When Helden Turned Into Dorn Der Morgenstern

 There are a few German comics -Small Press, Idependent- that I like to get out every-so-often and re-read. Nostalgia and big chunk o’ fun all in one.

Randalf Paker may not mean much to English language comic fans but in 2001 Caption Comics published the comic series that he wrote and drew based upon a long running role playing game (RPG) he was games master of.

The title, Helden/Heroes was initially sold in gaming shops but really took off and spawned the comic.  So what was it about?

This is from the IPP website -http://ipp-comics.de/en/

Helden (Heroes) is the retelling of the fantasy role-playing game group that I led as the gaming master. The charakters and story of this group were so exciting, I had to write it down somehow. Since I love drawing, I used the COMIC to tell the story. —Ralf Paul

In this story seven heroes from the farthest corners of the World meet and stumble into their first adventure. In the center of it all is the mercenary Benwick, who, because of the imprisonment of his mother, is forced into a difficult mission…

 

The colour blowing your mind yet? I love this! Unfortunately, I can’t show the gorier scenes!

 

 

 

The heroes gathered.  Well, almost. I can tell you that this image says it all.

 

Thank goodness he’s wearing that loin cloth!!!

 

I show people the cover below and they mostly all go “oooh” I’m just not sure why??!

 

 

 

 

Things are fickle in gaming and comics. As issue 6 was finished the interest had waned to such a degree that the cost of high quality printing, especially in pre-print on demand days, was too high.

 

 

 

Nr 6 felt bulkier than usual (all the IPP books were printed on top quality thick paper stock) what I found inside was the cover and,uh, issue nr 7!  Yes, the heroes finally get together and…well.  Nothing nice happens.

 

What is more there is a nice ending involving a rather bloodied Morning Star. “What’s a ‘morning star’?”  Its like a mace with spikes -DON’T you even dare ask “What’s a mace, then?”!!!!

 

 

 

Though I tried order the new title, when I heard that the follow-up was to be titled Dorn Der Morgenstern/Thorn The Morning Star, no comic shop was interested in getting me copies.  Why? It was foreign language and was not carried by Diamond. That made it “impossible” to get hold of.

 

So what did I do? I sent an email to Ideenschmiede Paul & Paul GbR and got a nice email back and…voila! I got Dorn 1-4.

 

Was I impressed? Of course I was.  Other than Helge “Herod” Korda and Mathias “EmdE” Dinter who were producing the semi parody Heroes From The Black Lagoon only one other person I knew was doing German super heroes -me, starting in the early 1980s with D-Gruppe.

 

This was no American artist drawing a super hero based in what an American artist thought Germany looked like: this was a German creator.

 

The IPP web site explains Dorn…

 

“The Morningstar also known as Dorn” describes the life of Paul Paker – a computer genius and game freak. An experiment gone awry and murdering circumstances have pushed him into a corner of society. Only an idea as phantastic as the events which put him there can release him. This improvised idea results in an ingenious but rather complex plan.

 

A German Super Hero.

 

Yes, folks, before Der Engel there was Dorn..a German Superhero. Well, he had to sort things out first such as a costume and a name.

Take a look at the lovely artwork below.

 

One of my favourite spreads from the comic comes when Dorn reveals himself on TV!

 

 

 

 

For various reasons the title never got beyond nr 4 and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who heaved a depressive sigh.  But now….HOPE!

 

 

My scanner decided to crap out on me so I thought I’d check online for cover images but apart from my previous items on the series I found only one other source -IPP.  A company I thought was no more!  And I found something a few of us have been hoping for a loooong time now -Dorn nr. 5 is currently being put together!

 

 

The gift in the cracker is that, as you’ll notice on the cover scans not my own, Helden and Dorn can be read as web comics.  So check out the IPP web-comics if you speak German but if not there is still a LOT of great art!