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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CONAN PROPERTIES, Int. |
The above dramatic cover takes me back in time, I must say. Purchased from the basement comics department in the Glasgow Virgin Mega-Store in 1994, I had it with me when I met legendary entertainer BOB HOPE (for the second time) after his show in the City's Royal Concert Hall at the top of Buchanan Street. This was the only issue left, so as it's dated the actual month I bought it, it would've likely gone on sale around March.
Perhaps my ol' memory is playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall that it was in this very issue that I first learned of the then-relatively recent death (in February) of JACK KIRBY, though I was buying quite a few MARVEL mags fairly regularly at that period and should already have read of the sad event.
Of course, it could be that I was simply re-reading something of which I was already aware, but the BULLPEN BULLETINS announcement of the "King's" demise - along with a JOE SINNOTT illustration of The THING - made quite an impression on me, so I tend to associate the comic, Kirby's death and Bob Hope's concert with that one particular night on a pleasant June evening in Glasgow City Centre almost 20 years ago.
There's something else which is significant about this issue - the entire 11 issue series, in fact - and that is, as far as I'm aware, it was the last time that Marvel Comics reprinted the '70s BARRY (WINDSOR) SMITH classic tales of the Cimmerian mercenary, CONAN The BARBARIAN (in colour anyway).
So, come with us now, back to the dark days between the sinking of Atlantis and the dawn of recorded history. Come with us to the raw, untamed world of - CONAN CLASSIC!
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(To read the above issue, click here.)
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And, just to complete the circle, here's the original cataclysmic cover to Conan The Barbarian #1 from 1970.
These Conan Classics are pretty handsome books. I picked them up in the back issue bins several years ago despite owning these stories several times over. It was sheer delight to read them in shiny new color in pure comic book form. It took me back to grand old times.
ReplyDeleteRip Off
Hi Rip. According to Roy, only the covers were recoloured - apparently they couldn't afford to recolour the interiors ao that's the original colour separations they used. That 'new' look of which you speak was down to the better paper and improved printing techniques of the day. Now if only they'd left the original corner page numbers in all of the strips. Great little series 'though.
ReplyDeleteThese are new to me so thanks for posting them. Good to hear that the interior colour has been left as is, for whatever reason. I have seen some of the Dark Horse collections and I think they've all been re-coloured but some look as though the colourist lost the rest of their Pantone book and was only left with the brown swatches! Kinda the comics equivalent of the almost obligatory colour grading applied to most movies at the moment.
ReplyDeleteHi Phil. I kinda liked some of the Dark Horse recolouring. What annoyed me more was the omission of the banner atop some of the pages - and no covers in the first softcover editions. What I'd love to see, of course, is an official Marvel Masterworks of these tales, but tht'a unlikely to happen anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I also wish that these had been put out as part of the Masterworks series (with covers, bios, contents page and the like - bit of a fan of the Masterworks - pricey though they can be to collect - but worth it). I believe it's down to some rights issues, which you may know more about than I do. I don't have issue with the brownish colour palette on some of the DH volumes, goes with the ancient settings of the stories, just making the observation.
ReplyDeleteRip & Phil, I've just compared a couple of splash pages from the reprints with the originals and there are differences. They must've used proofs from earlier reprints using the originals as a guide. Perhaps Roy meant that they couldn't afford to recolour them from the previous time they'd been reprinted (and recoloured), but, if so, he doesn't make that clear in his comments.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the rights issue, it's simply that Marvel no longer have the licence to publish Conan and Dark Horse does. Although I'd imagine that Marvel still 'own' the stories and artwork they commissioned (and paid for) and have licenced them to DH.
Ah ha, I was also going to mention Tomb of Dracula, though I think still collected by Marvel but not as part of the Masterworks series. Don't know the current state of the copyright on Stoker's character, after over 100 years, and if that had any relevance. (BTW - bad analogy earlier with the Pantone comparison as that is, of course, not how comics are coloured.)
ReplyDeletePS to last comment (should do more research!) - Drac has appeared under the Masterworks banner but the paperbacks just seem to have the comic logo and Marvel brand on them.
ReplyDeleteI know that Marvel did an excellent Tomb Of Dracula Omnibus edition that looks a very handsome volume indeed. I've got an early Essentials softcover of TOD, but the quality of reproduction is variable. It's probably been updated from better proofs by now.
ReplyDeleteCall me a grumpy old fossil, but those recoloured/reconfigured covers look terrible compared to the originals.
ReplyDeletegrumpily
B Smith
That's interesting on the color front. I'd have sworn they were new, but not so. Still looked lush.
ReplyDeleteRip Off
Rip, see the 6th comment down (mine) for clarification on the colour front. Roy Thomas said that they couldn't afford to have the stories recoloured (as they did with the covers), thereby giving the impression that the colours were the originals. However, it seems that Marvel were using proofs from previous reprints - which probably had been recoloured, although using the original colour schemes as a guide in some cases.
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Grumpy B, I think some of them have their own charm. I kinda like #9.