"Mutant World"

(1+)8+8(+1)+8+8(+3)+8(+2)+8+8+8(+1)(serial) pgs. Appeared first time (see Summary) in 1984 #1 (1978) to #8 (1979) . Reprinted in Mutant World (1983) .
Story: Jan Strnad (except first two chapters: Richard Corben). Art: Richard Corben (signed as Richard Corben). Lettered by hand (unknown).

Keywords: Post-Global-Holocaust. Mutants. Beautiful maiden. Simplicity. Eggs. Man of God. Pilgrim. Humiliation. Food. Monsters bellow. Cheating. Torture. Militant. Underneath. Medical experiment. Rescue.
Synopsis: This post-global-holocaust world story is about Dimento, the dopey but lovable mutant, who has got a well trained body. The others try to cheat him constantly in the name of the surviving, all but one: a beautiful maiden with a horse and a carriage. A short tempered man of God is on his pilgrimage and he takes Dimento for his sack porter; religious man is rude on him. Beautiful maiden will be captured by villians and she has got beaten. Underneath lives some people who help both girl and Dimento, but man of God does not believe medical men's honesty.
Comment: Mr. Corben started this story by his own. Somewhere near the end of chapter two he contacted Jan Strnad to provide scripts for the rest of the series. Jan's warm sympathy on Dimento is visible; story is inconsolable, but evidently success. Also Mr. Corben's drawing is brilliant, no matter he uses in this story surprisingly conventional composition of panels.
Additional (Jan S. Strnad version): Mr. Strnad says on Introduction of Mutant World, "The most obvious challenge lnvolved in scripting Mutant World was to guide a character whom I sympathized -- through a shattered, hostile land populated by ohter hungry mutants, militaristic busybodies, deceiving women, and at least one religious maniac without warm, nurturing aspect of human personality, to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man. I failed dismally. Dimento is treated horribly by the other characters and I must shoulder the blame for his misfortunes."
Additional (Richard V. Corben version): Mr. Corben says on his own Introduction of Mutant World, "The idea of Mutant World was created about four years ago when Josep wanted me to do a series for his new Science Fiction magazine. I came up with several possibilites, including one about time travel and dinosaurs, another about Big Foot, and Mutant World. I originally conceived the series as an anthology of different stories and characters unified by the common setting of the ravaged ruined earth. However, one character grew in importance and dominated the whole series. This character, Dimento, is a direct descendant of the luckless snoot in the two page Heirs of Earth. I did a chapter and started another before I realized my anthology of stories weren't going to work as well as I had hoped. -- I went into a drought of creative ideas. I finally decided that -- I need help writing Mutant World. -- The result has much greater depth and humanity than I could ever approach."
Summary (for prev.): "Mutant World" was created for Josep [Toutain]'s SF magazine 1984 [SPA]. Conclusion: was "Mutant World" printed first time in Warren's or Josep's 1984? Both appeared in the latter part of 1978. [Thanks Plogg!]
Alternatives: The first appearance of this story in 1984 was kind of catastrophe: the editor did not like dialogue of "Mutant World" and he raped text according his own mind. In reprinted Album version they restorated the original dialogue. They also did eight entirely new pages designed to expand certain sequences and to soften the transition between some chapters.
Extras: The Jan Strnad interview (February, March 2001).