Thursday, 30 May 2013

BARBARIANS ON THE LOOSE - KULL COVER GALLERY...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CONAN PROPERTIES Int.
Cover by Ross Andru, Sal Buscema & Marie Severin

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 John Severin

Cover by John Severin

Cover by John Severin

Cover by John Severin

Cover by John Severin

Cover by Marie & 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.

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3 comments:

  1. Rip Jagger30 May 2013 at 07:10

    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

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous30 May 2013 at 10:04

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kid30 May 2013 at 12:22

    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.

    ******

    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.

    ReplyDelete

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