Edited, written
and drawn by Jack Kirby; Inked and lettered by Mike Royer; Colored by G. Roussos;
Consulting editor Archie Goodwin.
Two hundred thousand years before the glory
of Greece existed, the war-mongering Marak, along with
his small group
of warriors, pillaged farms and villages with their wood and stone weapons. But old Egel has had council with the Stone That Talks and
has discovered through it the powers of the forge to create weapons of bronze.
This is a secret Marak must have, but Egel
says he must talk to the Spirit Stone and let it decide if the warrior is
worthy. Marak and his men follow
Egel to the forest where the old man bows to the levitating monolith. Marak approaches
it and is touched by it; due to his military brilliance, Marak is judged a
worthy soul by the Stone and is shown the lovely and powerful Jalessa, a warrior
queen Marak is intent on having as his own.
With the inspiration of the monolith in
their minds, Marak and Egel work together to train horses, build swords,
shields, food containers and, by pure accident, to invent the single most
important tool known to mankind that will take Marak and his fighting forces
wherever they would wish to gothe wheel.