Welcome back to Rotten Ink. It’s crazy to think that Thanksgiving is just around the corner and that also means that it will be the final time, in at least a long while, that I will cover a Hercules comic series for Turkey Day. It really is crazy to think that Herc and his adventures is coming to an end for a while here…so before we send him off on a quite relaxing quest for a while, I decided that for this update I am going to cover the DELL comic adaption of the Steve Reeves movie “Morgan The Pirate” as I feel that to send off Hercules properly, we should bring back Steve Reeves in a update as he is the most iconic actor to play the hero in cinema. So as the leaves turn orange and turkey day is just around the corner, we are going to spend a quick and action packed update with a Sword And Sandal film and comic. So let’s hit the seven seas with Morgan The Pirate. Also whatever happened to the Pirate craze that was hitting America there for a while? It seems like it cooled off and that films, comics and games about pirates have been sent out to the sea on a long journey.
Lets start this review off right and take a look at the movie that sparked this DELL Comic adaptation as well showed that Steve Reeves could do more than just sword and sandal films and he would branch out to adventure, swashbuckler and western in his career. I want to say that I am getting the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and I will the talk about the films production as well as briefly about my first time seeing it. So grab your sword, and let’s swing aboard this pirate ship.
Morgan The Pirate (1960)
“Purchased as a slave in the Panama market by the Dona Inez, daughter of the Spanish Governor, Welshman Sir Henry Morgan soon finds himself in love with the young woman. Soon after however he commandeers the ship transporting him and other slaves and soon they are the scourge of Caribbean looting and attacking the mighty Spanish Empire. The pirates soon find themselves acting under the authority of the English and Morgan has only one goal: to attack and take control of Panama.”
Italian Cinema in the late 1950’s through the early 60’s was pumping out many Sword and Sandal films to cinemas as moviegoers world wide seemed like they could not get enough. And one of the top actors in the genre was bodybuilder Steve Reeves who made a name for himself with his films “Hercules” from 1958 and “Hercules Unchained” from 1959, and in 1960 they decided to take Reeves and try something a little different and cast him as a pirate in the film “Morgan The Pirate” that was directed by Primo Zeglio & Andre de Toth with Joseph E. Levine producing. And besides Steve Reeves, other cast members include Valerie Lagrange, Ivo Garrani, Lydia Alfonsi and Chelo Alonso to name a few, and Franco Mannino did the score. The film did well worldwide and showcased that Reeves had more to offer cinema than playing a Sword and Sandal hero. In 1960 when this film was released, it came out alongside films The Loves Of Hercules, Goliath And The Dragon, Spartacus, The Loves Of Salammbo, Son Of Samson, The Giants Of Thessaly and a handful of more.
I first saw Morgan The Pirate on a VHS that I bought from a now sadly closed second hand store called “Replay Media” on the same day I loaded up on tons of Sword And Sandal and Horror. and one of the first ones I watched was Morgan The Pirate as I wanted to see Steve Reeves in a role that was different than Hercules or some sort of Roman hero. I can remember popping it into the VCR and sitting back and relaxing with a bottle of Mountain Dew and some Andy Capp Hot Fries and watching Morgan The Pirate save the beautiful woman and kicking some evildoer’s butts. And this film, along with Hercules and Hercules Unchained, started my quest to buy old Steve Reeves action movies that I was able to get from Replay Media as well. It’s weird to think that Steve Reeves is not as iconic as other action stars like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charles Bronson, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Michael Dudikoff and so many others. Another thing that bothers me is the fact that Sword And Sandal movies are a thing of the past and not many modern companies are making them, and I have to give filmmaker Joshua Kennedy major credit for making the indie film “Theseus And The Minotaur” that truly felt like a classic Sword and Sandal film. Plus, while all major comic companies and 99% of the indie companies have walked away from comics based on heroes from the time like Hercules, Samson, Atlas and Goliath…I am here to say while they are on hold for now the idea of comics based on these heroes are not dead at Sparkle Comics and are being developed soon. Wait, we are talking about Morgan The Pirate so I will step down from my soapbox and sum it up by saying if you enjoy adventure films that have a dash of sword and sandal, you should give this one a watch.
The main actress in Morgan The Pirate is Chelo Alonso who played Concepcion, and she was a true beauty of Sword And Sandal cinema. Chelo Alonso was born Isabella Garcia on April 10, 1933 in Camaguey, Cuba. And during her early life she got fame by becoming an amazing dancer and was in demand at clubs like Havana’s National Theatre, and with fame came her working around the world as an attraction at music halls as she was becoming the Queen of exotic dancing. And then cinema came knocking, and she started her film career in 1959 with her last film being in 1969 having 10 solid years of work with roles in films as “Sheba And The Gladiator”, “Goliath And The Barbarians”, “Terror Of The Red Mask”, “Morgan The Pirate”, “Son Of Samson”, “Atlas Against The Cyclops” and “The Good, The Bad And The Ugly” to name a few. In 1960 while making Morgan The Pirate, she meet Aldo Pomilia and the two got married and he tried to help her career and helped her jump from movies to TV. Her husband passed away in 1986 and she retired from acting and being in the public eye to focus on a hotel she opened as well as her cat breeding business. Sadly on February 20, 2019, Chelo Alonso passed away at the age of 85. Chelo was a true beauty of Italian Cinema and was one of the world’s best exotic dancers.
So while I have seen the movie a handful of times, this will be the first time I have read the Dell Comic adaptation, and I hope I enjoy it as much as I do the film. One thing I really do enjoy about some of these classic Dell Comic movie adaptations as they are fast paced and bring the best parts of the films alive on the pages of the comics. I want to thank an Ebay seller for having this comic in stock and made this update possible. I also want to also remind you all that I grade this comic on a scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready for some high seas adventure with Morgan, and nope not talking about the alcohol drink mascot Captain Morgan, let’s climb aboard and see what awaits us.
Morgan The Pirate # 1 ** 1/2
Released in 1961 Cover Price .15 Dell Comics #1227 of 1354
The place is Panama, and Inez is the daughter of the Viceroy and with her is Maria. While in town at the market, they watch as slave Henry Morgan is being beaten by a slave owner and Inez has pity on him and buys him to work at the palace, where he takes care of the horses. One night a horse gives birth as Morgan keeps watch over it, Inez enters the barn and after some words Morgan makes the mistake of kissing Inez just as Maria sees this she calls the guards and Morgan is arrested and sentenced to death. The next day in front of all the people the prisoners are lead out with a total of five, but the Viceroy will show pity on four of them and only one shall die. Once more Morgan is lucky as he is spared death and sent to a life of hard labor. While on the slave ship, Morgan leads an uprising and he and his fellow slaves take over the ship and Pirate Captain Morgan is born. Time passes and on Tortuga, the pirates gather and a ship has been captured that has Inez and Maria on board and as the pirates start grabbing at them, Morgan enters with his crew and they put the Pirate leader in his place and take the captive ladies as well as get food and weapons for their journey. While Inez wants to be taken home, Maria finds love with one of the pirates as Morgan leads attacks against Spanish ships. Later Captain Morgan makes a deal with England to attack Panama as well as all their Spanish empire allies, they return Inez to her family and she spills the beans on the attack on Panama and this leads to Morgan and his crew’s ship being sunk and all aboard believed dead. But the world is wrong, and Morgan and his crew still live and he even sneaks into a ball that has been held for his own supposed death. Morgan and Inez talk and share their love for each other, and when England and Spanish make a peace deal Morgan leads all the pirates he can band together to attack and take over Panama…and they do just that! And while having a drunken feast, Inez and Morgan find each other and the pair live happy ever after.
High sea adventure came alive in this Dell Comic movie adaptation thats follows Morgan, a man who goes from slave to pirate Captain and falls in love with a very important woman from Panama. The main points of this tale are poor vs. rich, true love and forgiveness. Captain Henry Morgan is a man who started out from a noble family that was over thrown and became a slave that would go on to become a Pirate Captain. While he is a Pirate, he is still a good man with a good heart who wants to protect his crew, find love with the enemy’s daughter and get revenge on Spain and Panama. He is a skilled fighter, not just with a sword but also his bare fists, and even more importantly is very smart about his battle plans. His pirate crew is a rag tag bunch that are loyal to their Captain but are also very bloodthirsty and greedy, a good batch of allies to have in battle. Inez starts off as a spoiled brat who has a good heart, but does not like to be told no. She as well is very loyal to her people as she is the daughter of Panama’s Viceroy and will even turn on true love to protect her people. The Viceroy is very cocky and rules with riches as well as his word is the law and you do not cross him, not to mention he has an army at his call…and I guess he is the comic and film’s main bad guy. The comic follows the film pretty well and does cut out moments to speed up the action, the one major change that is odd is in the movie Inez is injured in the end battle and Morgan finds her and the pair embrace…while in the comic she just shows up at the feast after the battle and the pair embrace. And while the comic does have some good action moments, over all it’s pretty slowed paced and delivered an average comic read. In other words, it’s good and is a must read for fans of the film. The cover is okay and just shows stills from the film, and the interior art is done by Gerald McCann and is that classic Dell Comic style. Over all this is a good read and while entertaining, it’s a slight step below the film. Check out the artwork below and see the classic Dell style.
So while Morgan The Pirate is not as badass as Hercules, he’s still a character that has made his mark on pirate films as well as sword and sandal films thanks to actor Steve Reeves. I really do wish that Dell Comics would have done more Four Color or Movie Adaptations of the films of the time and would have done more ones based on Horror, Sci-Fi and Sword And Sandal films. With my next update we will be coming back to land as Turkey Day is right around the corner, and that means we go on one final journey (at least for a while) with Hercules as we travel his DC Comic adventure. So until next time, read a Dell Comic or three, watch a Sword And Sandal film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update for an Unbound Hercules adventure.
