4GEMWORKS COMPLETE FOUR COLOR EMPORIUM
Four Color 1118

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Four Color #1118 Universal
Grade: 9.6
Page Quality: OFF-WHITE
Pedigree: File Copy
Certification #: 0082786009
Owner: 4GEMWORKS

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: 4GEMWORKS COMPLETE FOUR COLOR EMPORIUM
Date Added: 2/28/2008
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

The Sword and the Dragon 6/60 File Copy Adapted from the 1960 movie "The Sword and the Dragon."

Photo Cover: Ilya Muromets (as played by Boris Andreyev, photos)
Script: Michail Kochnev (screenplay); ? (comic adaptation)
Pencils & Inks: Jack Sparling

This is the second best of six copies graded to date. A SINGLE 9.8 SITS ATOP THE CENSUS. 03/13. I originally bought this copy graded, as is, from Heritage Auctions.

Table of Contents
1. 0. The Sword and The Dragon
2. 1. The Sword and the Dragon
3. 2. The Sword and The Dragon!
4. 3. Legendary Slavic Heroes
5. 4. The Sword and the Dragon This is a pin up that is the back cover of some copies of this issue.
6. 5. Wonderful World of Flight Ad. This is also the back cover of this copy.

Some data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a Creative Commons Attribution license. http://www.comics.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
http://www.comics.org/issue/15953/

The Sword and Dragon was released in 1956 under a diverse series of titles. Wikipedia documents some of this history.

Ilya Muromets (Russian: ???? ???????), known in the US as The Sword and the Dragon and in the UK as The Epic Hero and the Beast (significantly altered versions), is a Russian fantasy film directed by the noted fantasy director Aleksandr Ptushko, made at Mosfilm and released in 1956. It is based on the byliny tales of the bogatyr Ilya Muromets. The film has some differences from the byliny but remains surprisingly true to the original epic poems.

Plot summary
In medieval Russia, the aging giant knight Svyatogor gives his sword to some traveling pilgrims to be passed on to a new bogatyr. Svyatogor and his horse become a mountain as he dies. Meanwhile, Asiatic pagans known as the Tugars are ravaging and pillaging the land. They raid the village where the bearded and robust Ilya Muromets lives and capture his future wife Vassilisa. Ilya is unable to defend her because his legs haven't worked since childhood. A man called Mishatychka caught by the Tugars pleads to serve them if they spare him, and promises to be a double agent for them. The pilgrims with Svyatogor's sword come upon the house of Ilya Muromets and give him a magic potion to drink, which cures his ailment. They also give him the sword. Later on, he decides to leave his family to go on an epic journey in order to defend Kiev from the Tugars. For this purpose he is given a foal by his friend which magically grows into a steed in three days. He passes by some woods and is confronted by a forest-dwelling monster known as Nightingale the Robber who blows wind so hard it parts the forest backward; Ilya defeats him by throwing a cudgel at him.
Unfortunately Vassilisa is abducted again by the Tugars. Mishatychka has become an important adviser to the prince and he tricks the prince into believing that Ilya is disloyal to him. Ilya is imprisoned in the castle's dungeons where he will eventually spend ten years deprived of food by
Sokolnichek is now a strong Tugar warrior who is sent to fight Ilya. While they duel, Ilya sees the ring on his son's finger and reveals his true heritage to him. Abashed, he joins his father's side and goes to free Vassilisa, together with all the Russians held captive by Kalin. Nikitich and Popovich each lead one army with Ilya leading the center army toward the Tugar hordes. The Khan orders a massive pyramid to be made out of human bodies so that he can survey the forthcoming battle. The three-headed dragon, Zmey Gorynych, is summoned by Kalin to help in the fight and flies off from his mountain sanctuary to the battle site. More of the Russian soldiers land from ships from a nearby river and fight the fire-breathing dragon, eventually slaying it. The Tugar hordes are routed and Kalin captured. The victorious Ilya is finally reunited with Vassilisa and offered kingship by the current prince but declines in order to be with his wife and go on other journeys. He gives the title and his sword to his son, who continues the heroic lineage.
[edit] Production History
• Roger Corman re-edited this film in the early 1960s for US release, changing many names: Nightingale the Robber being changed to Wind Demon, Svyatogor being changed to Invincor, Gorynych the Serpent being changed to Zuma the Fire Dragon, Dobrynya becoming Durbar, and the Khan becoming Khalin. This version featured narration by Mike Wallace and the voice of the Khan was dubbed by well-known voice actor Paul Frees. Corman's version of the film was featured as an episode on Mystery Science Theater 3000 as The Sword and the Dragon. Curiously the staff of MST3K somehow mistook the film's nation of origin to be Finland, and filled the episode with jokes about the Finnish.
• The first Soviet movie filmed in Cinemascope with a 4-track Stereo soundmix.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Muromets_(film)
 
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