STALKER – With the WITCHER series such a sensation right now, Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the forgotten 1970s sword, sorcery and fantasy series called Stalker.
The art was by the legendary Steve Ditko and the story by Paul Levitz. In a time when comic book companies keep rebooting the same unpromising characters over and over I am amazed that DC Comics never gave this intriguing series a second chance.
First off, a lame joke – Who DOESN’T love a sword they could pole-vault with? That baby is ridiculously out-of-proportion yet awesome at the same time.
Sometimes I wish Stalker’s sword really HAD been that big in the actual stories, but he’d have needed to carry it in a sheath slung across his back. If he kept it in a sheath attached to a belt around his waist it would be dragging on the ground behind him everywhere he walked. Anyway, on to the story – ALL FOUR PARTS ARE COVERED BELOW.
The Premise: In a fictional world as filled with fantastic beings and mind-bending geography as anything from Conan the Barbarian, Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones a nameless warrior called Stalker tries to recover his stolen soul from the demonic warrior-god Dgrth. The narration tells us this is “a war that will rend a world from its gods,” really drawing us in.
STALKER #1 (July 1975)
Title: QUEST FOR A STOLEN SOUL
Synopsis: The story opens at Castle Loranth as Stalker uses all the preternatural skills that the god Dgrth has granted him to get past the walls and kill the guards. Our red-eyed hero penetrates to the hall where Baroness Loranth is holding a grand feast and hurls a knife at her chair. Attached to the knife is a note telling her that one year and one day hence Stalker will kill her as revenge for the wrongs she did to him in the past. Continue reading
Thank you to readers who reminded me that I did not follow up my examination of the World War Two-era Justice Society of America stories with my usual collection of links. I always did that after similar items like The Celestial Madonna Saga, Panther’s Rage, The Kree-Skrull War and most recently Adam Warlock’s encounter with the Magus, Thanos and Gamora. 
THE FIRST MEETING OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA (December 1940)
FOR AMERICA AND DEMOCRACY (March 1941)
THE MYSTERIOUS MISTER X (June 1941) 
Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the Justice Society’s Golden Age stories continues. FOR PART ONE CLICK 
ALL STAR COMICS #27 (Winter 1945 – On sale date Nov 13th) 
Synopsis: In very late 1945 some superhero comic books featured their last few World War Two-centered stories, with the implication being that they had happened earlier in the year when the war still raged. Others moved on into the Post-War Era while others were a mixture, like this Justice Society tale. 
Possible Publication Month: I’ve read anywhere from July to September 1945 so it may or may not have referred to World War Two still raging. 
Synopsis: Well the Spoiler comes right up-front since this story was apparently long known as “the lost Psycho-Pirate story.” In the original plan the fact that the Psycho-Pirate (Charles Halstead) was really the man behind the tale’s villainy was to be a surprise. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the Justice Society’s World War Two-era stories continues. FOR PART ONE CLICK 
ALL STAR COMICS #26 (Fall 1945) 
Synopsis: The Justice Society members are assembled at their Philadelphia headquarters because of the disappearance of scientist Herbert Crawford. Crawford had fallen into disrepute recently over his claims that a spaceship from Jupiter was headed for the Earth with hostile intentions. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the Justice Society’s World War Two-era stories continues. FOR PART ONE CLICK 
ALL STAR COMICS #25 (Summer 1945) 
Synopsis: At their Philadelphia headquarters the Justice Society of America encounter an amnesiac man who insists he somehow knows that Rob Victor, a man convicted of murdering wealthy Timothy Kimball years earlier, is really innocent. 
ALL STAR COMICS #24 (Spring 1945) 
Synopsis: This is the first issue to feature Mister Terrific and Wildcat as part of the Justice Society of America.
Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the Justice Society’s World War Two-era stories continues. FOR PART ONE CLICK 
ALL STAR COMICS #23 (Winter 1944) 
Synopsis: The Courier newspaper has been covering the crime-spree of a supervillain calling himself the Psycho-Pirate because of his power over emotions. The Psycho-Pirate contacts the Courier to issue a challenge to the Justice Society of America to try to stop his crimes. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the Justice Society’s World War Two-era stories continues. FOR PART ONE CLICK 
ALL STAR COMICS #22 (Fall 1944) 
Synopsis: A mystical female figure who embodies “The Conscience of Man” summons the Justice Society of America. 
This examination of the Justice Society’s World War Two-era stories continues. FOR PART ONE CLICK 
ALL STAR COMICS #21 (Summer 1944) 
Synopsis: Lab assistant Joe Fitch has volunteered to be a guinea pig for experimental medicine but winds up dying. To reward the man for his selfless contribution to science the Justice Society of America is called in (talk about overkill) to act on Joe’s request to make amends for his secret criminal past. 