Number 1664: Tor to Viking Prince to Tarzan

Joe Kubert’s creation, Tor, had a short early run for St. John: two 3-D issues and three standard comic book issues. Despite the sin of commingling dinosaurs and humans in world of “1,000,000 years ago,” it was a nicely done title featuring a wandering caveman who shows up just as other tribes are having some problems that need Tor’s intervention. You can find a link to a Tor posting below. The series ended in 1954.

From Tor Joe went on to DC and the next year began the Viking Prince stories for writer/editor Robert Kanigher, with whom he had a long collaborative association. This entry in the series is from The Brave and the Bold #2 (1955). Go to the link below to see the first story featuring Viking Prince from The Brave and the Bold #1.

Occasionally when going through boxes of old comics I pause to look again at anything Joe Kubert did, just to remind myself how much all of it has meant to me.

(Even with that build-up, no, I am not furnishing examples of Joe’s Tarzan beyond this cover...sorry!) It is fitting that when DC got the rights to the famous literary character, Kubert’s progression from Tor to Viking Prince to Tarzan seemed very natural and a perfect choice.

More Tor, and the Viking Prince’s origin. Just click on the thumbnails.

Number 1484: Viking Prince by the crown prince of comic artists

The Viking Prince feature, which ran in The Brave and the Bold for the first two dozen issues in the mid-to-late fifties, is a collaboration between Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. I believe the Viking Prince was a version of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, although the comic book character was original enough in his own right. Being written by Kanigher in the Comics Code era meant that the blood and thunder was not in violent battles between humans, but often with supernatural entities, like the living giant stone statue in “The Secret of Odin’s Cup!” Kubert’s art on the story is superb.

From The Brave and the Bold #20 (1958):

Number 486


We come from the land of the ice and snow


In 1955, after implementation of the Comics Code, DC Comics created The Brave and the Bold, an anthology comic with three different heroes. The original lineup was Viking Prince by Joe Kubert, Shining Knight by Irv Novick, and Golden Gladiator by Russ Heath. Gladiator was soon replaced by Robin Hood.

The Brave and the Bold was a hit with me because of the Viking Prince. At the time I didn't see it as DC Comics' take on Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, all I knew was I really loved the artwork and the stories about Vikings.

As the series opens, Jon, the main character, is an amnesiac, who is rightful ruler of a kingdom usurped by the "evil Thorvald." Thorvald wants him permanently out of the way. This story, "The Ice Dragon," is from Brave and the Bold #5. The stories for B and B were by Robert Kanigher, who also edited. The three artists for B and B also worked for him on the war comics.



"The Ice Dragon" is scanned from DC Special #12, May-June 1971.