The fantasy, or ‘sword and sorcery’ genre in fiction is vast and popular. Add to that the raft of table top role playing games like Role Master, the obvious Dungeons & Dragons and, of course, the good old (pre-Colonial Space Marine) Warhammer Fantasy and it’s obvious why so many Gen-Xers and Millennials love their selves a bit of Orc and Elf action.
Of course, you can trace the genre back to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings trilogy of books. But also Robert E. Howard’s stories about the adventures of a certain muscle-bound Barbarian who was, famously, portrayed in the 1982 film by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I’m not about to waste my time attempting a concise deep dive on the history of Fantasy fiction. That would take faaaaaaaar too long! But, instead take a look at some of the prose and cons and common criticisms. Then offer some examples of the genre I think are worth your time.
Orcs an’ shit
Sword & Sorcery seems to be a bit of a marmite genre. Some people just really struggle to connect with the outrageousness of the lore. I look at it like Sci-Fi. Both are genres where you can pretty much make and then break all your own rules. You can get away with a lot! I guess some people just struggle with suspension of disbelief? I dunno.
But I often hear people say how lame they think Orcs or Wizards or Dragon are. They’re not interested in any of that. That’s fair, you’re allowed to like and dislike different things to me. But, if you think spandex wearing, self-righteous members of an elitist superclass of people, calling themselves ‘heroes’ is more plausible than fire breathing lizards, you might just be a little bit of a hypocrite.
But, to be fair. The genre does often disappear up its own arsehole. I have seen many takes on it in literature, comics, film, TV, etc. That took themselves far too seriously. Personally, I think it’s best when you include a little wry humour (if not a lot of humour). A little wink and nod, some self-awareness that, yes, this is a ludicrous concept, so let’s have fun with it.
That’s not to say that you can’t do serious storytelling with deep emotionality, you can. You can fold in subtexts and analogues for social issues that matter to you.
But let’s be honest. Most people enjoy Fantasy for the sword play, the tits and the biceps!
I’m just being honest, we want more tits (or pecs, or glutes, or biceps or whatever) why are people so offended by nudity? Put guns or bombs in a film and it only gets a 15, show some tits and it’s instantly an 18, what’s that all about?
Anyway…
No-one plays D&D for the Greek tragedy, they play it because they want to lop-off the head of the bastard who tried to steal their pouch of gold. Also, the whole idea of ‘role-playing’ is that you get to be someone else! Fantasy is escapism, escapism is fun.
Like I said. You can do almost anything you like with the genre, so if you don’t want to have Orcs, or Elves, or Dragons, you don’t have to have those things in your world.
But feel free to disagree with me and challenge this point in the comments.
Some Examples
I wanted to offer some examples of different takes on the genre, in comics. So here are three of my favourites, and the reasons why I chose these. I wanted to focus on the more traditional ‘sword and socery’ style rather than sub-genres like sci-fi fantasy (Star Wars) or dark fantasy (Sandman).
1. Red Sonja (Dynamite)
Since Dynamite took on the publishing rights of Red Sonja the character has gone from strength to strength, in my humble opinion. Like many of their characters - Vampirella, for example. Her backstory is a little confusing by this point. Every writer seems to have a slightly different take on the blade swinging crimson coiffured combatant. Dynamite did ret-con the original lore that she was gang raped as a child, and then given supreme fighting powers by a Goddess who made her take a vow of celibacy until she could find a man to beat her in a sword fight and make her his property… or something. Apparently removing rape from a character’s origins is ‘woke’ according to some reactionary individuals. But I’m okay with it, it always felt a bit ‘ick’ to me.
However, one thing that most fans and creators agree on is that Sonja is a real badass with a really sassy attitude and she’s sexy as hell!. Sure, the tiny metal bikini (that would surely chafe her nipples?) only works on the pages of a comic and would be utterly ridiculous and impractical in reality, but hey remember what I said about tits? BOX.TICKED!
The key thing with Red Sonja is that the stories never forget to be fun and, although often include strong moral narratives, there’s plenty of humour and head lopping. What’s not to like?
2. Feral & Foe (2000ad)
Created by insanely prolific writer Dan Abnett and artist Richard Elson; Feral & Foe is a fun subversion of the genre. It’s genuinely funny, I would even say hilarious at times. It reads like the characters are actually being played by gamers sitting around a table, arguing among their selves over whose dumb idea it was to open the crypt, or why ‘X’ character was stupid enough to trigger a trap.
Oh, and these characters hate dead-end side quests just as much as you do.
It’s the finest example of Elson’s artwork that I have seen in the pages of 2000ad, where he seems to allow himself to get looser than usual and clearly enjoys drawing these crazy characters.
Given that it appears in weekly 5-page installments in a newsagent anthology there is a distinct lack of tits but I’m not holding that against them.
Disclaimer: other features of human anatomy are available.
Feral & Foes is, for sure, an underdog and probably not a story that many of you will be familiar with, unless you’re a subscriber to 2000ad, but you can pick up trade collections from the 2000ad web shop if you want to check it out.
3. The Hunger And The Dusk
The Hunger and The Dusk is a currently ongoing series published by IDW. Created by writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Chris Wildgoose this story does take itself seriously. It’s an extraordinarily complex tale of the politics of war.
I’ll be honest, I was not familiar with either creator before this pinged up on my radar, but they have both smashed it out the park!
Without giving too much away, a generations long conflict between Men and Orcs has been put on hold as the two factions set aside their differences to unite against a common foe.
I can honestly say this is a masterful slice of very emotional and compelling storytelling, in which every character feels well fleshed out, unique in their own personality and has you rooting for them from the word go.
Too often, ensemble pieces like this, get confusing with too little character development and too little diversity between personalities for you to feel invested in the individuals. This is a masterclass in how to get it right.
It has violence, horror, romance, political tensions and conspiracy. I know this will be a divisive statement, but I genuinely believe that The Hunger and The Dusk does it better than Game of Thrones.
It does need more tits, though. Even green tits count!
Anyway, I promised that I would post something this week and here it is. What are your thoughts on the sword & sorcery genre? Let me know in the comments.
And if you have any suggestions for me to check-out, please do share.
Troy