CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: BARBARIANS ON THE LOOSE

Thursday 30 May 2013

BARBARIANS ON THE LOOSE - KULL COVER GALLERY...

I still remember the (long-gone) newsagent's where I first bought the above issue of KULL The CONQUEROR, can yet recall perusing its pages on the walk home on that sunny Saturday morning back in 1972 or '73. Funnily enough, I think that's the only issue I ever read (or even saw) until they were reprinted in SAVAGE SWORD Of CONAN, a U.K. weekly published in 1975. Sadly, it only lasted for 18 issues.

Almost a decade later, I obtained a replacement for that 1st ish, and acquired subsequent issues over a period of 15 years or more. The art in #1 was by ROSS ANDRU & WALLY WOOD, with ace siblings MARIE & JOHN SEVERIN illustrating #s 2-9, and Marie & FRANK CHIARAMONTE on #10.

Number 11 saw MIKE PLOOG take over the art chores as the mag changed direction and title, being renamed KULL The DESTROYER. One day I may decide to collect the remainder of the series, but until then, allow me to share the covers of these magnificent MARVEL mags with you here. (Update: Acquired the Kull Omnibus in October 2022, which contains every Marvel Kull tale from the '70s.)

Cover by Marie & John Severin

Cover by John Severin. This tale was published between #s 2 & 3

Cover by John Severin

Cover by Marie & John Severin

Cover by Mike Ploog

BONUS: Below, Kull's first Marvel Comics appearance in CREATURES On The LOOSE #10, cover by HERB TRIMPE & MARIE SEVERIN, interior art by BERNI WRIGHTSON.

EXTRA BONUS: Below, LIN CARTER's THONGOR Of LEMURIA - cover drawn by JIM STERANKO, interior art by VAL MAYERIK & VINCE COLLETTA.

3 comments:

Rip Jagger said...: Some of my absolute favorite comic books. They are gorgeous. It's not too much to say that Kull had some fantastic artwork, and I personally always rather liked him, a somewhat less brash barbarian than Conan.

I was not thoroughly pleased though by Dark Horse's reprints which sadly were muddy and didn't do the great Severin duo artwork justice.

Rip Off; 30 May 2013 at 07:10
Anonymous said...: This is some interesting stuff, Kid. I only saw one copy of Kull when I was a kid, in rural Iowa, in the early 70's. Marvel Comics were hard to come by then and there. I'm a bit chagrined that you apparently had better access to comics than I did. But I must say, when I visited England on military leave in '89, you guys had the best comic shops I ever saw. One of the very many reasons I miss your country. Nuff said.; 30 May 2013 at 10:04
Kid said...: I haven't seen the DH reprints of Kull, Rip, but I gave up on the Conan books once they started replacing the original lettering with computer fonts and making dreadful spelling mistakes in the process. I took book 5 (I think) back for a refund because of it.

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Anon, distribution in our country was a bit 'hit and miss' before the advent of comic shops in the early or mid-'80s, and sometimes it was hard to get a complete run of a particular mag or even to buy them in the proper sequence. Certainly made things interesting 'though.; 30 May 2013 at 12:22

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

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And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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