Aw, I was hoping for Trogdor comics.

Still, burnination or no, there may be some bits of interest here in this one: from 1974, Creatures on the Loose #29, "Lord of Chaos!" Written by Steve Gerber, art by Vicente Alcázar. We flipped through some earlier issues some time back, but in an eight-issue stretch from COTL #22 to here, this was like the third or fourth writer for the not-Conan barbarian Thongor. The stories may have largely been adapted from creator Lin Carter's novels, but I was mildly surprised Steve Gerber wrote the last two issues, including this one. Gerber's own barbarian Korrek, from Howard the Duck's first appearance in (Adventure Into) Fear #19, would predate today's book, though.

Anyway, in the previous issue, Thongor had been carried away by a dragon, and was dropped into her nest to feed her babies. Who Thongor kills; but they were bitey monsters, so...Meanwhile, the wizard Sharajsha has completed work on the Starsword, the weapon needed to defeat the Dragon Kings before they summon the Lord of Chaos--hey, where'd Thongor go? He and the rest of the party are forced to go on without him, in Sharajsha's...magic helicoptor? OK, wasn't expecting that. They arrive, and get immediately wrecked by said Dragon Kings, while Thongor has to make the perilous if not especially long trek to catch up with them. (Luckily, the dragon appears to have taken him in about the same direction; although that dragon and the Dragon Lords weren't necessarily working together?) Darn, somebody got the Marvel Value Stamp outta this one: per the GCD, it was Number 37, the Watcher.

Thongor finds the Starsword, and saves his friends from being sacrificed; with "Father Gorm" appearing from the heavens to smite the Dragon Lords and all. Which takes about a page and a half--it really feels like they were told to wrap it up while they were actually drawing it--but they had to, since the next issue would be the start of a new feature, with Man-Wolf! Which would likewise have like three writers over the course of his eight issues, but I think he was turning the sales numbers around before cancellation.

I didn't watch Homestar Runner or Strong Bad emails when they were new. That just means, they're new to me now!