COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Conan the Barbarian 4 Universal
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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0096990017
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Owner:
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Rune
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
The crown of my collection - in my opinion "The Tower of the Elephant" marks the first of many great Conan tales by Barry Windsor-Smith. Sure Barry Windsor-Smith did also draw issues 1 to 3, but the stories in issues 1 to 3 are of a very weak and poor quality compared to the imaginative power of "The Tower of the Elephant" in Conan issue 4. So for me, Conan the Barbarian number 4 is the true beginning for all great Barry Windsor-Smith Conan tales.
In 1971 the story "Tower of the Elephant" by Roy Thomas & Barry Smith in this book was nominated by the Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards for the Best Individual Story.
Furthermore, Barry Windsor-Smith mentioned in an interview May 1998 that Conan 4 also was quite special to him:
"Roy had sent me all of the Lancer paperbacks some months prior to our beginning the first issue, so my prior affinity was merely months old but, as it happens, that made my perceptions energetic and fresh because I was utterly hooked by Howard's writing style. "The Tower of the Elephant," in particular, was a real head trip, to use the vernacular of the time". (Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2.)
In 2010 Roy Thomas confirmed that Conan #4 also was quite special to him:
"For #4 I decided to do something different. From the beginning I had wanted to adapt Robert E. Howard‘s storles as well as make up so my own, but our contract with the REH estate gave us rights only to use Conan, not any particular stories. Now I got permission from Glenn Lord in a letter to adapt the story in which the Cimmerian is chronologically youngest—"Tower of the Elephant," which had quickly become my favorite Conan tale of all-as an issue of Conan. Either Marvel or I-I suspect Marvel-paid a little extra for the rlght to adapt the story, but at thls point I‘ve totally forgotten how I swung that or how much it cost. Working with Howard's actual prose, not just my couple of pages of accompanying notes, apparently turned Barry on, and he did a wonderful job. From the time Barry drew "Tower of the Elephant," there was no looking back for either of us."
Excerpt from "The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 1" 2010 (the foreword by Roy Thomas).
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