Conan Overview

By Marvel comics

collected by Dark horse

Conan created by Robert E. Howard

Roy Thomas, barry windsor smith, Gil Kane, John Mayerik and others.

this blast from the past is more of a overview of the conan comics by marvel then a retrospective on any one book/issue/story.

in the late 60s Marvel where receiving a large number of letters from there fan base urging them to adapt fantasy from the printed media, something at the time marvel was not really known for. it seemed that the most populer title that the readership wanted in there letters was the lord of the rings but the Tolkien estate did not want to know, so after a while it was Lin Carter's Thonger that had been chosen to fill the demand of readers wanting a slice of "sword and sorcery" in there comics. although due a financial disagreement Marvel could not obtain the licence of carters character, so after negotiations with L. sprague de Camp (Howards estate, literary agent) Roy Thomas got the rights for Marvel to print Conan storys, on the foundation that it would give Conan a whole new audience thus being worthwhile to the Howards estate.

from looking at issues 1 - 3 it is clear to see that Marvel did not have the greatist faith in there new comic, the art is at best slapdash and the writeing feels like a poor mans Edgar rice Burroughs then the savage writing of Howard. the clear issue with these early tales is that marvel only had the rights to write original stories about conan they could not retell any tales from the pulps untill issue 4.

issue 4 is a real turning point in the comic for not only does it adapt the Howard story "the tower of the elephant" but there is a huge improvement in Windsor - Smiths art but also in Thomas writeing. it was from this that the way to deal with conan was in some kind of chronological order, something that much conan media has done since. issue 4 also was nominated for best comic book of 1971 by the ACBA.

this then lead to tthe comic then adapting Howards "the God in the Bowl" in issue 7 although the adaption does make changes to the tale. in turn fans did not seem to like such change and sales decreased since issue 1.

after issue 7 stan lee moved on to the title makeing some moves in the area of style. for me such change took something away form the title, makeing it far less animalistic and the comic started becoming less about Conans struggle against nature. although sales did indeed rise.

then in issues 14 and 15 the comic horizons started to broaden, there is a Elric and Conan crossover, Plotting for the crossover was done by Michael Moorcock himself. the art of this crossover is very good save for elrics look which pertains to the American paperbacks of the time. also within this crossover also was important due to return of the wizard Zukala from issue 5 which cemented the chonological continuity of the comic.

after a few issues with sales not at there best and the comic was put out bimonthly, creatively the title had stared to retell Howard tales that where not from conans world and then place them with conan as the protagonist

inspiration was also found in Fritz Leibers work's, this can be seen most blatantly in some of the comics foe's.

after issue 16 sales again where on the rise and the comic went back to a monthly for the rest of the titles run.

it seemed tobecome the ethos of the title that this was very much Marvels comic and made some departer away from Howards tales. although the comic became far more about prose then dialogue and captions.

the art in issue 21 really took a turn in the stlye of the comic due to a coming togeather, a synthesis which captured the grandeur of the prose. at this point P. Craig Russel started to do fill in on art work duty due to deadlines.

in later issues after issue 60 the poor mans Burroughs would rear its ugly head once more, and conan would have a great deal in common Tazan in characterization and would adventure with Tarzan homage Amra although this was somewhat tempered by the introduction of Howards Belit. also at this point, strange crossovers with quasi howard red sonja and a time traveling Kull.

it is clear however that the comic was indeed a great vehicle for keeping conan alive. infact one could say that these Marvel comics did indeed keep conan going, this comic not only lead to a few spin off's by marvel of other works by the same writer, including the more adult savage sword of conan but also had a huge impact on all conan media after right

up till now.

This Blast from the Past was kindly submitted by Mr Ian Young allias norsefire1, many thanks old bean, many thanks :)