(Continuing the series about the comics I kept when I sold most of my collection - and why.)
By the end of its third year of publication, the Conan comic had only been illustrated (mostly) by a handful of amazing artists - Barry Windsor-Smith, Gil Kane, Neal Adams and the artist who compiled an incredible run on the series and the character - John Buscema.
It also had only one writer - Roy Thomas (though he also adapted work by other writers, including Conan's creator, Robert E. Howard).
I had discovered the Cimmerian in the pages of the 1960s Lancer paperback reprints of Howard's stories from the '30s, and was thrilled when Marvel announced it was bringing the character to comics.
I loved Windsor-Smith's take on the character (especially once he got past the first few issues), and was sad to see him leave - but I couldn't complain about Buscema taking over, since he was one of the best artists working in comics, the inheritor of the Hal Foster mantle. (This issue gives its own take on a classic story from Foster's Prince Valiant Sunday comic strip.)
But this issue was a real shock, because - perhaps for the first time - he inked his own pencils! The results were stunning, beautiful and fierce.
Buscema was famously something of a grouch about being a comics artist, but given the hundreds of issues of Conan he drew - and who knows how many issues of Savage Sword of Conan - he must have had a connection to the character, and certainly his work shows his enthusiasm.
I was (and am) a huge fan of his work - and the character, of course - and that's why I held onto these comics.
--------------------
Grade: A
No comments:
Post a Comment