Claw the Unconquered

Claw's first in continuity appearance in over twenty years occurs in Wonder Woman #21 (August 2008), where Wonder Woman and Stalker recruit Claw and Beowulf for a mission to slay the Demon Lord Dgrth.

Prometheus uses a missile derived from one of Claw's gauntlets (described as originating 'circa 13,902 BC') to neutralize Firestorm in Justice League: Cry for Justice #6 (March 2010).

Valcan returns in Time Masters: Vanishing Point #1 where he meets Rip Hunter.[3]

In the pages of "Dark Nights: Death Metal," Claw the Unconquered is among the superheroes revived by Batman using a Black Lantern ring.[4]

Another version of Claw is a superhero character created by Steven Seagle and Ken Hooper. He first appeared in Primal Force #1 (October, 1994). An Asian youth from Hong Kong, this Claw has no direct ties to the original Claw, although he bears an identical misshapen hand. Claw's real name was John Chan. Chan became the Claw after buying an ancient suit of armour and sword. The Claw of Pytharia, which had been dormant in one of the gauntlets, cut off his hand with the sword and grafted itself in place. The demonic spirit of the claw increased his fighting skills, but made it difficult for him to control his anger. John Chan was a member of Primal Force throughout that series's 15 issue run.

Alternate versions of Claw have had cameo appearances in titles such as Sandman #52 (1993), Swamp Thing #163 (1996) and Starman (vol.2) #55 (1999).

Red Sonja /Claw The Unconquered: Devil's Hands #4. Variant cover by Jim Lee.

In 2006, with the popularity of sword and sorcery comics once again resurgent due to revivals of Conan by Dark Horse Comics and of Red Sonja by Dynamite Entertainment, DC began to publish new Claw material through their Wildstorm imprint. The character first returned in Red Sonja /Claw The Unconquered: Devil's Hands (March, 2006) a crossover limited series featuring Red Sonja which is co-published by Dynamite Entertainment and written by John Layman and pencilled by Andy Smith. A new Wildstorm Claw the Unconquered regular monthly title by writer Chuck Dixon and penciller Andy Smith debuted in June 2006. As of December 2006, the Claw monthly series has apparently run its course, ending with this version of Claw enslaved by demons from hell or a parallel universe, and the whole world doomed to demonic possession. The series gives Claw's full name as Valcan Scaramax. Claw either wandered back to his own world of Pytharia, or into some other world entirely, as nothing in the Claw series from Dynamite bore any connection to Howard's Hyborian realms.

It is unclear if the new Wildstorm Claw stories feature the original 1970s version of the character or whether they adhere to a new continuity. Red Sonja's current iteration is supposed to be consistent with her 1970s Marvel Comics continuity, and the direct connection between Claw's revival and the crossover with Sonja seems to indicate that these new stories occur on Hyborian Age Earth (where Sonja's stories are clearly intended to occur). Strictly speaking, the crossover also means that this version of Claw co-exists with Conan (and indeed the Marvel Universe, as Sonja's original appearances did), though it is extremely unlikely that those connections were ever intended or will ever be acknowledged.[5]

With the Red Sonja book shifting of several years to tell the story of a new Red Sonja, a descendant of the previous one sharing the soul of the departed character, a new Claw appears: Osin, a former ally of Red Sonja, accepting the Curse of Claw, and the partial merge with the Jullah demonic entity, in exchange for being able to locate, train, and protect the new incarnation of her friend.[6]