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With the recent arrival at Castel Crivens of Conan the Barbarian Epic Collection Volume Six, I've now read more issues of the mighty Cimmerian in reprint form than I ever did of the original colour comics published back in the '70s. For some reason, I once had the impression I'd bought more than I actually had, so I was surprised when I first started purchasing this series of volumes to discover I probably never actually owned much more than a handful. Funny how the memory plays tricks, eh?
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| Copyright CPI |
Another Conan book I acquired a couple or so days ago is the Centenary Edition of The Complete Chronicles of Conan, which includes every Conan tale ever written by Robert E. Howard. It's a fourth printing, which means it doesn't have the colour frontispiece that was only included in the first edition, so can any Crivvie who has the book supply me with a scan of it so I can add it to my copy? If so, leave a wee message in the comments section.
Two Conan publications for the price of one in this post, Crivvies. I'm spoiling you again. (And now for the back covers...)
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16 comments:
I wish Marvel had gotten all of the Roy Thomas material from his first go around into Epic form. It's a shame they've lost the license yet again. Ugh.
I'm wondering, though, whether they'll still be allowed to reprint the original Marvel Conan strips, RJ? With any luck, perhaps it's only new stories they won't be doing. I know it wasn't like that last time, but with any luck, they might still be allowed the reprints. Or is it definite that they won't be able to?
I'm sometimes amazed at how few issues of a particular comic I have actually purchased at times as well. But for some titles that's because although I may not have bought the US comic I probably read the stories in a UK Marvel title (Conan is one such character). I don't think anyone has done Conan in comics as well as Marvel did in those first few years, Thomas and Buscema (then Alcala inking Buscema in the monthly) were class acts.
I suspect that because Conan had a real 'presence' at Marvel in the '70s, McS,and (like you say) because I read the b&w UK monthly and reprints in the weekly, it feels like I was more aware of him than I'd have otherwise been. However, I distinctly seem to remember buying the colour monthly more often than I actually did, going by the actual issues that were familiar to me in the epic Collections. Having said that, however, it's the same with other characters. I feel like I was buying Howard the Duck and Omega for ages, but at the time, I only ever had the first five issues of each. I guess four or five months seems of far longer duration when you're a teenager.
I flicked through 'The Complete Chronicles Of Conan' in Waterstone's in Cardiff back in 2006 and considered buying it but didn't. Years later I bought the e-book version though.
I didn't even know about it until I saw it in a charity shop last week, CJ. They were asking £12 for it, but as it's a 4th edition, I managed to talk them down to a more reasonable £8. Charity begins at home, remember.
Happy birthday, Kid!
Will they still need you
Will they still feed you
Now you're sixty-four?
Thank fors the kind sentiments, CJ, though I'm keeping shtum as to whether it's actually my birthday or not. 64? I'm only 46. (See what I did there?)
Kid, King Charles will be 74 on the 14th so if you are 64 you are almost 10 years younger than His Madge.
He looks more like 84, doesn't he? You'd think that having lived a pampered life, he'd be in better shape. At least he's not an @rsehole like his younger brother.
Happy birthday Kid. Remember it's just a number, albeit a big number!
I'll be joining you next year 😞
I'm 46 I tell you! What's all this 64 stuff? I'm a mere boy, not a geriatric. (Denial is the best form of defence.)
Conan probably played a big part in keeping my in comics for a few years....I read the Savage Sword series regularly when I wasn't getting much else. Those were usually done-in-one (or two) when I started reading them. My town started having distribution issues, but I was still able to pick up the occasional issue. Eventually, I was able to expand my comics reading again, but Conan remained my favorite. I've even gone back and picked up some of the SSOC issues for Kindle in recent years and the Robert E Howard books as well.
The Marvel Conan comics certainly make for entertaining reading, G. CTB #100 arrived yesterday (Thursday), featuring the death of Belit, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, never having read it before. Previously, I only had one Conan paperback, given to me back in, oh, when was it? Sometime between 1978 and '80. (Still got it too.) Now that I've got the Complete Chronicles edition, I'm looking forward to working my way through it, by Crom.
Conan is an interesting example of a character who was a major player in comics back in the 70s, but is somehow relegated to minor player status these days, with the major publishers unsure what to do with Conan. Wasn’t the Marvel SSOC the longest running Marvel B&W? The back issues don’t seem to be especially pricey over here in Chicagoland (I’ve paid around $10 for decent copies of early issues) whereas contemporary issues of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu seem to fetch higher prices.
I’m surprised that Marvel haven’t snapped up the rights for a film or a TV series on Disney+ to raise Conan’s profile.
Not sure about the longevity status of SSOC, B, but it wouldn't surprise me. Everything has its time, I suppose, and maybe Conan has had his for the moment. His time may come around again though. I bought a three-issue story of Dark Horse's version of the Cimmerian a few years back, but comic strip Conan doesn't seem like the real deal to me if it's not by Marvel.
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