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| Copyright REBELLION |
I knew him as Erik The Viking from the pages of the revamped Smash! back in 1969, but he started life as Karl The Viking in Lion comic in 1960. Now, under his original appellation, his strips have been collected and reprinted in the above handsome volume by the Treasury Of British Comics. Written by Ted Cowan and superbly illustrated by Don Lawrence (pre-Trigan Empire), all true lovers of UK classic comic strips will surely want to have this one in their collection.
The front and back covers are scanned from my softcover edition (priced £19.99), which arrived this morning, the other images are borrowed from Rebellion's own site. If you'd prefer to have a hardcover copy, there's an exclusive web-shop edition with a different cover for £35. Don't hang about - get your orders in today!
As I said, I knew him as Erik and I find it difficult to dismiss that name from my mind. I'm therefore going to regard Karl as his first name and Erik as his second (as in middle - though presumably his surname isn't Viking), and that way, my personal association with these strips remains extant. If you have any thoughts or memories of Karl/Erik, feel free to express them in the comments section.
Incidentally, a couple of years before appearing in Smash! he popped up in Lion & Champion in 1966/'67, rechristened Rolf (and this time a Danish chieftain), but I never saw those reprints at the time so I'm under no compulsion to regard his Danish name as part of his Viking heritage. (He was, in fact, born a Saxon.)
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I've now read the first adventure and it looks like at least one episode has been sourced from a later reprint, as it's obvious the name Karl has been re-lettered from something else. However, his father's name, Eingar, which was changed to Rangar for one of the reprints, has been overlooked and remains in its altered state. Also, one speech balloon has a blank space where Karl's/Eric's/Rolf's name should have been, so it was obviously removed in order to be changed, but then forgotten about.
Wulf the Briton would have made mincemeat out of him whatever the name.
ReplyDeleteIf they'd been Marvel characters, they'd no doubt have had several fights with one another by now - with no clear winner, as is the Marvel way, T47.
ReplyDeleteSo was there a supernatural element to Karl The Viking? Did he ever fight monsters and evil wizards?
ReplyDeleteI'd have to read them, CJ, to be sure, but I seem to recall a couple or so monsters and evil wizard-types. I'll let you know for sure once I've finished the book. It's quite a few years since I read them when he was known as Erik, so I can't quite remember at the moment.
ReplyDelete£35 seems excessive for the hardback think I will order the paperback seen it online for around £14. By the way I ordered Conan 1 facsimile in October after reading your post but the seller informed me in december they didn't receive enough stock so I got a refund. Never mind I now have the first epic collection which includes that issue. Not read Conan since the 70s so I'm looking forward to reading it
ReplyDeleteThe Epic Collections are nice - I've got the first 4 Conan volumes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Karl hardback cover is well-drawn, it doesn't make him look good. First of all, he's too skinny, and going by the expression on his face, looks as if he's sh*ttin' a hedgehog. It doesn't really look like Karl either. That's why I went for the paperback.
Have to say the covers aren't great , that are well drawn but just something missing. The first covers a bit bland and the hardcover Karl's face looks strange to me. I remember seeing a 4 issue collection of these stories in a slip case cover that had 4 really stunning covers. I'm awaiting the House of Dolmann collection , that was one of my favourite strips as a child.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't like Karl's face on the hardcover either, McS - he looks like a villain. At least the softcover edition's cover has Don Lawrence's art on it. I've now read the second story, and again, names are missing where one was supposed to be altered to another, and the Vikings are referred to as Danes in one panel. That's because the stories were reprinted as Sword Of The Sea Wolves in '66/'67 and the Vikings were turned into Danes. Obviously Rebellion have used some of the names-changed reprints, but have missed some instances when restoring the originals. Their proofreading needs to be better.
ReplyDeleteAnd he later had a big budget movie made starring Tim Robbins ...or not.
ReplyDelete1989, wasn't it? Never seen it, PS, don't think I want to.
ReplyDeleteErrr it's "or not" lol a different Erik.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I knew it wasn't based on the Karl/Eric strip, McS. They might've nicked the name for the movie though.
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