and compelling women they encounter are nearly the death of our heroes. Truly a memorable romp. 

"The Wrong Branch" (1968 first publication)

Our heroes lose their way in a cave and end up on Earth. Newhon is nowhere to be found.

Adept's Gambit (1947 Night's Black Agents collection)

One of the truly oddball Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories is set on Earth in the past around the city of Tyre. This story was in actuality an attempt by Leiber to fit Fafhrd and Mouse into the Lovecraftian cycle as a recent rediscovery of the the original text amply demonstrates. After adjusting to the world and details of Newhon to find our heroes on the historical Earth with associated references is very weird, almost jarring. But traveling to other dimensions is well within their wheelhouse. The story sets our heroes on a proper quest after magical objects. It's a strange one indeed.

From this collection it's clear that the canon of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser came together with some effort. Fitting in all the various aspects was a chore, especially the famous "Adpet's Gambit". The stories went a different direction after than one and trying to make it fit in after the fact without substantial revision seems noble but ultimately, I'm not sure it comes off as it ought. Part of me wishes Leiber had revised it as a more straightforward Newhonian adventure.

More Swords to come.

Rip Off

Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser - Book One!

Aside from Conan and the other creations of Robert E. Howard, the most famous sword and sorcery characters in the genre are probably Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser created by Fritz Leiber and his partner Otto Fischer in the mid 30's. The duo began as a romp and in the hands of Leiber became a distinctive and colorful addition to a genre that had not even been named yet. (Leiber himself would do that many years later.)

The Snow Women (Fantastic 1970)

This is Fafhrd's secret origin of sorts, though not so much a secret. We travel to his northern homeland and meet him when he's a very young man, full of passion and certainty and eager to leave the limits of his village and strike out across the world into the unknown. This young Fafhrd is an attractive figure, a smart and savvy and capable fighter who uses his mind as much as his might but who like so many falls victim to love. Torn between two women, but not really all that much, he hooks up with a caravan performer Vlana who steals his heart and the two of them (eventually) leave after much ballyhoo and magical shenanigans from Fafhrd's impressive mother. 

The Unholy Grail (Fantastic 1962)

We meet the Gray Mouser in this story of his youth when his master has been killed by a local baron for reasons that never really make much sense, save that the nobleman is a man of violent passions. Mouser and the baron's daughter Ivrian are in love, though not yet lovers and when Mouser thinks she is the cause of his master's death he goes on a bout of revenge, using the magics he'd learned to make mischief. He's caught eventually but that doesn't end it as eventually the two youngsters find they must leave to find a way for themselves. 

Ill Met in Lankhmar (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1970)

One of the greatest sword and sorcery stories of all time, this tale relates how Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser first meet and become lifelong partners in adventure. Lankhmar is a decadant city which is a rich environment for the urbane and sardonic misadventures Leiber wants to create. Fafhrd and his beloved Vlana and Mouser and his best girl Ivrian meet each other when the two heroes waylay two thieves who themselves have just done some work stealing some lovely gems. This brings the ire of the Thieves Guild down on the two heroes which employs a magician to weave a murky and dangerous spell. Despite the fact the two heroes infiltrate the Guild itself they are unable to stop the magic from having a tragic consequence for their two lady loves. The passing of these two remarkable women will linger in the souls of our heroes for the balance of the series in some shape or other. Needless to say, the two heroes get some measure of revenge.

Robert E. Howard's heroes were brawny instinctive types with little regard for the niceties of civilized life. A full-figured wench and a full cup were all they required of the cities they sometimes roamed in or even on occasion ruled. But Fafhrd and Mouser are products of civilization, despite Fafhrd's upbringing. He's not comfortable there really, but he seems to find his own in the decadent cities of Newhon alongside his comrade Mouser. It's apparently suggested if not stated somewhere that Leiber intended Lankhmar to be New York City and that makes sense given the hectic lifestyles and blend of cultures it houses. Leiber's heroes are witty and even urbane, far from the glowering tight-lipped swordsmen the genre usually generates.

More Swords to come. 

Rip Off

The Knight And Knave Of Swords!

The Knight and Knave of Swords is the final volume in the official canon of the Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser saga. The stories in this awkwardly named volume all appeared in the late 70's but mostly in the 80's. The saga continues to unfold as the duo have found a life of sorts for themselves on Rime Isle. Events of the last volume have not been forgotten by any means.

"Sea Magic" (1977 The Dragon)

Undersea goddesses seek to get back treasure which has found its way to Rime Isle and end up coming into contact and some clash with Fafhrd as he adjusts to life and archery with his new hook for a hand. 

"The Mer She" (1893 Heroes and Horrors)

The Mouser making a voyage for supplies, discovers an elusive mermaid and keeps her in his cabin away from the curious but prying eyes of his crew. It almost is the end of all of them as it turns out. 

The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars (1983 Heroic Visions)

Our heroes are stuck with strange curses. Fafhrd is obsessed with the big picture, staring endlessly into the maw of the night sky and elsewhere trying to drink in the landscape. Mouser on the other hand becomes weirdly focused on the tiny and spends his time looking always at that which is at his feet for fear he will miss some small detail. 

The Mouser  Goes Below (1988 first publication - portions first printed as "The Mouser Goes Below" (1987 Whispers) and "Slack Lankhmar Afternoon Featuring Hisvet" (1988 Terry’s Universe)

On Rime Isle, the Gray Mouser is sucked into the Earth and as he slides through the ground in a ghostlike fashion Fafhrd and the rest  try to find him and dig him out before he is lost forever. It's a very near thing indeed as the race proceeds across the landscape of the island.

And that my friends is that. The adventures or perhaps more correctly called, "misadventures" of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser come to a rousing end. Our heroes have aged and to some extent matured as life has taken its toll on them. They have found some measure of peace on Rime Isle with Afreyt and Cif, the women who brought them there originally as mercenaries and they along with some of their crews have made a home of it. They seem different men on the island, less full of themselves and more sensitive to those who have fallen under their care. Less like pulp heroes and more like real people.

There are more Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, specifically a novel written with Leiber's permission by Robin Wayne Bailey, but I haven't read it, and don't even have a copy. Maybe some day I'll get the urge to journey to Newhon again.

Maybe next week as we take a look at the comic book adaptations. 

Rip Off

Swords And Ice Magic!

Swords and Ice Magic is the first collection I bought when it first appeared. In fact some of the stories I'd read as they'd appeared in various collections and magazines. As Fritz Leiber created more installments in the Fafhrd and Gray Mouster saga during the 70's they eventually reached a critical mass where a new collection was necessary.  There is a certain lack of substance to many of the early stories here, but it gets better.

"The Sadness of the Executioner" (1973, in Flashing Swords! #1, ed. Lin Carter)

The gods plot to end the lives of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser but our heroes are too much for them. 

"Beauty and the Beasts" (vignette 1974, in The Book of Fritz Leiber)

Fafhrd and Mouser try to split a girl between them and end up with two villainous swordsmen. 

"Trapped in the Shadowland" (1973 Fantastic)

Our heroes look for lost loves in the land of death and find them thanks to Ningauble and Sheelba.

"The Bait" (vignette 1973 Whispers)

In a story which seemed very familiar the two heroes argue over a maiden who ends up becoming two warriors. 

"Under the Thumbs of the Gods" (1975 Fantastic)

The Gods have another go at our heroes as they relive some of their adventures, meet old loves, and learn new lessons from them. They also encounter oh so briefly Alyx the Picklock, a creation of Joanna Russ. I recently read a story by Russ in which her heroine Alyx muses on a lover she had who remind anyone familiar with Leiber's material of a certain red-haired barbarian. Fun little crossover it seems.

"Trapped in the Sea of Stars" (1975 The Second Book of Fritz Leiber)

While on a voyage of forgetfulness, the two heroes end up in a distant sea near the equator of Newhon which blends seamlessly into the very night sky itself. 

"The Frost Monstreme" (1976 Flashing Swords #3, ed. Lin Carter)

Fafhrd and the Mouser begin a new stage of their lives when they are hired by two determined and hard-minded and very lovely ladies named Cif and Afreyt of Rime Isle to gather warriors not unlike themselves and protect that distant land from pirates on a monster ship.  

Rime Isle (1977 Cosmos SF&F Magazine)

Still on Rime Isle and far from Lankhmar, Fafhrd and Mouser find some measure of love and a tiny jot of satisfaction as they appear almost to settle down. Two oddly familiar gods create no end of trouble for the often ungrateful and singularly avaricious people of  Rime Isle and our heroes in particular. There is real cost as the threat to life and limb proves very real indeed. 

Aside from the Rime Isle material here, there's a lightness to the storytelling which to some extent undermines the adventures of our heroes. The threats they face are so vaporous that it's difficult to imagine them being under any threat at all. Leiber seems to want to treat his characters with an awareness of their literary reality which invades the stories and frustrates to some extent the suspension of disbelief. The first several stories lack any real depth and at least two of them seem to be two goes at the same yarn, a strange thing to include in a single volume.

But with the journey to Rime Isle that frothy approach settles down and in a territory more intentionally realistic the heroes find real threats and consequently the ability to demonstrate true bravery.  We are able to care about them again as they seem really to have lives which seem to be grounded in a recognizable reality.

There is one more volume in this series.

Rip Off