Claw the Unconquered

Claw is a sword and sorcery superhero in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Claw the Unconquered #1 (June 1975), in which he was created by writer David Michelinie and designed by artist Ernie Chan.[1][2]

Similar in many ways to Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian (and, more particularly, Marvel Comics's depiction of him), Claw is a wanderer and a barbarian in an apparently prehistoric age who battles various wizards, thieves, monsters, and warriors who cross his path.

Creation

Co-Creator Ernie Chan spoke on the creation of the character stating,

"Yes, I agree that Claw was a knock-off of Conan at the beginning. But if Claw had been given a longer run, I was pretty sure it would have branched off to something all its own."

Other versions

John Chan

Another version of Claw is a superhero character created by Steven Seagle and Ken Hooper. He first appeared in Primal Force #1 (October 1994). An Asian youth from Hong Kong, this Claw has no direct ties to the original Claw, although he bears an identical misshapen hand. Claw's real name was John Chan. Chan became the Claw after buying an ancient suit of armour and sword. The Claw of Pytharia, which had been dormant in one of the gauntlets, cut off his hand with the sword and grafted itself in place. The demonic spirit of the claw increased his fighting skills, but made it difficult for him to control his anger. John Chan was a member of Primal Force throughout that series's 15 issue run.

Swamp Thing

Alternate versions of Claw have had cameo appearances in titles such as Sandman #52 (1993), Swamp Thing #163 (1996) and Starman (vol. 2) #55 (1999).

Red Sonja

In 2006, with the popularity of sword and sorcery comics once again resurgent due to revivals of Conan by Dark Horse Comics and of Red Sonja by Dynamite Entertainment, DC began to publish new Claw material through their Wildstorm imprint. The character first returned in Red Sonja /Claw The Unconquered: Devil's Hands (March 2006), a crossover limited series featuring Red Sonja which is co-published by Dynamite Entertainment and written by John Layman and pencilled by Andy Smith. A new Wildstorm Claw the Unconquered regular monthly title by writer Chuck Dixon and penciller Andy Smith debuted in June 2006. As of December 2006, the Claw monthly series has apparently run its course, ending with this version of Claw enslaved by demons from hell or a parallel universe, and the whole world doomed to demonic possession. The series gives Claw's full name as Valcan Scaramax. Claw either wandered back to his own world of Pytharia, or into some other world entirely, as nothing in the Claw series from Dynamite bore any connection to Howard's Hyborian realms.

It is unclear if the new Wildstorm Claw stories feature the original 1970s version of the character or whether they adhere to a new continuity. Red Sonja's current iteration is supposed to be consistent with her 1970s Marvel Comics continuity, and the direct connection between Claw's revival and the crossover with Sonja seems to indicate that these new stories occur on Hyborian Age Earth (where Sonja's stories are clearly intended to occur). Strictly speaking, the crossover also means that this version of Claw co-exists with Conan (and indeed the Marvel Universe, as Sonja's original appearances did), though it is unlikely that those connections were ever intended or will ever be acknowledged.[6]

With the Red Sonja book shifting several years to tell the story of a new Red Sonja, a descendant of the previous one sharing the soul of the departed character, a new Claw appears: Osin, a former ally of Sonja whose powers are derived from the demon Jullah.[7]

character name	Claw
publisher	DC Comics
debut	Claw the Unconquered #1 (May–June 1975)
creators	David Michelinie (writer) Ernie Chan (artist)
alter ego	Valcan Scaramax
homeworld	Pytharia
powers	Master swordsman, magical claw on right arm

Claw the Unconquered

Creation

Publication history

Fictional character biography

Powers and abilities

Other versions

John Chan

Swamp Thing

Red Sonja

External links

References