"(The Story of) Rowlf"

11+9+12 pgs. Appeared first time in Voice of Comicdom #16 (1970) to #17 (1971). Reprinted in (The Story of) Rowlf (fanzine, 1971), in Heavy Metal #32 (1979), #33 (1979) and #34 (1980) , and in Richard Corben Complete Works #3 (1987) . There is actually only two parts in "Rowlf", but for example in Heavy Metal they divide last part in two, part two and the conclusion (Complete Works is similar version with Heavy Metal).
Story/Color(prob. colored by overlays)/Art: Richard Corben (signed as Gore, 1971). Colors for "Bloodstar" are not by Mr. Corben. Maybe this story's colors are either his!? Lettered by hand (unknown), in Heavy Metal: printed, in Complete Works mostly by hand (only demon language partly printed).

Most of prints are , like .
[DK]: as "(Historien om) Rowlf [DK]", as one in Karat-serien #3 (1977) (story divided in two only).
[FRA]: as "Histoire de Rowlf ", as in Actuel [II] #15 (1972), and as "Rolf" in Rolf (1975) (1st, : , 2nd, : ).
[GER]: as "Rowlf [GER]", as one in U-Comix Extra #3: Rowlf (1978) , as one in Comic Reader (1980) and Rowlf [GER] & die Bestie von Wolfton.
[ITA]: as "Rolf [ITA]", as 2 part serial in Alter linus #5/76 to #6/76.
[SPA]: as "[Historia de] Rowlf [SPA]", as 3 part serial in Ilustracion+Comix Internacional #1 to #3, as one in Infinitum Ciencia Ficcion #1, as one in Rowlf [SPA] (1976), and as one in Richard Corben obras completas #6 (1986) .

Style: B&W with zipatone, reprinted with overlay colors. Genre: Fantasy. Time Span: Fantasy world. Nudity: Full frontal female nudity, male nudity from back.
Keywords: Beautiful princess. Dog. Groom. Sorcerer. Transformation. Kidnapping. Destruction. Rescue.
Synopsis: In Canisland there is a beautifully voluptuous princess Maryara, who is not interested her grooms but her dog, Rowlf. Princess is kidnapped by demon troops, who also demolish the castle of Canisland. One groom, a friend of Sortrum (cf. scrotum!) the sorcerer, blames Rowlf and he wants to transform dog as human to torture the truth out of him. By accident, transformation will be disturbed and Rowlf becomes only half dog half human (he cannot talk!). Rowlf escapes and rescues princess with demon trooper's own deadly weapons.
Comment: The storyis put here in three parts because of Heavy Metal version; it looks like originally there supposed to be only two (Parts 2 and 3 were prob. one). This very early story of Corben is with all its faulties one of his best stories. Colors in Heavy Metal are wisely mild ("Bloodstar"), but anyway good old B&W version is much more effective. Sortrum the sorcerer has lots of similarities with later Zeg.
Special: Green demon soldiers speak an existing build-up language, Esperanto! Corben used his own invented language for for example in stories "Bug" and "Roda and the Wolf".
Alternatives, : In French Actuel [II] #15 (1972) story was reduced to 21 pages!
Alternatives, : Colored for Heavy Metal in 1979. At the same time some backgrounds redrawn.
Extra: In an interview, The Magic World of Richard Corben by Rudi Franke in Voice of Comicdom #17 (1970) Mr. Corben says, "Several models of the characters had been built [for abandoned "Rowlf" film version]. These were now used [for a comic book version] to draw from. A friend of mine, Dave Holman, deserves all of the credit for designing the demons tanks and equipment, their characterizations and the plotting of certain scenes".
Trilogy: Corben answered to fan's letter in Heavy Metal #46 (1981), CHAIN MAIL (pg 4), "Yes, I did make the changes [to "The Beast of Wolfton"] --- partially because of "Rowlf." Originally, I had intended "The Beast of Wolfton," "Rowlf," and "Spirit of the Beast" to work out as a trilogy. I also wanted to make it a bit less realistic - bring it more into a realm of fantasy".
Corben's first published full feature story.