I started reading this 80s series by Roy Thomas and Ernie Colon the other day, and didn't see a thread about him, so I thought I'd start one here. It's right up there with the 70s Marvel Conan stuff IMO, only with an original idea rather than an established copyright, with plenty of Sword and Sorcery thrown in. Basically, it's our world, only with magic. Imagine a Native American boy found adrift in a canoe by Vikings, who then raise him to adulthood and train him as a fighting man. I'm already well into the run and it's only been getting better as it goes. Alfredo Alcala is doing the inks, known for his work on Conan as well, though the series starts with Tony DeZuniga on that chore. The arti is gorgeous, and the storytelling imaginitive. Definitely worth reading.

I was certainly surprised to see this thread, I have a complete run of Arak. It started off as me just buying it
because I was buying everything Marvel and DC put out at the time, but, eventually, it was one of the few books
that I continued when I massively cut down on things. But even I bailed before the end. About five years ago,
I purchase the 15 or so issues that I never got before the series was cancelled. I have yet to dive into them.
The plan was that I would go back and read them all first, maybe bind the series.

I think I read somewhere that DC had brought Valda back about ten years ago and brought her to the future.

Looks great!

I may have to look into this. I was a big fan of Roy's run on Conan and this looks to be a sort of continuation of that, or at the very least, a hero from the same mold.

Were any of these ever collected in trades?

No trades that I know of, Chris, but complete and near-complete sets can be found on eBay
for about a buck an issue.

Arak was one of the first comics I ever bought. I went back and bought the entire run a few years ago, and still loved it.

I think it's very underrated and should definitely be collected in trades or an omnibus by DC. As good as the Conan stuff (Roy's, not saying he's Robert E Howard level here. ). Mixes all kinds of mythology and history together in an appealing way.

I remember reading this as it came out, but never read the whole thing. It really is a forgotten classic, Jeff.

There's a part of me that wishes DC would do a new Arak book, but then I think about what would be done with it. I think I'm a little glad that they've forgotten about it.

Looks interesting.

A search online shows that apparently they brought Arak back as a villain in 2015's "Convergence" storyline.
Apparently he remembers who he really is towards the end, and, presumably, returns to being a hero? I don't know.

They brought back Ditko's Stalker as a villain too many years ago. I tend to prefer it when they just forget
about characters that I used to like.

Yeah, I wish I didn't know that.

Sorry. I got to wondering…

Arak does look really good!

I'd forgotten about Justice Inc.

I used to like it, as I recall.

Jeff, have you checked out Grell's Warlord? It's like a Pellucidar / Sword & Sorcery mash-up... pretty entertaining stuff.

And Arak first appeared as an insert comic in Warlord.

Warlord and Camelot 3000 were great (from memory).

Sisterhood Of Steel from Marvel's Epic imprint was also really good stuff as well.

Yes, I've read the whole Warlord run, it's good stuff too. Sort of lost direction toward the end though, IIRC.