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I told you about this facsimile edition several weeks back, but it's finally arrived at Castel Crivens today, meaning I can show it alongside my original copy from the '70s. The difference between this and the True Believers version from a couple of years ago is that this one has all the original ads, so if you can't find (or afford) the first printing of CTB #1, then this one will do you nicely. Well, what are you waiting for? Rush out and buy one at your local comicbook shop today! (Or buy it on the Internet, like I did.)
King Conan #1 has been delayed until next week (December 22nd).
ReplyDeleteThis one was delayed by around a fortnight, CJ, but it was worth waiting for. Will you be buying it?
ReplyDeleteMaybe. I haven't decided whether or not to buy King Conan either.
ReplyDeleteIf you did buy it, CJ, you'd then have #1, plus #300 - the first and the last. That'd be a great wee collection.
ReplyDeleteI will no doubt pick this one up as it's a belter of a comic. Although the way things are going I will need to purchase it online ( not my preferred way to buy comics).
ReplyDeleteSo had the regular Conan the barbarian comic ended and is to be replaced by King Conan ?
I'm not sure whether King Conan was intended as a 'sister' publication alongside CTB, McS, or whether #25/300 was always meant to be the last issue. Perhaps Marvel had hopes for both of them and CTB just failed to sell, hence its cancellation. Pure speculation of possibilities on my part, so if anyone knows for sure (CJ?), feel free to say so.
ReplyDeleteKid, I don't know if CTB #25/300 was always meant to be the last issue or not but nowadays lots of comics have short runs - King Conan will only be a mini-series of six issues I think.
ReplyDeleteDespite owning maybe a dozen versions of this comic including the original I bought with my own two mitts, I couldn't pass this one up this week. It just called my name and demanded to come home. Reading the comic story itself is great, but these facsimiles take you back in time.
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I wonder in what shape or form Conan will next appear in a Marvel mag after King Conan, CJ? I wouldn't like to see him disappear again.
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Including the original comic, I've also got around a dozen different presentations of this issue, RJ. And in a handful of instances, I've got multiple copies of some presentations. For example, I must have around 12 copies of the True Believers version, plus 8 copies of the facsimile. There's something about the tale that just calls to me.
They just new to find the right artist for Conan and I think it could take off again. The stories I have read ( albeit only about 6 under the Marvel banner) have been good as has most of the art but Conan needs an artist that fits the genre. For me he looks more like a superhero rather than a barbarian. It would be nice to see BWS do an issue or two ( I know it's not going to happen 🙁
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to think of an artist who'd suit, McS, but none immediately springs to mind. Having said that, I'm not really up on artists in today's comicbook scene. I wonder what Joe Kubert would've done with Conan, had he ever drawn him back in the day?
ReplyDeleteThe first Conan story I ever read was the next one, "The Lair Of The Beast-Men", in Savage Sword weekly No.2 in March 1975. Conan gets captured by the Beast-Men and taken to their underground city where he starts a slave uprising - I suppose the plot could be described as Planet Of The Apes meets Spartacus in the Hyborian Age. But I remember first reading SSOC weekly #2 and loving Barry Smith's art and Sal Buscema's inking.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading #1 on the back door step of a pal's house in the early '70s, and not long after (a year or so maybe), reading #5 when it was reprinted in the first Marvel Annual in late 1972.
ReplyDeleteI ordered volume 3 of the Conan Epic Collection, CJ, and am just waiting for it to arrive. Sadly, my other copy of #25/300 appears to have got lost in the post, as it was sent on the 6th and still hasn't turned up.
It might just be the Christmas mail, Kid - there are a lot of cards at this time of year!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, do you mean Epic Collection Vol. 4 as I think that's the latest one.
Everything else is coming through okay though, CJ. A parcel from Australia has turned up well before the estimated delivery date. The last Conan Epic I bought was Volume 2, but I forgot that they don't always publish them in sequence, so it might be Volume 4 if 3 hasn't been done yet.
ReplyDeleteThe first Conan comic I ever read was #193, back in 1986, just after Buscema left the book, and I didn't enjoy it at all. Couldn't understand how this character had so much appeal to so many that he had 3 monthly Marvel titles!
ReplyDeleteYears later I read some of the original REH stories (as well as some of the de Camp/Carter tales) and really enjoyed them. That led me to give the comics another try, and this time the penny dropped! I still was never a huge Conan fan, but certainly enjoyed many of the issues I've read since then. JM deMatteis and Gil Kane had a nice run on the book in the early 80s that I like.
I've only ever read one Conan book, DS, and I quite enjoyed it, but I couldn't say I was a huge fan of the character himself - more a fan of 'an age undreamed of' as portrayed in the '70s Marvel comics he featured in.
ReplyDeleteA rare copy of a Superman #1 comic book that sold on newsstands for a dime in 1939 was purchased for US$2.6 million in an auction....I saw this article in an online news item...
ReplyDeleteYou didn't have to go to all that expense to buy me a Christmas present, LH - a modestly-sized selection box would've done.
ReplyDeleteI suspected you may have been the winning bidder but was a wee bit embarrassed to ask.....
ReplyDeleteNah, I was actually selling one of my spare copies via my Stateside offices, LH. I'm off to count my cash.
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