When Aleksandr Ptushko’s epic fantasy film Ilya Muromets (1956) was distributed in the United States in 1960 as The Sword and the Dragon, the Vitalite Film Corporation licensed the title out to Dell Comics to produce the official comic book adaptation (Dell Four Color #1118). No artist or writer are credited on the comic, though according to the Grand Comics Database, Jack Sparling performed both duties. Sparling was a prolific journeyman artist who worked on Classics Illustrated, House of Mystery, The Twilight Zone, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, and many others. What’s particularly notable about The Sword and the Dragon is that it’s fairly faithful to Ptushko’s film and respectful of Russian folkloric epics. As a bonus to last week’s coverage of Ilya Muromets, here are excerpts from Dell’s comic adaptation.
Title Page:
Ilya Muromets delivers Nightingale the Robber, who demonstrates his mighty whistle:
The arrival of the three-headed dragon (“Zuma,” instead of Gorynych):
Finale:
Back cover interior page:
Back cover:
