rickklaw's review
3.0
Marvel produced several Solomon Kane stories for their black and white magazines. Beginning with the Roy Thomas/Ralph Reese adaptation of "Skulls in the Stars" in Monsters Unleashed #1 (August, 1973) and culminating with "Death's Dark Riders, Part Two" (The Savage Sword of Conan #220, April 1994), written by Thomas (inspired by a REH story fragment) and drawn by Colin MacNeill, Marvel published 26 stories plus two prose Solomon Kane biographies by Fred Blosser (Kull and the Barbarians #3, September 1975 and The Savage Sword of Conan #219) and a publishing history by Glenn Lord (The Savage Sword of Conan #220, April 1994). The overall quality of the stories varies greatly and the art for the most part is of inferior quality. Adaptation highlights include the Thomas and artist Howard Chaykin version of Howard's story "Rattle of Bones," the two-part "The Hills of the Dead" by Thomas and Alan Weiss, and Doug Moench, and Steve Gan's "The Right Hand of Doom." Several writers attempted new tales, mostly unmemorable except for the Thomas-Weiss chronicle of the first meeting between Kane and Dracula. "Castle of the Undead" (Dracula Lives! #3, October 1973), which surprisingly captures the essence of both iconic characters in an entertaining story. Dark Horse recently collected all of the Marvel magazine Solomon Kane appearances, the fascinating text pieces, and pin-ups from the likes of Berni Wrightson, Don Maitz, Gene Day, and Neal Adams in The Saga of Solomon Kane.
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