Weird Worlds #10
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWeird Worlds #10 is the closing chapter of Howard Chaykin and Denny O'Neil's Ironwolf — a sword-and-space-opera that was genuinely ahead of its time, blending swashbuckling adventure with a morally ambiguous protagonist in a way that foreshadowed Chaykin's own American Flagg! and Star Wars by several years. As the final issue of the only DC series to feature the character in his original run, it brings the story to a deliberately unresolved, thematically pointed climax: Ironwolf discovers that the rebel faction he'd joined is as corrupt as the Empire itself, leaving him without clear allies — a narrative beat unusually sophisticated for a mainstream Bronze Age title. The backup strip 'Tales of the House of Ironwolf' adds a mythological dimension by establishing that the ancestors of both Ironwolf and Empress Erika descend from the same 61st-century British noble family, dramatized through the characters Lady Vanessa Dubiel Shelly, Lord Burton Scott Keats, and Lord Patrick OBrian Keats. The issue's cancellation — forced not by poor sales but by a nationwide paper shortage — cut short what could have been one of DC's most creatively distinctive Bronze Age runs.
In "Home World," Ironwolf and Shebaba seek sanctuary on Dwyte Vanmeer's estate, hoping to evade the Empress' relentless pursuit. But as they settle in, Ironwolf begins to uncover troubling truths—Dwyte Vanmeer and his family, including his son Janus, may be just as ruthless as the regime they fled.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Weird Worlds had launched in 1972 as a vehicle for DC's licensed Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations (John Carter of Mars, Pellucidar), but when it became economically unviable to sustain those licenses after issue #7, editor Denny O'Neil gave Howard Chaykin nearly free rein to create an original character. Chaykin conceived Ironwolf — a 61st-century space-pirate rebel inspired by classic swashbuckler films — plotting the stories himself while O'Neil scripted and Walt Simonson lettered the first installment. Issue #10's lead story ('Home World') was plotted by Chaykin and scripted by O'Neil, with art by Chaykin; the backup ('Encounter!') was plotted by Chaykin and John Warner, scripted by Warner, and drawn by Vicente Alcazar. The issue was already completed by late 1973 but was held from release for months due to the paper shortage that DC cited in the issue itself as the reason for the title's cancellation.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Final issue of Weird Worlds Vol. 1 (1972–1974), a DC science fiction anthology that ran for 10 issues total.
- Cover by Michael Kaluta; lead story 'Home World' plotted by Howard Chaykin, scripted by Denny O'Neil, with interior art by Chaykin.
- Backup story 'Encounter!' (Tales of the House of Ironwolf) plotted by Howard Chaykin and John Warner, scripted by Warner, with art by Vicente Alcazar.
- Shebaba O'Neal appears as a key supporting character — the rebel leader who had been aiding Ironwolf since issue #8.
- The 'Tales of the House of Ironwolf' backup introduces Lady Vanessa Dubiel Shelly, Lord Burton Scott Keats, and Lord Patrick OBrian Keats as ancestors of the Ironwolf lineage, set roughly 2,000 years before the main story; the strip establishes that Ironwolf and Empress Erika are descended from the same feuding family.
- The issue's release was delayed several months by a nationwide paper shortage; that shortage is cited within the issue itself as the reason for cancellation — not poor sales.
- All three Ironwolf stories from Weird Worlds #8–10 were reprinted in the Ironwolf one-shot (DC, 1986/cover date March 1987), with a new cover by Chaykin and introductory text by Chaykin and Mike Gold.
- In 1992, Chaykin co-wrote Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution with John Francis Moore; the graphic novel was penciled by Mike Mignola and inked by P. Craig Russell, continuing the story begun in Weird Worlds.
Cast · 5 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Comic Reader #102 (1973), Savage Tales #20 (1980), Swordsmen and Sorcerers #[nn] (1982), Ironwolf #1 (1987)
Key issues in Weird Worlds
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