Claw the Unconquered (1975-1978) #1

by Joe Orlando (Editor), Ben Oda (Letterer), Ernie Chan (Artist, Cover)

Genres: Sword and Sorcery

20 pages, Unknown Binding

First published February 20, 1975

About the author

Joseph Orlando was an Italian American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades.
(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Pranay · Rating 4 out of 5]

First appearance of Claw the Unconquered

Conan the Barbarian was a huge success for Marvel and many comics tried to get on the Sword and Sorcery bandwagon. DC decided to have its own Barbarian called Claw the Unconquered based heavily on Conan.

The first issue is very beautifully illustrated by Ernie Chan and story is interesting enough to keep the reader hooked.

I have not read all the Claw books but readers who have read have had good reviews for it. Now I don't mind reading more of Claw's adventures.

[Andrew Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Sword and the Silent Scream", May/June, 1975

The scheming conspiracy of a prince, a guardsman, and a sorcerer results in the murder of a king, and the slaying of a dragon-clawed farmer with his wife. The sorcerer's prophecy reveals to the prince a King's throne but an omen also shows the challenge of a clawed man. Unfortunately for the conspirators, they didn't see the farmer's clawed baby during the slaughter. Valcan knows nothing of his past but feels fate drag him towards a mysterious future. He meets nothing but betrayal and aggression, even when just trying to eat or drink. Whoever guides Valcan's fate is unknown, and we may never truly know, but this formulaic sword-and-sorcery tale is still a fun enough escape to seek out the resolution.

Character Reference:
- Valcan - outlander barbarian
- sly one - Ichar purse thief
- clumsy wench - Tarmag's horny and shady servant
- Tarmag - Ichar innkeeper
- Jarmal - Ichar assassin thug
- axeman - Ichar assassin thug
- King Occulas - of the Yellow Eye; Lord Ruler of Pytharia, of Castle Darkmorn in Ichar, Pytharia
- Miftung - sorcerer for King Occulas
- Zedon - swordman for King Occulas
- Kregar - of Kanon Wood; framed for attempted assassination; Claw's father
- Kann the All-Consumming - entity banished by his own Kannites

[C. John Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another attempt by DC to get into the Sword and Sorcery field. In some respects this was a typical S&S series. However there was one important aspect that distinguished it self from many others. The hero of the strip had a demonic claw in place of one of his human hands. It wasn't revealed in this story how that came to be, but we did learn that his father had the identical feature. Apparently this distinguishing mark has some sort of significance. Although the father is dispensed with the son is not, mainly because no one knew about him. This was a pretty good story. It really is just setting up the situation for future issues. Still it does that quite nicely and it does serve to introduce us to the main characters of thie storyline. There are some elements of Michale Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories mixed in with the more standard barbarian story. I should mention that Valcan, our here, does bear some resemblance to Marvel's Conan. This is because, although the writer of the feature envisaged his hero looking more like Tarzan, Ernie Chan, who was the artist, had his own ideas of what a barbarian should look like. And that was Conan. There must have been something about Claw that caught on as this title lasted longer than any of DC's attempts at a sword and sorcery type hero, unless you count Warlord. Unfortunately as far as I know there have not been collections of the Claw stories published, so the original comic appearances are all we have. Happy reading.