Trying to identify a strip

[mbc1955]

Hello all

I'm trying to identify a strip from the Sixties which,I am convinced, appeared in either the Victor or the Hornet.

I can't remember the title of the series, but it was based, however loosely, on Matthew Arnold's epic poem, "Sohrab and Rustum".

The series followed Sohrab on his quest to find his famous hero father. Sohrab gathered around him a band of young warriors like himself, had adventures with them for weeks and then, in the final episode, fought a duel with an older, masked warrior, who was Rustum himself. What stunned me at the time was that, Sohrab being the hero of the story, when Rustum tore off his mask, Sohrab was so shocked that he dropped his guard and was wounded. Fatally.

It was an amazingly unexpected ending, which is why it has stuck in my memory for almost fifty years. I'm trying to find out some more details about it, what it was called, which comic it was in, how long it ran.

Anyone else remember it? It did happen, didn't it?

[Digifiend]

You could look here, but it would be a lot easier to find if we already knew the title. Neither Victor or Hornet have the title "Sohrab and Rustum" listed though.
http://www.victorhornetcomics.co.uk/index.html

[mbc1955]

Thanks Digifiend.

I should have said I've already tried that sight with no joy on a search for "Sohrab", nor could Adrian remember it himself, when he graciously responded to my e-mail.

[Digifiend]

Could it have been in a different comic then?

[felneymike]

From the description it sounds a lot more like Look And Learn fare, but that wasn't weekly

[mbc1955]

I'm 95% convinced it was Victor or Hornet, but I have been known to be wrong about things I was 100% convinced upon before. I've checked the link with a search for Sohrab, unsuccessfully.

That's one of the problems. I have absolutely no recollection of the story outside its unduly-impressing ending. I would make sense for Sohrab's name to be in the title, especially given that it was drawn from Arnold's poem (though I doubt its intended audience would have been too familiar with that!). But,who knows?

I would be very surprised if the story were to have been in Beano or Dandy, as the ending I think would have been withheld from the younger audience they were aimed at. But then again...

[mbc1955]

felneymike

Agreed, but I never read Look & Learn (only the Ranger insert, in our School Library, with pre Bell & Redfern translations od Asterix, or should we say, Beric, Doric and Son of Boadicea?

[Digifiend]

I would be very surprised if the story were to have been in Beano or Dandy, as the ending I think would have been withheld from the younger audience they were aimed at. But then again...

Topper would be more likely than those two, as Dandy tended to have fantasy villains vs normal kids, while Beano's were usually kids with gimmicks, but Topper did adapt some classic literature.

Could it have been in Valiant? It's name is similar enough to Victor (both begin with V anyway) that it would be easy enough to confuse them.

[Phoenix]

The serial you seek, mbc, is Sohrab The Warrior, which appeared in The Victor 233 (Aug. 7 1965) - 246 (Nov. 6 1965). If there were any DC Thomson story paper authorities left on these forums, they would have been on to that title like a rat up a drainpipe.

[mbc1955]

Phoenix, that is marvellous!

I'm very much obliged to you.

[philcom55]

Oddly enough our other 'guru' Kashgar mentioned some time ago that, as a child, he was similarly affected by the death of Sohrab:

http://comicsuk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... hrab#p6347

Additionally, mbc, you might find this thread about DC Thomson's 'Sword & Sandal' epics to be of interest:

http://comicsuk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... dal#p58195

- Phil Rushton

[mbc1955]

Phil

Thanks for the links, which are indeed interesting. I echo Kashgar's comments about such things not being done at the time.

Phoenix

Can I prevail upon you one more time? There was another Victor story with a similiarly surprisingly reversal ending that I'm 99% certain I've identified as "Jimmy the Dodger" (boxer builds rising career on dodges to give him advantage in a series of fights/situations only for him to be disqualified as a cheat and banned for life in the last two panels of the final episode). Do you know the dates this series ran, please?

[Phoenix]

I know the serial well enough, but the facts don't match your recollections, mbc. Jimmy The Dodger appeared in picture strip format in The Victor 1 (Feb. 25 1961) - 10 (Apr. 29 1961). It was to be repeated as He Forgot He Was The Champion in The Victor 339 (Aug. 19 1967) - 348 (Oct. 21 1967).

It is the story of British boxer Gunner Wild, who wins the World Heavyweight Championship in Chicago from the Black Panther, despite having his jaw broken and his face mangled by the crooked champion's metal-loaded left glove. After the fight, Wild disappears into the night. Unrecognisable after plastic surgery, and with no memory of his earlier life, Wild joins a fairground boxing booth where, not unnaturally, he has considerable success, calling himself Jimmy the Dodger. However, this success brings notoriety, and inevitably brings him back into the mainstream, where he again has to confront other people's envy. In his absence the Black Panther has won the title back, so there is a rematch when Jimmy earns the right to challenge him. Again an attempt is made to get a metal bar into the champion's left glove during the official inspections, but this time the attempt is foiled because Jimmy's second doesn't go through with his agreement with the Panther's management team. During the fight the Panther hits Jimmy so hard that he gets his memory back and, shortly afterwards, his title. He can now be Gunner Wild again.

This serial originated in text form as Jimmy The Dodger in The Wizard 862 (Jun. 10 1939) - 873 (Aug. 26 1939), and was repeated as His Nickname Is Dodger - He Doesn't Have A Name! in The Wizard 1284 (Sep. 23 1950) - 1295 (Dec. 9 1950).

[mbc1955]

Phoenix

No, Jimmy the Dodger certainly isn't the story I was thinking of, and I don't recollect reading the one you describe.

I can't really give any more detailed description of the one I'm trying to identify - the serial was one long set-up for those final two, sympathy-reversing panels which, after having been led to applaud our master-of-gamesmanship hero, is what has fixed those details into my mind. Does this vague story-line ring any bells with you?

[Phoenix]

The one you have in mind is Crib Carson - Fighter. It appeared in The Victor 218 (Apr. 24 1965) - 229 (Jul. 10 1965). The serial originally appeared, in text form, in Adventure 1685 (May 4 1957) - 1704 (Sept. 14 1957), the title Crib Carson - Fighter! being slightly different from its successor. As per normal, the text serial is longer and more detailed, and naturally more involving for the reader, than the picture strip version.