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Friday, March 11, 2016

The World of Crom

"Crom" by Gardner Fox and John Giunta's Crom (I've discussed it before here and here) may well be the first sword & sorcery comic. All three Crom appearances are available on line. Here's a short guide to the people, places and things you'll encounter in them:

Aesir: The tribe of Crom; a migrating yellow-haired people.
Akka: The ancient city of the ape men (though they have tails like monkeys).
Balthar: A giant worshiped as a god by the people of the cliff country south of Ophir, and in return, he raided caravans for them.
Bokris: King of Ophir when Tanit was held captive.
Calla: The priestess of Balthar (who was taken with her beauty).
Cave People: The worshipers of Balthar in the cliff country.
Cavus: A soldier of Ophir.
Crom: The titular barbarian hero.
Cymri: Monkey people; enemies of the Aesir.
Dwelf: A wizard who rules an island full of young women. He desires water from the Fountain of Youth from the Black Tower of Ophir.
Garm: A hound by whose teeth Crom swears.
Kard: A rocky land south of Ophir along the the Nexus River; possibly the same place as the "cliff country."
Lalla: Sister of Crom.
Hounds of Hel: Crom compares the Cymri to them.
Id: Presumably a deity. Crom swears by "the bones of Id" 
Ind: A place of jungles where black panthers dwell.
Iormungundir: "the Earth-Spanner"; Crom compares the giant snake in the Black Tower of Ophir to it.
Iss: A deity. Crom and others swear by Iss.
Nessus: Crom swears by this hooved being on several occasions,
Ophir: A city (and possibly city-state or country) considered "the richest on the inland sea"; the location of the Fountain of Youth.
Skull-Biter: Crom's sword--at least in his second and third appearances.
Skull-Cracker: The name of Crom's sword in his first appearance.
Spraa: A giant spider worshipped by the ape men of Akka.
Rou: King of the ape men of Akka.
Taka: An Ophirean soldier.
Tal: An Ophirean coin.
Tanit: The queen of Ophir; Crom initially kidnaps her, but she soon decides being with him is more exciting that ruling alone and she shares his adventures.

3 comments:

  1. I threw all the scans into a PDF:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7iwPrPMWW8WTGZPZ2lWTDlJUWM/view?usp=sharing

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fascinating. I had no idea. And thanks for the scans!

    ReplyDelete