When I spotted the first issue of Marvel's CONAN THE BARBARIAN on the comic rack, I about peed my pants! By 1970, I was a hardcore fan of the Lancer series of paperbacks and was learning more about Conan's creator, Robert E. Howard. Needless to say, I snatched a copy up and shelled out my hard-earned 15 cents, went home and was immediately enthralled in its visual majesty.
The longevity of Conan has surprised me (see history below). With the exception of a ten-year absence, the character is still with us today.
The newest incarnation of our Hyborian Age Hero is coming August 2 from Titan Comics (see below) and it just might be one of the better series ever. With what looks to be a solid story from Jim Zub and excellent artwork from Buscema-inspired Rob De La Torre, the sample pages shown here bear this out. I anxiously await the release of this title. The biggest problem will be picking out one of the multiple cover versions!
The History Of Conan The Barbarian in Comics
By Matt Morrison | July 18, 2023 | yahoo.com
While most think of Arnold Schwarzenegger when they hear the name of Conan the Barbarian, the character’s history is more closely tied to the world of comics than cinema.
Pulp Fiction and The Origins Of Conan
Created by sword-and-sorcery pioneer Robert E. Howard, Conan was originally a product of the pulps. Howard sold 18 novellas and novelettes featuring Conan to the magazines Weird Tales and Fantasy Fan between 1932 and 1936. Howard also wrote one Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon, and had three Conan stories published after his death.
While Howard was a prolific writer who wrote historical fiction as well as fantasy, Conan was easily his most popular creation. Howard’s stories were reprinted continually throughout the 1950s and 1960s, finding an audience among the same readers that enjoyed comic books. It was these readers who introduced Conan to the management of Marvel Comics.
The First Marvel Age (1970-1993)
According to comics legend Roy Thomas, who was serving as an associate editor under Stan Lee at the time, Marvel Comics first began exploring the idea of publishing adaptations of classic pulp characters in the late 1960s. This decision came after receiving letters from fans suggesting they might do well with comics based on Tarzan, Doc Savage, and John Carter.
Thomas reached out to the literary agent of Robert E. Howard’s estate, Glenn Lord. To his surprise, Lord was agreeable to Thomas’ proposed sum of $200 per issue. Unfortunately, this was more than Thomas had budgeted for Marvel’s first foray into fantasy comics. Thomas addressed the shortfall by writing the comics himself and hiring a relatively unknown Barry Windsor-Smith to handle the art.
Rather than only adapting the Conan stories, Thomas secured permission to adapt Howard’s other stories into Conan tales while writing his own stories, filling in the gaps between the classic Conan tales. This led to the creation of another famous hero, with Thomas inventing the amazon Red Sonja by adapting Robert E. Howard’s historical heroine Red Sonya of Rogatino.
Conan The Barbarian proved to be a smash hit, quickly becoming one of Marvel Comics most popular series and the winner of multiple Shazam awards. It is highly unlikely the 1982 Conan the Barbarian film would ever have been made, had it not been for the popularity of the Conan comics.
The Dark Horse Years (2003-2018)
Ironically, despite American comics becoming more violent during in the late 1980s and 1990s, fantasy as a genre fell out of favor and the Conan license lay dormant for a decade. Dark Horse Comics picked up the license in 2003, hiring Kurt Busiek to handle the writing duties and Cary Nord to provide the artwork.
For 15 years and through a number of rotating creative teams and titles, Dark Horse presented a darker, more visceral take on Robert E. Howard’s hero. The monthly Conan series largely unfolded in chronological order, using the timeline presented by P. Schuyler Miller and John D. Clark in their 1936 essay A Probable Outline of Conan’s Career.
Like the Marvel series before it, the Dark Horse Conan comics adapted Howard’s original stories, filling in the gaps with original tales. There was also a collection of spin-off miniseries, published under the King Conan title, in which writer Tim Truman and artist Tomás Giorello adapted the Robert E. Howard stories set during Conan’s reign as King of Aquilonia.
The Second Marvel Age (2019-2022)
Marvel Comics briefly reacquired the license to publish Conan comics in the United States in 2018. A new monthly Conan the Barbarian comic began running in January 2019, with scripts by Jason Aaron and art by Mahmud Asrar. There were also several one-shots and mini-series devoted to supporting Conan characters, such as the pirate queen Belit.
Unfortunately, these comics were not well-received by the majority of Conan fans, who preferred the darker aesthetic of the Dark Horse comics. It did not help matters that a time-displaced Conan interacted with the mainstream Marvel Universe and was briefly a part of the Savage Avengers. The series failed to find an audience with Marvel fans as well and were quietly brought to a close.
Ablaze Comics and The Cimmerian (2020-2022)
At the same time Marvel was trying to revitalize Conan in their own universe, Ablaze Comics was leaving their own mark upon the Conan legacy. After a brief legal battle, Ablaze was allowed to publish English translations of a series of comic book adaptations of Robert E. Howard’s stories published in Europe (where they were in the public domain) under the title The Cimmerian. While some of the adaptations were praised for capturing the primal spirit of Robert E. Howard’s prose, the Ablaze Comics printings were criticized for compressing the larger page size of European comics to fit the American standard.
The Titan Age And Today (2023)
A new Conan the Barbarian series, published by Titan Comics, is poised to premiere at San Diego Comic Con 2023. The new book received a soft premiere during Free Comic Book Day, with a #0 issue scripted by Jim Zub and art by Roberto De La Torre fueling fan expectations, and foretelling a new age of high adventure for Conan the Barbarian.
Comic Review: Conan the Barbarian #1
By Matt Morrison | July 19, 2023 | yahoo.com
The name of Conan the Barbarian is rightly synonymous with action and adventure. Originally created by Texan pulp fiction author Robert E. Howard, Conan found a new life in the world of Marvel Comics in the 1970s. Much like the wandering adventurer himself, the Conan license has traveled from one publisher to the next, now falling into the hands of Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures.
The first issue of Titans’ Conan the Barbarian opens eight years into Conan’s adventuring career, long after he left his native Cimmeria in search of adventure. After having a falling-out with his current employer, Conan ponders his past and whether he should return home or continue to walk the path of blood and slaughter he has trod for nearly a decade. It spoils little to reveal that Conan has little chance to ponder this question before some supernatural menace drags him back into adventure.
The script by writer Jim Zub provides a perfect pastiche of Robert E. Howard’s prose, capturing the soul of Conan as a character. A flashback to Conan’s first battle as a lad of sixteen summers establishes what little history need be explained. Avoiding expository dialogue, Zub wisely conveys Conan’s backstory through an action sequence.
Zub shows who Conan is through the action, revealing him as a practical man and a survivor, rather than a hero. Despite this, Conan is ethical in his own way, living by a chaotic code of honor that drives him to refuse to follow a cowardly commander yet pushes him to save a stranger whose bravery in the face of certain death appeals to him. Zub’s Conan is as much a man of wisdom as he is a man of action who shows great cleverness in battle. This is true to Howard’s original character and a far cry from the cliché dumb muscle most imagine when picturing barbarian heroes.
The artwork of Conan The Barbarian #1 is of equal caliber to the writing. Rob De La Torre boasts a dynamic, visceral style that is vividly detailed and as dark and brooding as the Cimmerian highlands in a thunderstorm. The characters are uniquely designed, with little details like a barmaid with an eye patch catching the eye in the progression from panel to panel. The action flows as smoothly as the blood that flows freely from those who stand against Conan.
Talking of blood, it should be noted that those Conan fans who feared that Titan Comics would present a bloodless, sanitized take on Conan the Barbarian similar to the recent Marvel revival can rest easy. With a topless bar wench on the title page and literal hordes of blood-thirsty zombies, this book is rightly recommended “For Mature Readers.”
The rest of Conan the Barbarian #1’s art team deserve praise as well. De La Torre’s inks and pencils are well-matched by the colors of José Villarrubia. The colors of this book are largely muted, which only serves to make the crimson colors of combat stand out all the more. Villarrubia also punctuates certain panels with strong tints that dominate the backgrounds to subtly highlight the foreground figures. The lettering by Richard Starkings is crisp and clear, with sound effect balloons used sparingly to present a more grim and realistic aesthetic.
Those who have never read a Conan comic could not ask for a better introduction to the first son of sword-and-sorcery than Conan the Barbarian #1, and those who are already fans of Conan will find this first chapter to be everything they could have hoped for. As the barbarian himself might say, “By Crom, this is an fine tale!”
Rating: 10/10
First issue cover gallery:
Come back this afternoon for a free look at Titan's CONAN THE BARBARIAN #0!
I found Marvel's Conan the Barbarian comic transformative in many ways. It was a more sophisticated storytelling style than was generally on display in the superhero comics, which mostly required happy endings. Conan lost as often as he won, and even winning was a mitigated affair most of the time. I'd read one of the Lancer books before I found Barry Windsor-Smith's version, the novel called "The Hour of the Dragon". I'm planning a reading of the earliest tales soon.
ReplyDeleteI was annoyed how Marvel was treating Conan this time, jamming him into the modern stories. That stuff might be clever done a time or two, but wears out quickly. I wish Marvel had been able to finish off Roy's first run on the series in Epic format, but it was not to be. I've been very cool to this new version of Conan, though I have respect for Titan overall. I just don't want to get into another comic, but you make me waver.
When you consider Marvel is owned by Disney, it's not hard to see why the Marvel Universe is fast approaching a Black Hole.
ReplyDelete