If you follow our blog or other B-movie aficionados you are probably well aware of Yor, Hunter of Future (1983)- not to be confused with Gor (1987) or Outlaws of Gor (1989).
Yor was one of the string of Italian productions and co- productions following the release of John Milius‘s Conan the Barbarian staring Arnold Schwarzenegger that created a whole boom in Barbarian movies especially here in Europe. In a relatively short time period Italians churned out hits like Ator, The Conquest, Gunan King of the Barbarians, Thor The Conqueror and The Trone of Fire.
Directed by the Italian exploitation director Antonio Margheriti (Canibal Apocalypse, Castle of Blood) it’s somewhat unique in a bunch because it’s a Prehistoric/ Barbarian mix that also goes heavy into SF as it goes on. Margheriti read the comic in the Italian magazine Lanciostory (1975) and found it fascinating.
Not that Margheriti!
It starred an international cast of (former TV Captain America) Reb Brown 🇺🇸 , actress Corrine Clery 🇫🇷, Luciano Pigozzi 🇮🇹 and John Steiner 🇬🇧 and was filmed mostly in Cappadocia, Turkey. Initially it was savaged by the critics including those of Variety and The New York Times (and it was nominated for 3 Golden Raspberries) but now years later it has a cult status and is a must see for all Barbarian movie aficionados like us. Still it is considered a biggest hit of Magheriti‘s career as Columbia Pictures distributed the movie to a more than 1000 screens in the USA, a personal record for him. And back in Italy it was presented in an extended version as a 4- part TV mini-series on RAI 1.
Now back to the still not widely known fact that Yor was originally an Argentinian Comicbook called Henga el cazador aka Yor the Hunter. Created in ’74 by Ray Collins (aka Eugenio Juan Zapietro) and artist Juan Zanotto ( Falka, Downtime). Until now it was only published in Spanish and Italian, so I was pretty surprised when I found out that Antartic Press (Warrior Nun, Ninja Highschool) is publishing the first English edition as a 4 issue limited series.
It might be a bit late but it’s never too late to enjoy beautiful Argentinian style black and white artwork.
First issue is out now. You can read it digitally here or order it from your local comicbook shop.
Worsemovies 