Number 2507: Beowulf and the monster

Beowulf is a very early epic poem, 3000 lines in old English. In the story it tells, Beowulf comes to the aid of a group of Danes attacked by the monster, Grendel. Beowulf is a real tough guy. He rips Grendel’s arm off. There is a lot more, but...you want me to ALL your work for you? Go online and look it up.

In this version of Beowulf, spelled “Beowolf,” Grendel is a small T-Rex, a dinosaur. When I went online in search of Beowulf,  I found new and old illustrations from the saga, which present Grendel as a monster, but not a dinosaur. Artistic license, no doubt.

Bill Ely, an artist I consider to be one of the most underrated artists from the early history of the comics, did the pictorial renderings for the story, published in Conquest, a one-shot comic book from Famous Funnies. Besides Beowolf the comic book featured stories about Richard the Lion-Hearted, the Swamp Fox, and Lochinvar. Conquest came out originally in 1953, but was reprinted with Comics Code approval in 1955.

Number 942


Bill Ely's tough guys


Bill Ely was an artist who kept busy from the earliest days of comics until at least the 1960s, when he was drawing Rip Hunter, Time Master for DC. I presented some short stories from House Of Secrets by Ely last July in Pappy's #772.

"Beowolf" is from Famous Funnies' Conquest, a reprint of a 1953 one-shot comic, the reprint dated Spring 1955. Bill Ely's contribution was the unusual 7-page version of "Beowolf" (also known as Beowulf). It's been over 40 years since I was a college student and had an exposure to "Beowulf," the epic poem, but I don't remember the monster Grendel being a dinosaur. It's an interesting interpretation, anyway.

Another example of Ely's work is this 1948 "Iron Man" strip, which as you've already noticed, is not the Marvel Comics Iron Man, but an undercover policeman who beats the crap out of crooks. The story is the backup strip in Dell Comics' Dick Tracy Monthly, from 1948. I showed three more stories, including another Iron Man story by Ely, in Pappy's #695.