Set Description:
For those that have perused my other registered sets, you know that I typically talk a lot of sh*t about covers - cover art, editorial decisions, word balloons, color choices, and text boxes have all been the target of my rather pointed opinions.
Since most of the covers in this set are BWS' work, and that work is beyond reproach - absolutely, effortlessly, the best cover art of the time, I'm not going to be talking any crap about those covers. The other four issues, on the other hand...
Additionally, I have some familiarity with the use & handling of swords & axes, armor & horses from 25+ years of jousting & stage combat - so I will discuss technique and equipment in the drawings.
Why Conan? I mean, other than because he's the coolest, best, character ever? He's what I grew up on, Conan paperbacks. And when those ran out, Gor paperbacks, Conan comics, and eventually Warren magazines as well.
I belong to the minority that believes Conan 1 issues in the bronze age of comics. I know that isn't a universal opinion, but it is mine.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 3 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 3 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2094005010
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Owner Comments
"Vs. The Grim Grey God!" Personal note - When I was young, I never thought I'd have a copy of this issue in my collection, due to the low circulation and it being mostly unavailable in mid grade locally (my raw reader set is mid grade) - so, YAY internets! Personal journey aside, let's look at this cover. If you ever want to illustrate the difference in size between two things in the same image, this should be in your reference materials - it's an absolute master class of contrasts: warm figure in the foreground, cool figure in the background, another human size figure in the god's hand for perspective reference - BWS nails this like no other cover artist in this timeframe. Conan time - I have to say, one of the things I really love about BWS' Conan is that he's not silly bulky; he's hot, he's strong, he's definitely a barbarian - but he isn't toting around all that useless muscle bulk like we see later on. To me, that makes him look like a fighter - bulky muscles get in the way. Conan's stance is good overall - but his feet are terrible. He needs to be planted for strength and he's up on his toes - which really won't support the massive swing he's about to take. About that swing, how Conan has his hips squared and his twisted in his torso? That's a big-a$$ swing, homerun style. And very well done.
What really sells the finished cover for me is the look on the face of the Grey God - he looks so completely frustrated - you can tell this fight has been going on for a while and he can't get a clean hit in on this annoying ant that is harassing him. Oh the anger & frustration - he's about to do something rash.
Overall - I mean really, I don't think it could be improved on. Just shut up and take my money.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 4 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 4 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0107209003
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Owner Comments
Spiders. What is it with spiders? Like GIANT spiders and spider gods? From Shelob to Red Sonja Vol 1 #3, they're all over sword and sorcery & fantasy literature. I guess the world is naturally afraid of spiders.
This is one of the most awesome covers ever - why? no words. Even the spider & Conan's hand are more important than the masthead. And that's just an amazing decision by the cover editor. Let this gorgeous piece of art stand on its own merits. And it does.
Look at the strong position Conan is in while fighting against the strands of the spider's web - it really tells of his strength and his wariness of the spider. The very dark color of most of the cover sets off the damsel's bright red dress nicely. And all the focus is on the circle formed by Conan, the woman, and the highlights on the spider. I don't know how Conan got himself into this fix, although I can guess pretty easy as he has a fist full of gems, but I know that I want nothing more than to read this and find out.
Overall - absolutely gorgeous, no doubt I would have quickly parted with my 15 cents in order to take this home from the spinner rack.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 6 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 6 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4061128003
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Owner Comments
"Devil-Wings over Shadizar!" This is one of those amazing covers where nobody talks - and we all know how much I love those. And we've got the sweetest looking bat creature (is it a batmobile?) and two damsels, albeit only one damsel in distress in their obligatory bikini top. The sheer amount of detail in the bat's fur is really engaging. Conan's body language, on the other hand, feels a little over-the-top ~ but I get what BWS is trying to depict here with the twisting of the body and the huge thrust to come (I said thrust). Little dudes on the ground provide an excellent sense of height and the danger associated with what is going on and the flowing skirts really show of the speed of the batmobile. I am a little torn about the title. I feel like white letters was too much - there's too much contrast. Maybe goldenrod? or even the same blue as the background. It really does disrupt the flow of the composition. On a final note, having the torch and the woman in front of the masthead is a really nice touch and provides real depth to the image.
Overall? are you kidding? this thing is just sweet. Maybe not my favorite of the run, but certainly still an awesome cover all around. 100% would buy this off the cover rack based solely on the cover art.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 9 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 9 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2103324003
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Owner Comments
"The Garden of Fear!" This is a difficult cover to break down. Obviously, there's nothing to be said about the swordsmanship going on, as only the winged demon is armed. And really hell if I know how a left handed demon beast wields his weapon. Dissecting the cover - we have a futuristic looking tower in a garden, the tower has spikes on its otherwise smooth surface. It's very odd and contrasting looking compared to the highly detailed plants in the garden below - which have some awesome autumn colors. I'm not sure what is happening though. Conan and the chick of the month look like they are falling, Conan doesn't look like he's reaching for anything or defending himself. The demon appears to have a necklace or a pectoral of some sort in his right hand - and to be swinging the sword at Conan. I'm not sure it wouldn't be effective to just let him plummet and not go anywhere near Conan, so he doesn't end up grabbing you and riding you down. Weird cover image. Great birds-eye view. Nice coloration.
Overall - I'm not sure. I do feel like I am interested in what the story is based on the cover, and how Conan gets out of this fix, so maybe. Maybe I buy this off the spinner rack for my hard earned 15 cents.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 10 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 10 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0990134013
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Owner Comments
"Beware the Wrath of the Bull God!" What an unusual book in the middle of this run - the 10th appearance of Conan, also the 6th appearance of Kull (between Monsters on the Prowl 16 and Kull the Conqueror 3) and the only oversize, square bound book of the bunch. And like all square bound Marvels, kind of hard to find in high grade due to the way the peal apart at the spine. I'm pleased with the way this presents for its grade, not that there's anything wrong with a 9.6 - ever. The thing that is hard is finding the cover art underneath all that "blah blah blah" that editing thought was needed on the cover - from the green blub above Conan's head, to the title of the cover story - which nicely blends in in red, kudos to the colorist, to the Kull strip across the bottom - I feel like we lost a lot of art space to garbage words. At least there isn't also word balloons to make it worse.
Now the Bull God himself is pretty awesome looking and I really like that BWS didn't go the cheesy route and give him sharp teeth, because that would have looked kinda dumb (see entry for Beowulf 6 and the fanged minotaur). Plus he's so amazingly HUGE. Literally godlike in his massive stature. And here we have Conan hanging on to a horn, not hair by one massive arm while he lines up a massive swipe with his sword at an exposed eye - how frigging cool is that. How much more cool would it be without the dumb green blurb? Lots, probably. I'd be annoyed if I was the artist.
I also enjoy that the Bull God has made some squishy with at least one person under his hand and that all the people in the foreground are running and screaming in terror. This if offset in coolness by Kull at the bottom, looking cool as a cucumber - how incongruous. Also really displeasing. But again. The cover art is redeemed by how skilled BWS is - and the eye's focus doesn't get tied up in the bottom of the image but is clearly on the Bull God's fist and Conan swinging away from the horn.
Overall - shit yeah - even with all the distractions, please take my quarter so I can read how Conan got himself up on the horn.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 13 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 13 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0919394004
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Owner Comments
"Web of the Spider God!" Is it me, or does Conan throw down with the gods constantly? Like he's Greek or something. Don't mind my wandering, I just finished typing the owner comments for issue 3 - so it's two gods in a row (and the other one is a cooler cover). But but but....(I know, motorboat), even as my least favorite of the 25 covers in this run, it's still good. Conan's climbing up a wall (that's so Conan too), while fighting off a mob of crazed cultists following the Spider God - actually pretty sweet. BWS has nicely centered the web in the background on Conan's head, the green of the web is lighter/more chartreuse at the center, and adding a swoople so you can see the path that the sword just took, re-emphasizing the focus of the cover - like a halo on Conan's sexy profile. And - this is important - although the mob is unimportant - notice how they are each individuals? different facial features, different color clothing? The color in their clothes is an important choice to stand out against the garish green of the web.
Conan feels a little bulky for me in this image, and although climbing & fighting at the same time are very Conan - if there's an actual Spider God hiding in the shadows, I would imagine it climbs real good. It's a spider. Seriously. Maybe even some spider minions too.
I can't really opine on the ability to fight and climb at simultaneously - not that I don't go to the climbing gym every week - but I think they'd frown on my bringing a sword along (as would my buddy belaying me below), and I wouldn't be free climbing anyway. But aside from that, I'm trying to come to grips with Conan's swing. See - either he just finished a big swing with the false edge of his sword, or we've caught an image of him after the swing & the rotation of his arm so he can start a return swing in the same arc. I'd like to believe the latter, but I feel like the swoople shouldn't be there then. So I think the image would be a tiny bit better to me, if he was still finishing his sword swing, so his shoulder should be rotated back and his palm up and the sword tip pointing off the page down. Probably this didn't work due to the constraints of the picture frame cover.
Overall - yeah, it's like my least favorite of the run, but it's still all kinds of awesome-sauce.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 16 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 16 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3750114019
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Owner Comments
"Night of the Frost Giants!" This is easily one of my favorite covers of all time - by any artist, for any book, ever. It is immediately recognized by comic people everywhere and should be marked as a "classic cover" by grading companies. There's just no better. Everything about the story is there, with the frost giants and the 'maiden' (ha!), the color is awesome, the strong diagonal from the snow covered slope creates tension and the Conan & company look like their fighting a life and death struggle.
Overall? Just damn - this is the best. I'm super jazzed to have it in my collection. I may have to be buried with it.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 17 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 17 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2014123010
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Owner Comments
"The Devil-God of Bal-Sagoth!" No BWS art, which is the definition of sadness. No, sadder than that. There's only four issues in this short part of the run where Gil Kane does the covers, and half of those four issues don't have BWS interior art either. This is one of those two issues. Of the Gil Kane covers, this might be the best - but that might be due to Frank Brunner. I really like his work, and I suspect - based on the details in the small places of this cover - that he did more than inks. Finish pencils & inks maybe. It definitely isn't a Brunner layout though. Too 'Marvel Way' for that. At least there's no word balloons.
Let's look at this horribly uncoordinated combat sequence - our big is wearing all the armor, which is really kind of cool although I'm not that sold on the blue gloves - but look at the position he's in his legs are turned one way and his upper torso the other, which makes sense for just having completed a blow, but instead of being in the correct amr and blade position for just having finished a blow, he's flipped his arm and is all wound up for a new blow. I know maybe it sounds silly, but that actually takes time, and the bigger the backswing the more exposed you are to counter attack.
Conan's sword is high - over his head - for fending off the blow from above and looks good. But he's also carrying a chick over his shoulder and climbing a ladder at the same time - all very barbarian stuff. But all very dumb when the bad guy could just kick him off the ladder. Conan may be strong, but armor is heavy and with a body over his shoulder and no hands on the ladder he's just ready to be tumbled to the bottom of whatever he's climbing.
You'd think with a black picture frame cover that it would be difficult to really make a mess with the coloring of the cover - but gods what a mess the coloring is: pink, yellow, blue, grey, red, green - no focus, no artistry.
Overall - well, I don't know if I'd buy this off the spinner rack for 20 cents or not - the scene looks exciting, like I'd want to read about it, but the art - meh.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 19 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 19 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2101160015
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Owner Comments
"Hawks from the Sea!" This is one of my favorite covers of all time for use of color - everyone that has perused my other registered sets knows I like pink & orange, but what really sets it off is the blue in the picture frame. Now, I'm not a big picture frame dude. It works sometimes and it doesn't work sometimes, and I think some artists were better at adapting to it then others. BWS doesn't have any issues with breaking the line - that is having some of his image escape the frame - and that prevents his picture frame covers from looking static or boxed in. Anyway, without the use of a black frame or a cool colored background for the actual image, BWS makes this cover work - and that's no easy feat. He has to use layering without allowing the image to look overwhelming (hence the limited color palette) - but the focus really is on Conan, with his body twisted and that massive ball & chain raised as an improvised flail to smoosh some skellies. Pirate skellies. All really intensely detailed with the delicate ink work of a master artist practicing his craft. Look in the background beneath Conan's left armpit - see the dude that is nothing but a face, helm, and headscarf just coming into sight? That alone - that tiny detail, is better than some complete covers. Hell, I think I'd wear just that as a t-shirt. Side note - I absolutely adore the fact that the cover story text is cleverly merged with the ship's sail. Adore 112%.
Looking at Conan - my only issue is his leading leg looks a little awkward - but he's fighting skelly-pirates on a rocking boat, with an improvised flail - so I'm going to cut that some slack. Maybe he stepped on a bone and it rolled under his foot. The protagonist of the hour has grabbed some sort of knobby weight tied to a chain - probably it was supposed to keep him from jumping off a slave ship (also very Conan) - but he's using it as a massive flail. An excellent choice for skellies, since it does the crushing and smooshing damage. Here's the thing about flails - you have got to keep them moving - kinda fast - or they smack you upside your own dumb head and it hurts. No seriously. I love the twisting & the tension in Conan's body supports the idea that he's not only swinging the weight around, but keeping it moving - it shows that he knows what he's doing.
Overall - I love this cover and it's every little detail. SMOOSH.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 20 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 20 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2101160016
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Owner Comments
"The Black Hound of Vengeance!" He's at it with the excellent use of color again. SERIOUSLY. The red of the skirt keeps pulling your eye back to the main image, but the pink doorway makes certain you don't miss the actual antagonist even though he's in the background. I love how the blue of the hound stands out against the stained glass windows - by the way, who else in 1972 puts that much effort into stained glass windows on a cover for a non-horror book? I mean, damn. But what really stands out is the indigo of the back wall against both the reddish color of the picture frame AND the light coming through the windows. Such mastery of the setting. Take a break from the setting and lets look at the draftsmanship of the figures in the foreground. I want to note specifically that the absolute hottie on the tiles has a little, soft tummy (not the chain leading down from her breastcup - but the actual shape of her belly). And she's hot as hell. Look at the difference in coloring between Conan who lives outside and the princess who lives in castle out of the sun. He's so warm and earthy. She looks a little unhealthy (we know sun isn't healthy now - but still). Conan looks like a bada$$ - interrupted in rescuing the princess by the big bad doggie, her broken chains still in one hand - but he's whipping that sword out like there's no tomorrow (likely there isn't for the doggie). He looks lean & strong and ready to whoop some doggie butt. Additionally, I love the sense of motion implied by the dog being half off-screen and the hazy blur of Conan's blade. The combination of poses, setting, and color really make this image work.
Overall - yeah, this rocks.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 21 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 21 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4018765004
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Owner Comments
"The Monster of the Monoliths!" Is this the most amazing cover by BWS? No. But is it still cool even though he had to work within the limitations of the picture frame & the giant winner's circle blurb? Yeah - mostly. Really the draftsmanship is excellent, as we would expect from BWS, and the cover tells a story that I want to know the answer to. But it isn't his best work by a long shot.
Overall? Yeah - I'd spend my hard earned 20 cents to buy this issue based on the cover.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 23 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 23 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2080279004
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Owner Comments
"Swords in the Night!" - which, I must confess, is better than Swords in the Knight - at least personally. So...here's the thing, or at least one of the many things, of things that I think about when I'm talking crap about covers...which is - I hate word balloons. They're almost always dumb, redundant, and unneeded to convey what's going on in the cover image. And one of the things that is uber-sweet about BWS' covers is the utter lack of word balloons, except issue 1 (where it really isn't bad or intrusive) & issue 2 (where it is absolutely god-awful and dumb). But now, Gil Kane is doing the cover in the Marvel Way; this issue - which feels and reads like we're trying to make it a Spiderman issue. Please no! Spiderman is heinous. Yep - two word balloons, unnecessary word balloons and an antagonist who has to announce his own name. Just ugh. Now that's out of the way - lets look at the cover - we've got a fight on a staircase. That's totally Conan. Conan has already whipped some butt. The scene behind him is dark and littered with corpses (the kind that don't move), but I love that there's still texture back there - hints of lights & windows; I also totally dig on the fact that the stairs aren't rolling in blood - yeah, there's some blood, but its not all over the place.
Conan's got himself a cutlass style blade with little to no curve & a short blade - let's call it a knife even though it has crosspiece, since it appears to have a single edge. He's got the high ground (probably not the big Obi Wan advantage when facing an opponent with wings - but maybe there's a roof), so he's scrunched down a little in his stance. That's good by me - he's providing cover for his exposed shins. Our wordy antagonist (ooohhh, the VULTURE) is standing on two different levels - but he left knee is bent like really deep. Like painfully deep and he's on steps what looks like three levels apart. I'm going to make a leap of faith here and assume he doesn't weigh all that much - assuming he flies on those tiny wings - so that position isn't too difficult to maintain. If he really is a lightweight - like literally - I can't see him electing to use a sword of that style, it doesn't play into his strengths which should be quick, darting strikes that are going to have to wear the monster barbarian down. Yeah, not going to happen anyway, but the wrong sword to do it with if he tried.
Overall - I don't know - there's a lot going on that I do like, but really - the word balloons. Just no. I'm going to have to say this cover is tied for least favorite in this set.
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| Slot: |
Conan the Barbarian 24 |
| Item: |
Conan the Barbarian 24 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1396970016
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Owner Comments
"The Song of Red Sonja" Hey - what a unique title idea: no exclamation point. This is THE issue right? I know #1 is the first appearance of Conan & Kull, but really we're all about redheads with swords, amirite? Well, for me anyway. Heckers, I even married a redheaded swordswoman. Once again I am overwhelmed by the artistry that went into this cover - by now BWS knows this is the last Conan cover he's producing, and he's totally not mailing it in. The focus is on the use of color to make our protagonists stand out in this chaotic melee. Where are we? Inside a pub? That makes sense - very Conan, and we've picked a fight. The colors inside the pub make sense, and they're nice warm colors not cold & grey; there's bodies everywhere providing a sense of urgency and just so much inking detail that you can get lost visually in nearly any corner of the image marveling (haha) at the mastery of the inking. Yet our focus is totally on Conan & Sonja due to the use of color. Not even Conan really - it's Sonja's maille hauberk that is the total focus of this image. That's right the barbarian wench is wearing armor. But it's just here - she'll next appear on the cover of Savage Sword of Conan #1 in her chain bikini. Sad. That aside - she looks like she means business, and her business is death and destruction on a stick; standing on a corpse, wielding a dagger inverted in her right hand and swinging southpaw with a sword. Looking at it, it might be a little small for her - but hey - it's her first cover. So the hauberk, the shirt of maille, I know it looks like she shouldn't be able to get it over her head, but they can have a slot in the back or front that ties shut after it is pulled over the head, offering protection to the collarbone area. The only think I don't like about her armor is the large sleeve opening. If you have never worn a shirt of maille, you have no idea how heavy that is flopping around on the end of your arm every damn time you swing your sword. Its terrible and it will throw you completely off-balance. Not a win. Conan looks like his typical bada$$ self - he's got the big swing and follow through happening and once again, he's clearly using his hips to make a powerful swing.
Overall - who am I fooling - this might be one of the best 10 covers ever drawn.
Absolutely masterful.
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