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Thanks to regular reader CJ alerting me to the recent release of this titanic tome, I now have Conan The Barbarian Epic Collection Volume 5 keeping the previous four volumes company on my shelf. With the contents of this book, I think I've now surpassed the number of monthly colour Conan issues I actually bought back in the day. Only one issue seems vaguely familiar, while another was reprinted years later, which is when I first saw it. Funny how, with certain comics, one tends to think one owned more issues than one actually had (I'm speaking with my 'posh voice' there), which is testament to just how impressionable we are as teenagers when things tend to leave their mark more in our memories.
Anyway, read the spiel on the back cover and, if you're a Conan fan, run out and buy one. I got mine for a 'steal' of a price (in my favour) via eBay, so it might well be worth your while trying there as well, by Crom! Interestingly, although it says on all the back covers that the Epic Collections aren't published in chronological order, so far the Conan books have been, which I'm extremely happy about.
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I've picked up the first three volumes but so far I've left this one alone. Maybe I will relent in the end because it is so very good. The first one hundred and fifteen issues of Conan are one of the great accomplishments in the history of the form.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that I'm actually a fan of Conan as a character, RJ, but I do like the settings of the stories and Roy Thomas can be a very evocative writer, drawing the reader in. I'll definitely get the next volume, after that I'll have to consider the rest of them on a piece-by-piece basis.
ReplyDeleteMarvels Conan was always one of my favourite comics and I picked up quite a few issues from 26 ( my fist issue) until around issue 80 or so and the odd copy after that. The format after this time for me had begun to tire and lose its edge but in its long run it was a belter of a comic book. The Kull v Conan issue ( as noted on the Epic collection cover) was good but it should have been better than it was. The first Kull series was another classic comic. I can't get into the new Marvel version at all, it looks nice etc but for me the Hyborian age sadly may have passed
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many ages (Marvel Age, Hyborian Age) pass as Old Age takes a hold, eh, McS? I can't wait for a Kull Epic Collection (or have they already done one?) 'cos, as you say, the Severin issues were classics. Looking back now, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that I probably only ever bought around 10 issues of the colour Conan monthly, but it seems like more in memory. I'll have to go through the five books and count the ones I remember having back in the day (still got one too).
ReplyDeleteKid, you should keep buying the Conan Epic collections at least until the death of Belit, which occurred in Conan The Barbarian #100.
ReplyDeleteWhat?! You mean she dies? Thanks for spoiling it for me, you bounder - no point me buying any more now.
ReplyDeleteI probably will keep buying them after the 6th book, CJ, but if not, I'll definitely be getting the 6th.