This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the Marvel Comics adaptation of Lin Carter’s sword and sorcery hero Thongor.
CREATURES ON THE LOOSE Vol 1 #22 (Mar 1973)
Title: Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria
Villain: The Demon of Zangabal
NOTE: Pop fiction writer Lin Carter started writing stories about his character Thongor in the 1960s. He was like a cross between two Robert E. Howard creations – Conan the Barbarian and Kull the Conqueror, whose adventures were set on the ancient continent of Atlantis before it sank beneath the waves. Thongor was a sword and sorcery barbarian of sorts whose adventurers were set on ancient Lemuria, the Pacific Ocean version of Atlantis, before it sank.
Synopsis: Thongor (at right), as always wielding his father’s god-forged sword Sarkozan, is working as a thief in the city-state of Zangabal. During one caper Thongor comes close to being captured by the authorities but is given shelter by Kaman Thuu, a Priest of the Seven Gods of Zangabal.
Kaman Thuu is a fallen priest who wants the ancient relic called the Black Mirror of Zaffar, which is currently owned by the sorcerer Athmar Phong. Zangabal’s Thieves Guild is too frightened to steal it from Athmar Phong so Kaman Thuu hires Thongor to steal it. Continue reading
HULK! Vol 1 #11 (Oct 1978) 
INHUMANS Vol 1 #1 (Oct 1975) 
Blastaar flies to Attilan, the Great Refuge and fights his way in past the airborne guards. In the Royal Palace, a long-buried device rises from the lowest depths below Attilan and sits, apparently waiting for a clearly missing component to complete it. Black Bolt and Triton dive into the watery depths below Attilan to see where the machine originated from. 
THOR Vol 1 #225 (July 1974)
Meanwhile, a being called Firelord arrives on Earth and enters Krista’s hospital. People attack Firelord, who injures them, prompting Hercules to fight him.
POWER MAN Vol 1 #24 (April 1975) 
Claire says she cannot abandon Bill during a moment of crisis like this and was afraid Luke wouldn’t understand. Dr. Foster unexpectedly finds Power Man and Claire together and misunderstands the situation. Revealing to Luke that he is now the costumed figure Black Goliath, he attacks Power Man.
ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #9 (Dec 1971) 
ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #1 (Aug 1970) 
Dr. Doom Title: Unto You is Born … the Doomsman 
JUNGLE ACTION Vol 2 #19 (Jan 1976) 
MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 #41 (Apr 1978) 
The crew members we meet in this debut story – 1. Captain Jordan Shaw (right), a decent man appalled at the way the Six have chosen to play God with who gets to escape and who gets left behind to die. He cooperates just so he and his wife can survive, so he bitterly knows he is no better than the oligarchs in the end. 
And 5. Phaedra (left), a mutant with telekinetic and telepathic abilities. She and Earth’s hundreds of other mutants live in prison camps at the Six’s command while their abilities are probed. They are all forced to wear facial tattoos to prevent them hiding their mutant status. 
CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #52 (Jul 1975) 
Conan finds the Ring of the Black Shadow, thus animating a huge statue of the Scorpion God which guards the ring to keep it out of human hands. Our hero fights the statue and renders it inert again with a sword through its “brain.”
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