By Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema & various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN13: 978-1-84023-891-4
With this collection in the series reprinting the Marvel Conan adventures, Barry (not yet Windsor-ed) Smith leaves the Barbarian and scripter Roy Thomas begins a long and fruitful partnership with John Buscema. In fact Buscema had been Thomas’s first choice for the job of drawing Conan, but deemed by then-publisher Martin Goodman too valuable to waste on a licensed property.
That’s just one of the fascinating insights afforded by Thomas’s highly entertaining and informative afterword, but what we’re all really wanting is another dose of savage, magic action and these tales, reprinting Conan the Barbarian #23-26 and the two-part Conan saga from Savage Tales #2-3 are some of the finest the genre can offer.
Adapted from Howard’s lost historical classic The Shadow of the Vulture, the War of the Tarim is a bold epic that embroiled our young wanderer in a Holy War between the city-state of Makkalet and the expansionist Empire of Turan, led by the ambitious Prince Yezdigerd, a bitter enemy of our sword-wielding hero.
‘The Shadow of the Vulture’ by Thomas, Smith, Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins and Chic Stone sets the scene and also introduces the trend-setting Red Sonja, a female mercenary who would take fantasy fans by storm, especially since the next chapter, ‘The Song of Red Sonja’ – drawn, inked and coloured by Smith – became one of the most popular and reprinted stories of the decade, winning the 1973 Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards in the Best Individual Story (Dramatic) category.
Issue #25 introduced Big John Buscema in ‘The Mirrors of Kharam Akkad’ (inked by brother Sal and the legendary John Severin) and incorporated a loose adaptation of Howard’s King Kull tale ‘The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune’ before the saga ended in spectacular and grimly ironic fashion in ‘The Hour of the Griffin!’ Inked by Ernie Chua (nee Chan) this tale swiftly quieted all the nay-sayers who claimed that the title would die without its original artist.
Although Smith had left the comic book – citing the punishing monthly schedules – he hadn’t quite finished with Conan. Back then allotted time on the Sparta, Illinois printing presses were the absolute arbiters of a comics existence. Product went to press when it was booked to, often leading to substitute stories or reprints – as Conan #22 had been – if the material wasn’t ready in time. These days books blow deadlines all the time…
When the adult-oriented Savage Tales magazine returned the artist agreed to illustrate ‘Red Nails’ if he could do it his way and at his own pace. The result was an utter revelation, moody, gory, full of dark passion and entrancing in its savage beauty. With some all-but invisible art assistance from Pablo Marcos this journey into the brutal depths of obsession and the decline of empires is the perfect example of how to bow out at the top of one’s creative game.
Although my own preference is for the black and white original, the enhanced and sensitive computer colouring of Richard Isanove, as well as Peter Dawes, Ian Sokoliwski, Dennis Nashton and Wil Glass does estimable credit to the art and modern readers should enjoy the work for its stirring power and leave grumps like me to mumble into our grog, where we’re best pleased.
Stirring, evocative, deeply satisfying, this is one of the best collections in a superb series of an immortal of adventure. What more does any red-blooded, action-starved fan need to know…
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