Following our coverage of Beowulf #1 in January, and Claw the Unconquered #1 in February, we come now to the third of the brand-new sword and sorcery series launched by DC Comics in the first quarter of 1975 — the shortest-lived of the group, as things turned out, but your humble blogger’s personal favorite, nevertheless.
In a career-spanning interview with Paul Levitz conducted in 2019 by Alex Grand and Jim Thompson, the primary progenitor of Stalker (also, albeit a few decades later, DC’s president and publisher) recalled how the project came to be. At the time, the 18-year-old Levitz was working as an assistant to DC editor Joe Orlando…
[Publisher] Carmine [Infantino] had literally had stuck his head in and said, “Joe, I need two more sword and sorcery books. One’s coming out in January, you’re two months late on it, and one’s out in February, you’re only one month late on it.” I may be getting the months wrong but I think that’s about what it was.
He walks out and I say, “I could write one, you know. I like sword and sorcery, I can try that, Joe.” And Joe said, “All right, come in with something tomorrow.” I went home and I channeled my best Michael Moorcock and came up with Stalker. He handed it to [artist Steve] Ditko, who needed work. And I’m just… amazed. [chuckles]
For all his youth, Levitz wasn’t a completely untried writer at this point; besides the work he’d done for his own fanzines (most notably The Comics Reader) and, since 1972, for the text pages in Orlando’s comics, he’d recently broken in as a freelancer with stories in Weird Mystery Tales, Adventure Comics (writing “Aquaman”), Tales of Ghost Castle, and (concurrent with the debut of Stalker) Phantom Stranger. Still, it was a pretty impressive accomplishment for a guy not long out of high school. (For what it’s worth, while I’m sure I must 
have read the autobiography Levitz wrote for Stalker #1’s text page, I’m not sure that I realized at the time that, with a birthday of October 21, 1956, the DC staffer/freelancer was only eight months older than I was. On the other hand, I may have been misled by young Mr. Levitz’s impressive ‘stache, as seen in the caricature [uncredited, though my money’s on Joe Orlando] that accompanied his text piece).
As stated by Levitz in the quote shared above, the artist assigned to complete the creation of Stalker by bringing the young writer’s ideas to visual life was the legendary Steve Ditko, whose last work for DC had been seen in the sixth and final issue of Beware the Creeper, back in 1969. Since then, Ditko’s art had been seen mostly at Charlton Comics, though he’d also done some work recently for the new publishing outfit Atlas/Seaboard, where his pencils for the first two issues of The Destructor had been inked by the very artist who’d be doing the same for the full run of Stalker: Wally Wood. An artist whose renown was on the same level as Ditko’s, Wood had last worked for DC in 1972; since then, most of his time had been devoted to his features “Sally Forth” and “Cannon”, both of which he produced for the U.S. military servicemen’s newspaper Overseas Weekly.
Prior to their teaming on Atlas’ Destructor, Ditko and Wood had previously collaborated on a couple of stories for Tower Comics’ “T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents” line in 1966; Ditko had also been a contributor to Wood’s witzend pro-zine, where the former’s ultimate Objectivist hero, Mr. A., made his debut in 1967. Yet another commonality between the two maverick creators was the fact that both had worked on sword-and-sorcery comics that appeared prior to Marvel Comics’ 1970 launch of Conan the Barbarian* — the feature whose ongoing commercial success was behind DC’s new push to establish themselves in that genre. For comic fans already familiar with those earlier works, it was probably less than surprising that the new sword-and-sorcery hero illustrated by Steve Ditko and Wally Wood was as “off model” from the standard muscle-bound, long-haired barbarian type exemplified by Conan as the artists’ cover for Stalker #1 clearly showed “the man with the stolen soul” to be.
Alas, my younger self wasn’t aware of most of Ditko’s and Wood’s earlier heroic fantasy work; still, I knew very well who both artists were, and I probably would have picked up anything they did together, regardless of what it was (and of who was writing it). The fact that their new project happened to be in my second favorite comics genre (after superheroes, naturally), sword-and-sorcery, made me even more eager to buy it, take it home, and begin to read it…
It would be fair to say, I believe, that by 1975 neither Steve Ditko nor Wally Wood were at the absolute peak of their powers; even so, both were still exceptionally talented artists with a great deal to offer. As a bonus, their styles were especially complementary at this stage of their professional lives, with Wood’s embellishment providing additional depth and solidity to the less detailed approach to rendering Ditko had begun to adopt in recent years.
Our nameless protagonist is thrilled to be taken into the baroness’ service — though his excitement doesn’t last for long, as he soon learns that his life is to be one of constant menial labor — scrubbing floors, carrying barrels, serving food, and so on…
Another guard comes to the slave-master’s aid, but their quarry is too quick for them — he leaps out of an open window into the castle moat, and is soon gone…
In the interview we quoted from earlier, Paul Levitz acknowledged the influence of British fantasist Michael Moorcock on the development of Stalker — and while the parallels between Levitz’s character and Moorcock’s doomed, morally conflicted “Eternal Champion” (in all his various incarnations) may not be quite as obvious (or as numerous) as those between the latter and some other comic-book stars from around this same time, such as David Micheline’s Claw and Jim Starlin’s Warlock, the inspiration Levitz has taken from Moorcock’s work is still pretty evident, if you look for it. For example, our still-nameless protagonist”s willingness to make a deal with a demon-lord for power is right up the alley of Moorcock’s most famous hero, Elric of Melniboné, who has the Chaos Lord Arioch for a “patron”.
Stalker’s swordsmanship is more than a match for that of his former tormentor, who quickly finds himself disarmed…
So ends the first issue of Stalker — but it’s clearly only the beginning of Stalker’s quest to reclaim his soul, which continues two months later in issue #2. Like its predecessor (as well as the two issues to follow), the story is by the Levitz/Ditko/Wood team (the two latter creators would also be responsible for all the series’ covers). In “Darkling Death at World’s End Sea”, Stalker travels to the titular location to follow up on the lead given him by the now-deceased priest of Dgrth’s shrine in Loranth. There, after overcoming various obstacles, he pries the information he desires from the sinister Prior F’lan: the gateway to Hell lies on the Burning Isle.
In the course of this adventure, Stalker is aided by a young woman whom he later rescues from F’lan — an act which indicates that, soulless or not, our protagonist is still capable of acting in the service of others, and will put himself at risk to do so. She remains in his company as he prepares to set out on the next (and, he hopes, last) leg of his journey…
In Stalker #3, our hero faces “The Freezing Flames of the Burning Isle”, as an enigmatic woman named Srani — who claims to have been exiled to the tiny island under suspicion of being a witch — tries to convince him that the gateway he seeks isn’t to be found there, despite the monsters he keeps running into…
Srani’s expository dialogue (and its accompanying imagery), which appear to indicate an extraterrestrial origin for the gods of Stalker’s world, suggest that Paul Levitz may have caught a case of Von Dänikenitis around this time (if so, he was hardly alone among his comics-writing peers). But any further explorations of this idea the young author might have had in mind would never be realized, as the series would meet its untimely end before anything else could be made of the notion (and perhaps that’s just as well).
As issue #3 reaches its climax, Stalker remembers the rest of the legend — that the banished old gods left one among their number to guard the gate against mortal invasion — and deduces that Srani herself is that guardian. Outed, the guardian takes the shape of a harpy, which our hero manages to defeat; but then…
If not for that “Next Issue” blurb at the bottom of the page, one might have taken the concluding panels of “The Freezing Flames of the Burning Isle” for the conclusion of the series itself… though this was obviously far from the end of Stalker’s story. As confirmed by the letters page that immediately followed the story, that effect was purely intentional:
According to a later account, the third issue should have been the last one for Stalker — but the book received a two-month stay of execution, evidently as the result of a simple error made in DC’s offices. In a brief retrospective of the Stalker series authored by Bryan Stroud for Back Issue #78 (Feb., 2015), Paul Levitz recalled:
Stalker… was first canceled as of the end of #3 (and you can judge for yourself my attempt to provide a neat ending), and then reprieved through #4 when the secretary who typed the production schedule accidentally listed it…. No sales were in. Carmine had justifiable reservations about my writing at that stage, and I believe he wasn’t happy with the overall effect of the team.
However it may have come about, the timely reprieve allowed Levitz and compnay to bring this chapter of the storyline, if not the entire saga, to a more satisfying resolution than we’d have had otherwise. In “Invade the Inferno”, Stalker journeys through Dgrth’s dark domain, encountering and defeating such foes as a three-headed guardian, a skeleton army, and a fiery dragon — only to learn upon reaching the gates of the demon lord’s castle that all of his battles and other struggles since the selling of his soul have been part of Dgrth’s design, intended to make him the perfect tool to serve the dark god’s ends. But Stalker rejects his intended fate; he turns away from the castle gates, and walks back through Hell until he reaches the Vale of the Dead, where the spirits of warriors slain in battle await “the arrival of the greatest warrior of all to shatter their bonds, and lead them against the demon lord”…
Steve Ditko and Wally Wood go all out in the climactic scenes of this final issue, providing what are probably the series’ most spectacular visuals…
“And now,” Dgrth continues, “you dare invade my kingdom — armed with my gifts for which you pleaded so hard!” Some gifts, retorts Stalker; Dgrth didn’t play fair with him in their original bargain, and as far as he’s concerned, the deal is off. “Take back your gifts,” he demands, “send me once more to the gutter…”
There’s no “Next Issue” blurb this time around, which would seem to indicate that both writer/assistant editor Levitz and his editor Joe Orlando knew that this really was the end. Still, the final letters page begins with an editorial message that implies that hope had not yet been completely extinguished…
Following the presentation of four mostly complimentary letters, the anonymous DC editorial staffer responsible for the column (probably Levitz) returns to say: “Just in case we’re not back here in two months, we’d like to say a short thank-you to all the people who helped put STALKER together.” Then, after delivering shout-outs to such otherwise uncredited contributors as letterers Ben Oda and Joe Letterese, and colorists Tatjana Wood, John Albano, Jr., and Carl Gafford, the column concludes with appreciation for “our hundred thousand plus readers, whom we hope we’ve entertained!”
And on that last, possibly ironic note, Stalker reaches the end of its short but memorable road.
Of course, as has proved true with just about every other corporate-owned comic-book character created over the last eighty years or so, the mere fact that Stalker had lost his series didn’t mean that DC Comics readers had seen the last of him.
That said, it took a good long while for the Man with the Stolen Soul to make any kind of significant return to public view. Naturally, he had an entry in the 21st issue of DC’s 1985-87 Who’s Who directory series (featuring art by Steve Ditko), but otherwise, Stalker was limited to a few cameos in the publisher’s “Vertigo” line (Sandman #52 [Aug., 1993] and #56 [Dec., 1993], Swamp Thing #163 [Feb., 1996]). And that was it, all the way up to the end of the millennium — almost.
From All-Star Comics (1999 series) #1 (May, 1999). Text by James Robinson and David Goyer; art by Michael Lark, Wade von Grawbadger, and Doug Hazlewood.
In 1999, Stalker played a central role in DC’s “The Justice Society Returns!” event, which played out over nine individual comics (seven one-shots bookended by two issues of All-Star Comics). The storyline, set in 1945, pitted the Justice Society of America against an immortal (and very powered-up) iteration of Stalker, who was revealed in flashbacks to have tried for three centuries to fulfill the vow he made in the final panel of Stalker #4 — i.e., to eradicate evil from the world — before going insane. Deciding at that point that, since evil is inherent in all sentient beings, the only way to eradicate it would be to eradicate life itself, Stalker had begun an ongoing crusade to destroy life on every world, in every dimension… and by 1945, his path of destruction led him to the Earth defended by the JSA. (As evidenced by the splash panel at left, along the way Stalker had picked up some of the fashion sense of his old nemesis D’grth [as the demon lord’s name was now spelled]… though he still held to his original green-and-gold color scheme.) Ultimately, the Justice Society defeated the Stalker by making the sands of time run backward (thanks, Hourman!), which devolved the former hero “back along his own personal timeline, back to a point before his own, tortured soul had been ripped from him (All-Star Comics [1999 series] #2 [May, 1999]).” That vaguely redemptive ending may have been a sop to old fans like your humble blogger, who, while they were happy enough to see that Stalker hadn’t been completely forgotten, were less thrilled about him having become a supervillain. (And perhaps it was also done partly to please Paul Levitz, who was DC’s publisher by this time — though that’s pure speculation on my part.)
Stalker’s next significant appearance didn’t really line up to well with “The Justice Society Returns!”, continuity-wise; on the other hand, you could say that since that event had ended with the character’s timeline being unwound, writer Gail Simone was at liberty to pluck him from any point on it when she brought him into her Wonder Woman run in 2008. Yes, that’s right; I’m talking about the same “Ends of the Earth” storyline previously discussed in our Beowulf #1 and Claw #1 posts, in which the Amazon Princess teamed up with all three alumni of DC’s Sword-and-Sorcery Hero Class of ’75 (1st quarter) to save the world(s) from our old buddy D’grth:
From Wonder Woman (2006) #22 (Sep., 2008). Text by Gail Simone; art by Aaron Lopresti and Matthew Ryan.
Unfortunately for those of us who prefer to think of Stalker as a good guy, soul-challenged status or no, the red-eyed warrior took a heel turn midway through the arc, as it was revealed he’d intended all along to trade his companions’ souls to D’grth to regain his own (yeah, I know, he and we both learned in the climax of Stalker #4 that that was impossible, but I think we’ll have to let that go). Ultimately however, Stalker chose to accept his fate, and joined with the others to destroy D’grth forever; so, in the end, he found redemption after all.
And that’s pretty much been it for Stalker — at least, for the OG version (which is the only one this old fan really cares about, sorry). For completeness’ sake, however, I’ll note that a rebooted “New 52” iteration, who had a somewhat similar look and origin story, but operated in the present day, appeared in a back-up strip in Sword of Sorcery (2012 series) #4-7. A bit more recently, the “real” Stalker cameoed (as a member of the “Justice League Multiverse”, no less) in a crowded double-page spread in Harley Quinn (2016 series) #50 (Nov., 2018); the story’s title, “Harley Quinn Destroys DC Continuity” should give you a pretty good clue as to what that was all about.
And that really is that, as of March, 2025. Will we ever see Stalker again? Perhaps not — but I wouldn’t wager my soul on it, if I were you.
*For Ditko, these included a couple of yarns (both scripted by Archie Goodwin) that ran in Warren Publishing’s black-and-white Creepy and Eerie magazines, both in 1967. As for Wood, he’d both written and drawn three S&S short stories that ran in consecutive issues of Marvel’s “mystery” anthology Tower of Shadows in 1970 (a fourth such yarn saw print a month after the publication of Conan the Barbarian #1); we might also mention his creator-owned high fantasy feature, “The Wizard King”, which debuted in witzend in 1968.
Even a comic I was lukewarm about is fun to see through your eyes. Fun and interesting post. 🙏🏼
I remember when this was released, but never bought it or the following issues. At that time DC had apparently had an editorial policy to use a lot of garish “candy colors” on the covers (ostensibly to stand out on the spinner racks) instead of the deeper and more muted hues used in prior years. Even the cover of Claw no. 1 would have benefited from a muted olive green background instead of the oversaturated magenta (almost hot pink) on the cover.
Wood and Ditko were clearly journeymen at this point, which was sad, seeing their past achievements did not give them any sort of “special creator” status for prestige projects.
Speaking of Wood’s Wizard King, I understand that Ralph Bakshi’s “Wizards” film was supposed to be a collaboration with Wood, but Bakshi went off on his own. There have been accusations of plagiarism, not only of Wood, but also of Vaughn Bode’s Cobalt 68. Regardless, “Wizards” was released the same week as “Star Wars” in 1977, and we know which one took home all the box office receipts.
I think I only bought the first issue. I have no love for sword and sorcery books but liked DC’s offerings in this era much, much more than Marvel’s so it’s probably why I sampled it. I’ve enjoyed nearly everything Levitz has ever written (I’m sure there’s an exception but can’t think of any right now) and Wood was a shining star no matter what he drew or inked but I have never liked any Ditko art I’ve ever seen. That includes early Spider-Man up to some truly awful Legion of Super-Heroes stories. At least he didn’t write this as his personal philosophies are as unattractive to me as his art.
I liked Ditko’s comics work of the 1950s and 60s when he was in peak form. He, like Kirby, should have received generous royalties from Marvel for (co-)creating so many seminal characters. Just about ALL of the best Spider-Man villains were his designs, not to mention Spidey himself. And that goes for Dr. Strange and his foes, and even the first Iron Man costume, if I am not mistaken. But I can understand if his visuals are not to everyone’s tastes.
I remembered The All-Star Comics revival and the Wonder Woman story.
None of these books were big sellers, but all of them touched other creatine people enough to re-visit the ideas.
No wonder Neil Gaiman touched on the character, Stalker sort of embodies some of the theme of his Sandman writ large.
This is also really nice art.
Ditko & Wood did some nice superhero work together (Dynamo in 1866-’67 for Tower and just before this on The Destructor for Atlas) and some good “mystery stories (Love Is a Dandy ” in Plop #16) but this was unique.
It had both Science Fiction and supernatural elements and had elements from Wood’;s love of military history (the detailed and accurately rendered chain and scale armor). It played to both artists strengths..
I also think this is the last time the two artists worked together . . . .
Well, this was…pleasant, I suppose. For an inconsequential hero in what ultimately amounted to an inconsequential book, it was a decent enough read. I’m glad you gave us his whole history in one post, Alan, as I don’t think our boy Stalker really deserves an issue-by-issue dissertation, but historically, it’s interesting in that it highlights a great writer at the very beginning of his career and two great artists approaching the end of theirs. I don’t think this is the best work by any of them, but it’s always a pleasure to check in with people whose work you’ve always enjoyed at different points in their career. Honestly, I think Levitz would have been better served and used his Moorcock influences to give us something truly original as opposed to the rather bland fare we got here. Still, always a pleasure to see work from Ditko and Wood, even if it didn’t reach their heights of their earlier achievements. Thanks, Alan!
Thanks for the detailed write-up of a series I was unfamiliar with. I enjoyed seeing all of the great Ditko & Wood artwork.
By the way, when I was reading your summary, and you got to the “alien space gods” bit, my first thought wasn’t Chariots of the Gods, it was actually H.P. Lovecraft. But, of course Erich von Däniken very likely borrowed from Lovecraft, along with several other people, when writing his pseudoscientific volumes.
I’m not so sure. Lovecraft was a lot less well known when Von Daniken began writing Chariots — and their ideas don’t have much overlap.
I may have seen this series on the racks back in the day but it didn’t stick in my memory. Ditko & Wood made for an interesting combination. The art strikes me as much more cartoonish that Ditko’s style in the last year or so of his runs on Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. Still very good but not exemplary of either of them at their peaks.
Interesting twist by Levitz to have the titular hero not have been orphaned by the murder of either of his parents or other loved ones, but simply thrown out of the family home by his own father at a young age and forced to make his way on his own and trying to weasel his way into a job with the monarchy but winding up with dismal drudgery work when he felt he deserved some far more glamourous position, to win glory in battlefields. Touched with stong bloodlust.
Given that I never bought the original issues (or ever felt that I’d missed much), you provide yet another insightful and entertaining review, so (at the risk of repeating what others have often said), thanks, Alan!
There seems to be an apparent disconnect between the original series and the 1999 attempt to resolve the storyline in ‘The Justice Society Returns’. The resolution suggests that Stalker has been hitting his head against a brick wall for the last three centuries, trying to eradicate evil on Earth. The original series however, in #4’s page 15, states that the army of the dead consists of “space-farers who brought men to this rocky world, to their descendants lost in a medieval culture that has returned to the sword!” This would seem to suggest that Stalker’s original adventures possibly took place ‘a long time in the future, maybe even in a galaxy far, far away’, with at least one reversion to barbarism as part of the historical record.
It would seem that Paul Levitz was maybe hedging his bets to bring SF elements into the series, much like the possibly extra-terrestrial origin of the gods of Stalker’s world. Was there anything in the original series that ever said the story took place on Earth? You can’t suggest that Levitz took any inspiration from George Lucas, as Star Wars’ first/fourth episode was still two years in the future when this came out, but maybe he was thinking along the same lines of giving himself a blank canvas to work on?
I’d also echo comments above that this wasn’t Ditko or Wood in their prime, but the finished result is certainly pleasing to the eye. Also felt a very Dormammu-like vibe from Dgrth/D’grth, with the whole ‘I only exist while people believe in me’. Are we sure that Steve Ditko had no hand in the plotting?
That’s an interesting observation regarding the series’ setting, mike. I’m not sure whether or not the name of Stalker’s world is ever given as “Earth”, though I’m reasonably certain that it’s not given any other name over the course of the four issues (not that I’ve gone back to do a panel-by-panel check, you understand 🙂 ).
I seem to remember that it is not the Earth and is sort of like Niven’s Ring World, . . .
The second issue shows that it’s a flat Earth — World’s End Sea is quite literal in its naming. So definitely not Earth.
I can’t say I liked the spaceships mixed in with the fantasy but it didn’t stop me buying the books.
Paul Levitz was well read at a young age. There were clearly Tolkien, Moorcock & Niven influences, but not enough to be distracting or obvious enough to seem untoward.
It is not surprising he ended up as DC Publisher.
From most accounts, he’s also a very decent chap. He’s supposed to have gotten Jerry Siegel way more money for Superman than the official amount.
Yes, he is. Very sober minded and pragmatic, when it came to helming DC as publisher. I have enjoyed my interactions with him over the years
Seems like a laudable guy. He certainly did interesting work over the years, going back to All-Star Comics.
I am not familiar with Moorcock’s work, now or then. I will say though that the overall broad storyline, selling your soul for powers or whatever has a long long pedigree. You could just as easily attribute it to Robert Johnson, the blues artist who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads. (Supposedly) There are plenty of other variations on the theme too. I thought the artwork on the cover for #3 certainly broke conventions for a Sword and Sorcery comic. This Srani has more clothing on than any woman featured on a S&S cover……ever! I’m sort of torn about Ditko’s art as well. Some of it seems out of place in this type of book but certain sections shine. Ditko is one of those artists who might be considered haunted by his own success. He made such a lasting impression on the early Spider-Man comics that his later work just kind of fails by comparison, rightly or wrongly.
I was going to say the same thing — it’s much more a classic deal-with-the-devil set-up.
I guess the number of “didn’t pick this up” comments shows why it didn’t become the next Conan. I picked it up and liked it, though as I said in my comments above throwing in spaceships didn’t work for me (but I’ve seen it done successfully, and who knows how Levitz would have developed it?). The art was odd, certainly; I like Ditko but I’ve never quite cottoned to Wood. Ditko’s art was way better on Shade, the Changing Man a couple of years later.
My favorite Ditko, next to Spider-Man, of course, was his work on The Creeper for DC. Great stuff.
His art is terrific but the scripting could be better. And now that I’ve seen more of Lee/Ditko Spidey and Ditko’s Question it’s obvious how much Ditko is borrowing from himself.
Except two things which I do love about the Creeper. 1)Jack really, really loves being a superhero — I can’t think of anyone but Daredevil who seemed to have as much fun in costume.
2)Jack faking being an insane/supernatural being to scare the crap out of the cowardly and superstitious lot he battles. Of course that’s the thing every subsequent adaptation drops in favor of making him a real loonie.
That was an interesting idea, essentially the whole series was a fight against Proteus, sort of a miniseries.
Only the Showcase issue differed Don Segali (a Dell comics guy, who also dd screen writing) did the dialogue rather than Denny O’Neil,, as on The Creeper book. Degall seemed like a better fit.
Mike Fleischer & Ditko did a Creeper 1st Issue Special but it did not seem go anywhere. Ditko did some Creeper stories in World’s Finest but they seemed to be 8-10 pages of nice art that went no where. Sort of like his KillJoy stories in E-man and Charlton’
I also like Shade the Changing Man.
Being a massive Ditko fan, I loved this. The art is glorious. Ditko is the best inker for Ditko, but Wood certainly comes second (P Craig Russell third).
The story was fun, especially considering Levitz’s tender age.
My only quibble is that clumsy tagline – The Man with the Stolen Soul. He doesn’t have a soul, stolen or otherwise, but the line makes it sound as though he is in possession of (somebody else’s) stolen soul. Something along the lines of The Man Without a Soul would have been more appropriate. Nitpicking, I know, but it’s bugged me since I was 13!
I liked Stalker from the first issue, and was bummed it didn’t continue. I was also bummed he was repurposed as a villain for the JSA story, as it seemed that anyone who remembered him would have wanted to see a more consistent take. Oh well, the curse of corporate-owned comics.
Ditko and Wood made a great combination. Seeing their work always gives a thrill.
Another great review, Alan. I like Ditko and Wood, both separately and in combination. Levitz, who with Jenette Kahn gave Kirby the sole merchandising deal of his career with the Super Powers toys and series. was certainly the ‘wunderkind’.
One wonders what happened in the c. five years between Conan debuting and Infantino saying to Orlando: “We need Sword and Sorcery comics ASAP!” Why wait until about 1975 to launch Stalker, Claw, etc? You do feel that DC missed their chance. It’s further evidence of Infantino’s scattergun approach: you feel he lacked a wider plan and was just making it up as he went along.
Marvel were frequently in “let’s throw sh*t against the wall” mode during this difficult period as well – which led to good stuff like Warlock and Gerber’s various runs, but there was also a lot of dross – however their circulations weren’t plummeting as fast as DC’s were!
I find it fascinating that DC found success with mystery/horror including a flood of long running or rejuvenated titles: House of Mystery & Secrets, Unexpected, Ghosts…; plus stabs at gothic horror/romance with Sinister House… Yet they bombed with S and S/fantasy except for Warlord later.
Meanwhile, Marvel prospered with Conan (in both colour comics and B&W magazine formats), and to a lesser extent with the likes of Kull; yet their attempts at mystery/horror bombed with Tower of Shadows, etc, nowhere near DC’s efforts. Between them, the two companies would’ve been unstoppable in non-superhero genres!
DC got their first, actually, with Nightmaster in 1969 — maybe the failure of that O’Neil/Wrightson book to graduate out of Showcase after three issues made DC think sword and sorcery was a no-go (after a string of one-issue-to-own-series tryouts they seem to have gone back to testing with multiple issues). Or after the failure of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser — DC’s only attempt at the time to try a licensed property the way Marvel was doing — they may have decided they simply didn’t have the knack.
It’s true DC flung a lot of stuff at the wall (https://atomicjunkshop.com/hard-times-create-strange-heroes-new-ideas-from-dc-in-the-late-silver-age/, hoping something would stick. Marvel got back into romance comics and even revived Homer the Happy Ghost, a 1950s Casper knockoff. Some of it was good or at least interesting, though — the original Secret Six and Deadman for instance.
I read a few Stalker issues back then, even though I’ve never been a Sword and Sorcery kinda guy. Got the issues in some of those three-packs of comics they used to sell. Thanks for the reprints here. Wood and Ditko…wow…