I've wanted to get to this one for quite some time, but I keep putting it off. No longer! It is nearly criminal that DC has never reprinted Arak, Son of Thunder. With Dark Horseand Marvel reprinting all of Conan to enthusiastic fan response, it only makes sense that DC should follow suit, and reprint their sword-and-sorcery titles. Especially when it's written by Roy Thomas- a guy that wrote a good portion of Conan as well. Add that it was drawn by Ernie Colon, and how can you go wrong?

Introduced in a sixteen-page preview in The Warlord #48, Arak went on to star in his own fifty-one issue series (50 regular issues, 1 annual) from September, 1981 to November, 1985. Although some of the characters did travel forward in time to help the All-Star Squadron during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Arak's book remained unaffected by the event. I would venture a guess that the only reason he appeared in All-Star Squadron was that Roy Thomas was writing both books, and Arak had just ended four months earlier. So, his appearance in All-Star Squadron #55 was a last bow for a character Thomas had spent five years on.

Arak is about a Native American child that winds up surviving an attack on his people Moses-style, by being floated out to sea in a canoe. There, he is rescued, adopted, and raised by Vikings. He eventually winds up in Europe, and from there travels to various world locations until making his way back to his people in North America. Of course, along the way, he deals with all manner of mythological creatures including his father, the thunder god He-No. It is smart, well-written stuff, and it would just be great to see it in trade.

Arak eventually gets into a relationship with Valda: The Iron Maiden (thank you, Wikipedia), and she has back-up stories in several issues. I'd include those here, but I'm not sure how DC would arrange them in the trades. Would they just put them at the end of each issue they appeared in? Or would they group them together at the end of the series? I'd opt for putting them with each issue they appeared in, but however they do it, it seems like they should be with the series.

I would suggest these as two TPB's rather than three, as I like to go twenty-some issues for "Impact Collections" (my proposed DC version of Marvel Epic Collections). However, at least part of these issues were thirty-six pages each, and splitting them into just two volumes would make them 600+ pages each (if the 36-page count held up all the way through). So, instead, I'd split this into three volumes of seventeen issues each. Each one gets a little extra though. Volume 1 gets the sixteen-page preview. Volume 2 gets the Annual which is a larger-than-normal page count. Volume three gets the last issue which is "giant sized," probably meaning it was double-length. I'd title them either Arak, Son of Thunder Volume 1-3, The Complete Arak, Son of Thunder Volume 1-3, or Arak, Son of Thunder Impact Collection Volume 1-3.

Volume 1

For the front cover, it's an easy choice of #1. It's a great shot of Arak battling some beasties. For the back cover, I'd go with #12. I look for less background when choosing a back cover, and this has a nice, solid black background. With the trade dress at the top removed, they might have all the space they need to accomodate the back cover blurb.

Volume 2

Volume 2 includes the Annual, and I'm really tempted to go with that cover for the TPB's front cover, but... no. Anytime I look at the covers for Arak, #33 always catches my eye, so that's my choice for the front cover. I really hate to waste that Annual cover though, so I'd use that for the back cover. Again, remove all the trade dress at the top, and there's plenty of room for that back cover blurb.

Volume 3

The Volume 3 cover is a tough choice. Back cover? No problem: #42- it again has a nice black background, and plenty of space for the back cover blurb once the trade dress is removed. Easy. The front cover though? Yeesh, tough choice.

I really like #41 with Arak atop the Bull of Heaven. He's kind of small in the shot though, so I don't know. DC has been known to blow up cover shots a bit for TPB's though, and if they did that here, then maybe.

My next favorite is #46 with Arak on the Rainbow Bridge between Thor and a Valkyrie. Can't go wrong catching the eye of Norse myth fans. Again though, Arak's a bit small in the shot, and his position on the cover doesn't seem to lend itself to being blown up.

#47 is a decent eye-catcher with the dragon head prominent on the cover. Not strong enough for me though.

Sometimes, when collecting a whole series into multiple volumes, the best cover for the last volume is the last issue of the series. It's just often a good shot that sums up what you're about to read. That's true here of #50, and it might make a good TPB cover. I don't like it for all of the white space it leaves on the right hand side, but they could potentially blow it up a bit, reducing that significantly. That might interfere with the logo though, and that just seems like a lot of trouble.

Final choice for me is #45. It's a nice centered shot of Arak, and it doesn't hurt that he's holding a beautiful, green woman. Works for Captain Kirk, it should work here, right?

***

I think this would be a great read, and a worthy addition to any collector's shelf. But you tell me...

Thanks again!