While looking for images for yesterday’s post on thieves in sword in sorcery, I came across numerous comic adaptations of the stories mentioned. At first I found it surprising, but then realized it made sense. After all, these are short, exciting tales of infiltrating dangerous locales. Wouldn’t they lend themselves perfectly to the comic form? Let’s take a look at some of them.

Obviously the best-known S&S comic adaptations are those of Conan. All of Conan’s tales of thievery have been adapted by Marvel in the ‘70s (in some cases, multiple times) and Dark Horse in the 21st century.

Apart from Conan, the thieving S&S characters who most frequently found their way into the comics are Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. They starred in the short lived DC Comics series Sword of Sorcery in the early ‘70s. The tale “Thieves’ House” was adapted for the second issue under the title “Revenge of the Jewel of Skulls, which can be read online at Diversions of the Groovy Kind.

Epic Comics published a 4-issue Fafhrd & Mouser miniseries. The first issue contained an adaptation of “Ill Met in Lankhmar.”

Lord Dunsany isn’t a name you’re likely to think of when it comes to comic adaptations, but there actually is one out there! Artist Dean Kotz took it upon himself to adapt “The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller,” and did a fine job. Check it out on his website.

Lastly we have one of the few Clark Ashton Smith comics out there: “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” adapted by artist Jason Thompson. The 20-page story can be ordered from his website for a measly three bucks!

If that whetted your appetite for tales of thieving swordsmen, glittering jewels, and monstrous guardians, and you’re not adverse to the prose form, check out The Thief of Forthe by Clifford Ball. This collection contains all of Ball’s output for Weird Tales, including some of the first sword and sorcery stories written after Robert E. Howard.