More OSR Sword & Sorcery Commentary As We Enter The World of 'Manos der Dämonenjäger" For Your Old School Campaigns Part III

So let's pick it right at part three of this series of articles about the second Golden age of Sword & Sorcery comic books especially "Manos der Dämonenjäger" or  in English as "Manos the Demon Hunters". It is still remembered as one of the most enduring comic book Sword & Sorcery comic book titles today. It has a small but devoted international fan base and this largely due to the solid writing of Peter Mennigen. 

 
Ghosts Stories #63
14-Page-Manos Comic: "in the ambush of the demons".
Artwork: Esteban Maroto.

Mr. Mennigen is a veteran writer with many years of titles under his belt including, "Ghost Stories", "Haunted Stories", "Conny", "Biggi", "Vanessa", "Felix", "Lasso", "Phantom", " Axel F. " As well as many Bastei publishing house titles . He is stirring the Steampunk world  with Ingo Römling on the Steampunk series " Malcolm Max " which has a very nice spin on the Mystery Gerne. If you get the time I highly suggest checking it out.
Now let's dive right into the world of "Manos the Demon Hunters" because the titles setting is one of the things that still to this day sticks with me. This isn't your average Sword & Sorcery style adventure world. The supernatural is very active, dangerous, & quite horrid with humanity at a clear disadvantage.
Ghosts Stories #62
14-Page-Manos Comic: "the witch with the snake head".
Artwork: Esteban Maroto.

This is a world that clearly not only needs the main character's deeds but those of his family this is where some of the central plot of the series lay. The hero's struggles are personal, clearly defined and quite devastating to the core characters of the book. Wizards & villains are powers going about the machinations of the structure of the world. This type of plot structure is firmly grounded in the operatic nature of the books. This was something quite extraordinary for the time. Remember this is the Eighties when Marvel & DC were trotting out titles like Secret Wars & Sword of Conan basically had Conan wandering across the face of his world. Manos had family, plot, and structure all within the bounds of his title. There was a consistency and accuracy to the world. The wizards were dangerous and quite done in the classic mold, the demons vile monsters of the darkness, and the evil was done in a way that twists things to the overall writing. But things were starting to go in a different route in 1983. This was reflected in Peter Mennigen's writing & the artistic tone of the Manos series. He talks about it here :

Visually, „Manos“ did not have to hide. His adventures in the series „Geister Geschichten“ and „Manos der Dämonenjäger“ were drawn by the Who is Who of the Spanish Top artists:

Esteban Maroto

Before the publshing of „Geister Geschichten“, during the conceptual phase of the „Manos“ comic, the question arose of a suitable artist. When the editor-in-chief Werner Geismar asked me if I had a certain artist for the artwork in mind, I reached for the stars and named none other than one of the greatest fantasy artists ever: „Esteban Maroto“.

In response, I expected something like: Wonderful, but impossible.

But he left my suggestion uncommented. About two years later he called me one day and said, „We got him.“

Esteban Maroto drew three of my Manos scripts, which appeared in the „Geister Geschichten“ #61, #62, and #63.

Antonio Correa Expósito

Undoubtedly, Esteban Maroto was the undisputed star artists of the „Manos“ series. But the Spaniard Antonio Correa Expósito, who was born in 1940, draw the most „Manos“ stories. He signed them with „Correa“. As for the quality, his style was very similar to Esteban Maroto's. This is not surprising, after all, Correa had learned his craft as a comic artist in Esteban Maroto's studio.

Antonio Correa Expósito passed away in 2003.

Carlos Torrente

In the 1980s, the Spanish artist drew numerous comics for various Bastei series. Internationally, his work has been published in comics magazines such as „As“ or „Metal Hurlant“. Later, he concentrated more and more on illustrations for the press.

Luis Martinez Roca

Born in Barcelona in 1940, he was one of the first Spaniards to work for the American publishing house of James Warren, where he draw „Vampirella“. He died in 1998 in his hometown of Barcelona.

José Maria Bellalta Suárez

Suárez was born in 1941 in Barcelona. In the 1970s he founded the „Spanish Artist Studio“. For Bastei, he also drew the series „Arsat der Magier von Venedig“ („Arsat the Magician of Venice“) alongside of „Manos“.

DeMetrio Gómez Sánchez

Born in 1944 in Pilar de la Horadada, the Spaniard became an artist of Western-, Horror- and Romantic comics. In the USA he worked for the publishing house „Charlton Comics“. For Bastei he drew many „Gespenster Geschichten“ and „Manos“.

Ertugrul Edirne

Edirne was born in Istanbul in 1954 and lives in Cologne (Germany) since 1981. On behalf of the Bastei publishing house, he created numerous cover pictures for series such as

„Bessy“, „Lasso“, „Silberpfeil“, „Manos“ and more. He later worked as an illustrator for the Heyne -, the Ravensburger - and the Norbert Hethke publishing houses.

Ugurcan Yüce

The artist, who was born in Istanbul in 1947 and became famous for his cover art. After graduating on an art school in painting and sculpture, Yüce moved to Germany in 1980, where he produced numerous cover pictures for the Bastei publishing house. Among other comic series he illustrated covers for „Geister Geschichten“ and „Manos der Dämonenjäger“. Later, he designed various covers for computer games. Ugurcan Yüce died in February 2015 in Stuttgart, Germany.

These artists helped to shape the look,visual style, & the feel of the world of 'Manos the Demon Hunters'. In many ways the artists helped to define on the whole not only the setting but the entire nature of Peter Mennigen's writing.

These artistic changes helped to grab young audience members such as myself & those glorious wrap around covers helped to launch the book over the top into another category. The covers by Esteban Maroto were incredible with  colors that  were lush, lurid, and lusty with Sword & Sorcery goodness.  They remind me of many of the best of Dungeon Crawl Classic's best covers on some of their game adventures.


Ghosts Stories #61
14-Page-Manos Comic: "the trap in the hells".
Artwork: Esteban Maroto.

"Manos The Demon Hunters" was a product of both the times & its author's imagination that had the operatic quality to it that my adopted uncle was looking for. It wasn't quite as rough & ready as Heavy Metal was for the time so it was safer for us kids to read. But it reflected what was happening at the table top during this time as we braved many of the dangers of the 'gods' from  Der Ring des Nibelungen WWV 86 cycle of adventures.

Artwork: DeMetrio Gómez Sánchez

Overall there's an almost old school  campaign setting consistency to the world of  "Manos The Demon Hunters" that echoes in its storytelling something of the time of Eighties Sword & Sorcery pulpy goodness. There was hardly an issue in the run that disappointed me but the times were changing & so were the tastes in Sword & Sorcery fantasy. These were reflected in many later issues and as we shall see they echoed at the Dungeons & Dragons table top as well.




Artwork: Antonio Correa Expósito

OSR Sword & Sorcery Commentary As We Enter The World of 'Manos der Dämonenjäger" For Your Old School Campaigns Part II

As I covered in my first part of this series of articles, the Eighties were the second golden age of Sword & Sorcery adventure fiction. Coming in hot to usher in this age of decadence and magick was the  Conan The Barbarian film released 1982 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I can't tell you the impact this movie had on people across the world. For small town Eric it was a huge deal & it colored my views for decades to come. This was a defining film for a generation in a way & devoured each & everything Sword & Sorcery related. I snuck into a rated 'R' showing with friends way back when.

Savage Sword of Conan magazine was going strong but it wasn't enough for a restless slightly hyperactive  kid with a passion for Dungeons & Dragons, Sword & Sorcery comic books, & that more edgy European stuff. My adoptive uncle was there to feed the flames of youth.  I got more then my share of a wider audience of  comic books from aboard. A year after Conan hit the theaters,another thinking man's  barbarian prince had hit the comic book stands in Germany. Europe had always had a different take on the Sword & Sorcery market and in post war Germany the thirst for literature of the escapist variety was very high. Manos The Demon Slayer was the perfect vehicle for it. Whist I worked on my German to read the issues. Half a world away in Germany veteran comic book writer Peter Mennigen was churning out stories of foul sorcery, deeds of daring, and a thinking barbarian warrior who used his brains and courage far more often then he used his sword arm.



These were a different breed of comic book hero carving their way across the news stands and specialty comic book shops of the Eighties. I learned quick from 'Manos der Dämonenjäger' how the pacing of an adventure was put together, where and when to apply over the top monster encounters, how to develop quick sweeping back stories for PC's, & most of all how to wrap a Sword & Sorcery campaign in the European style. Meanwhile back in Germany Peter Mennigen was creating more danger and horror for our heroes. But I'll let him tell it. 

"Manos der Dämonenjäger – Teil 2

Oder: Gezeitenwandel, Neubeginn und Ende

Manos the Demon Hunters - Part 2

Or: Changing times, new beginning and the end

In August 1983, Bastei took the next step: „Manos“ got its own magazine. The target group of readers was no longer the „usual“ Bastei reader. Rather, they tried to get a new readership among the fantasy fans who had not shown any interest in the series so far.

Instead of „Geister Geschichten“ appeared now in great letters the title „Manos der Dämonenjäger“ („Manos the demon hunter“) on the front cover. Each issue was given an impressive wrap-around cover. They were great fantasy works of art, painted by Ertugrul Edirne and Ugurcan Yüce. Both artists were already responsible for the covers of the „Geister Geschichten“, which looked - because of to the small layout - relatively unspectacular.

The „Manos“ comic was expanded from 14 to 22 pages. The two additional stories were deleted. The comic was supplemented by one pagern who, in pure text form with a great illustration, illuminated the mythology of the „Manos age“. The middle section of the comic book contained a poster of a great fantasy artist such as Vincente Segrelles, Esteban Maroto, Rowena, Boris Vallejo or Luis Royo.

For the new magazine Werner Geismar worked out the plots of the first five „Manos“ stories. I wrote them as detailed exposés and after getting the okay from the editors I wrote them as scripts. All following stories I wrote completely on my own again.

The stories in the old series „Geister Geschichten“ had mostly been completed in every issue. „Manos“ now had story arcs extended over several issues. Obviously the life of the protagonist was subject to many changes, which often led him to gloomy lands.

In one storyline, Manos’ sister Parda married a demon ruler. If Manos had expected to get the benevolence of his sister when he killed her demonic husband, he had miscalculated. Parda refused him any help and developed instead to his deadly enemy. A happy ending may look different.

Towards the middle of the eighties, the gloom of the worldwide fantasy boom slowed down. What was also reflected in the decreasing sales of the „Manos“ comic book. At some point, the series does not pay off anymore and was canceled after 35 issues in December 1984. "

The Eighties were a very weird transitional time period for comic books. There the numerous American, European, & Italian Sword & Sorcery knockoff films ( which I happen to love)  not to mention the shake ups happening in original Dungeons & Dragons, B/X D&D, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition


These comic books had plots & subplots which were a bit more involved and had far more back story then some of the mainstream Marvel ones of the time but DC was starting to go that same style of route. The Manos the demon hunter issues were consistent & much less adult then the issues of Heavy Metal & The Savage Sword of Conan making them easy fodder for the younger players in my Uncle's game to devour. We played through our Der Ring des Nibelungen WWV 86 cycle but these comics seemed to compliment the action. Plus we were learning a different language. It wasn't until years later that I finally got into the same comic book stories  with those outrageously gonzo wrap around covers! The wrap around cover  pages are a thing of lurid pulpastic things of beauty! Simply bask in them.


There was a lot that I learned from reading these these comics from the mythology of the past catching up with the dreams of the present to the fact that familial relations between PC & NPC's are a thing to be exploited to the fullest, these comics also had a driving supernatural almost what could be considered a Lovecraftian edge to them. The plots revolved and changed, adventures were dynamic and pulpy, and the characters were well rounded to a certain Sword & Sorcery degree much of this was due to Peter Mennigen's writing. Next time we dive more into the world of the demon slayer. Stay tuned!

OSR Sword & Sorcery Commentary As We Enter The World of 'Manos der Dämonenjäger" For Your Old School Campaigns Part I

A prince wanders the wastelands of another world facing down monsters, menaces, and evils beyond the pale of man? Sounds like a familiar barbarian poster boy of Sword & Sorcery? Well how about instead of the usual movie barbarian warrior we have heroes, who had to use their courage and brains instead of muscles in the face of a danger. Well your about to hear the story of another barbarian prince from the far off land of Germany and how we met.  Plus much more.

So its about Eighty Five or Six, the year is unimportant but my uncle & my dad are talking in the downstairs garage leaving me in 'the wreck room.' That's what we used to call the gaming, comic,sand table  and all around man cave/study where all  of my uncles war, history, military books were stored. Now that particular day I came across a pile of bagged & boarded European comics. Everyone else was into Marvel's Secret Wars & super heroes were dying like flies in DC's Crisis On Infinite Earths.


For me it was a really defining time in my young life. I was getting into Swords & Sorcery comic books, paper backs, heavy metal, & mainlining anything Conan related. Especially the Savage Sword of Conan magazines, Robert Howard paperbacks, etc. That's when I discovered the insane & pulpy goodness of a stack of Manos Der Dämonenjäger comic books. 
The books concern a wandering barbarian king & they have their own unique brand of sword  & sorcery goodness. For me they were a welcome distraction from the day to day weirdness of Eighties small town hum drum life. The writing was good as my uncle tried to teach us a bit of  German & this series really dovetailed in nicely with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Der Ring des Nibelungen WWV 86 campaign we had going at the time.

Years later I would look through the Monster Brains site and discover the version of the comic book published in Spain. One of the gentlemen responsible for the character of Manos is Peter Mennigen and if your a German fan of the Phantom that name should be familiar. According to the Phantom Wiki. org;"Peter Mennigen (born 1952) is a German comics writer. He is perhaps most known as the primary writer for the horror comic Gespenster-Geschichten and other work for the German publisher Bastei. In the 1970's and 1980's, Mennigen wrote all Phantom stories produced by Bastei for their line of Phantom comic books; in total over 100 stories"  Now Peter Mennigen has been putting out the back story of his famous barbarian king on the web with a commentary that goes into far more depth;

Manos der Dämonenjäger – Teil 1

Oder: „Sword und Sorcery“ Made in Germany

Manos the Demon Hunter - Part 1

Or: „Sword and Sorcery“ Made in Germany

Perhaps some readers still remembers this „Sword and Sorcery“ series. In the 1980s the comic appeared first in the comic book series „Geister Geschichten“ and later as „Manos der Dämonenjäger“ in his own magazine. In total the Bastei Verlag published 124 adventures of the prehistoric hero. Behind „Conan the Barbarian“ and „Savage Sword of Conan“ by Marvel this is a respectable third place in the ranking of the most long lived comic fantasy heroes.

At first, „Manos der Dämonenjäger" was an ordinary comic series among many others published by the Bastei publishing house resident in Bergisch Gladbach, a small city near Cologne, Germany. But bit by bit the series developed into one of the most ambitious productions of Bastei’s comic department called „Jugendredaktion“ („Youth editorial staff“).

The global „Sword & Sorcery" hype in the 1970s had not been unnoticed by Bastei. In the spring of 1980, Werner Geismar, then editor-in-chief of the „Jugendredaktion“, called me. He informed me about a planned fantasy comic series and roughly outlined it’s content:

In a diffuse past, Manos and his beautiful sister Parda grew up as children of the priest-king Gäon. While one day demons destroyed their city Polis, they both escaped their death by flight.

What followed was the central theme of most fantasy epics: a dangerous journey with a mission. Together with his sister Parda, his uncle Zango and later his love interest, the goddess Alana, Manos traveled during the next years through a lot of countries with the aim of rebuilding somewhere a new Polis.

Based on this plotting, I developed a detailed concept. In the first draft, my protagonists were more like the hobbits of „Lord of the Rings“. Heroes, who had to use their courage and brains instead of muscles in the face of a danger.

Bastei, however, wanted stylistically as well as the story content a hero based on Robert E. Howard's „Conan“. So I rewrote the draft accordingly and also sent an exposé for the first story with to Bastei. After two more minor corrections, the story stood, and Manos’ first adventure could be written as a script by me.

At this time I was pretty busy with writing other comic book series. That is why the editorial team was looking for a co-author for „Manos“, which should relieve me.

At a meeting at Bastei in Bergisch Gladbach with the editor-in-chief Werner Geismar and the editor Ewald Fehlau I was introduced to the today very famous fantasy novel author Wolfgang Hohlbein, who was then earning his first spurs at the Bastei novel department.

We talked a lot about „Manos“ and the course that the stories could take. In terms of content, the stories took place in the haze of the usual „Sword & Sorcery“ themes, such as monsters, demons, wizards, witches and magical artefacts. Preferably textile-lacking beauties should not be missing too.

After the meeting, however, I saw or heard nothing more of Hohlbein. Whether he had lost interest in the comic, or whether his exposés had been rejected by the editors, is beyond my knowledge.

Therefore the writing work as a „Manos“ chronicler was reserved for me alone.

As for the format of the „Manos“-comics, Bastei went at first on the safe side. In order to inspire the readership for the new series, they gave the comic book the title: „Geister Geschichten“ („Ghost Stories“) following the successful „Gespenster Geschichten“ („Spector Stories“) and „Spuk Geschichten“ („Spook Stories“).

The comic book included a 14-page „Manos“-comic story with mostly a contained adventure. This main story was added by two short stories. Apart from an antique background, the additional stories had little to do with fantasy. I delivered these stories with every new „Manos“ exposé too.

Between September 1980 and August 1983, a total number of 89 „Geister Geschichten“ appeared – usually bi-weekly, for some time weekly. Despite the parallels to Conan, I have tried to give the little „Manos“ saga a special stamp, its own identity."
Reading through this commentary the German comic book scene versus the American bullpen style seems almost day and night during the Eighties.

For a young D&D player these comics were gold! They had a bunch of pulpy elements that meshed nicely with the adventures we were doing at the time not to mention the horror elements that came in later issues. There was something very different going on in these comics then the harder edged American Sword & Sorcery of the time. For D&D dungeon masters the patterns of adventures seemed right in line with many of the perils faced by adventurers. These were that the adventurers or heroes always seemed way out ranked by the monsters and circumstances that they found themselves in.These comics had a different feel to them aesthetically then say something like the Avengers or other titles of the time. There was a far more European sensibility to the Sword & Sorcery action. A sense that while the main characters are heroes they're still fragile beings who find themselves in very dangerous circumstances.

In terms of how this works for an OSR campaign, it means that the heroes are the PC pivot points around which the adventure action is drawn. We see this in Shakespeare's plays & many of Robert Howard's Solomon Kane stories. We also see this in some of the RH Conan stories  at some points but Conan is comes through hard adventures as an almost but not quite force of nature. In D&D terms even the higher level PC's will face down monsters, threats, and horrors that far outrank them in terms of sheer power. All of this was done with that over the top Eighties weirdness and style that I love.


There is an internal mythology to the 'Manos der Dämonenjäger" series that lends itself to the old school feel of Dungeons & Dragons. Everything from the adventure locations, artifacts,characters,and other internal comic book series elements all work. Peter Mennigen was kind enough to supply me with the background story from this time.For that alone I'm very grateful but this is only part I of a three part series.