The Barbarian Master Set
Savage Tales #2

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Savage Tales #2 Universal
Grade: 9.8
Page Quality: WHITE
Certification #: 1051151013
Owner: Rune

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: The Barbarian Master Set
Date Added: 4/2/2012
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

After finishing Conan the Barbarian issue 24, Barry Windsor-Smith delivered what many fans consider to be his best Conan work in the "Red Nails" story published in this magazine. Thus, this mag contains the prime of Barry Windsor-Smith Conan stories, also including a special poem, it simply does not get any better! In June 2014 none of the CGC graded Savage Tales #2 mags were graded higher than 9.8 and only 3 mags made this grade. Of these 3 mags only 1 mag had pure White Page quality, while the other 2 had Off-White to White page qualities. During the years 2015 to 2017 three more #2 mags in 9.8 emerged, one with pure white pages, the other 2 mags are unknown to me.

Due to the great amount of Barry Smith art in this magazine, it is hard to understand why this 9.8 mag receives five times fewer points than Savage Tales 1 9.8 - I'd rate it five times higher than Savage Tales #1! ;-) Also note that this mag has near-perfect cover centering and orientation.

In detail, in this magk Conan stars in "Red Nails" (script by Roy Thomas, art by Barry Windsor-Smith); adapted from the story by Robert E. Howard. Story continued in Savage Tales 3. Conan also stars in "Cimmeria," a Howard poem illustrated by Windsor-Smith (5 pages).
King Kull stars in "The Skull of Silence" (script by Thomas, art by Berni Wrightson; adapted from the story by Howard; reprinted from Creatures on the Loose 10, plus the original unused cover by Wrightson).
Also in thie issue: "Dark Tomorrow" (script by Gerry Conway, art by Gray Morrow) and a reprint, "The Crusader" (script by Stan Lee, art by Joe Maneely; from The Black Knight 1 in May 1955).
Text feature, "A Probable Outline of Conan's Career" by P. Schuyler Miller and John D. Clark. Illustrations by Windsor-Smith, Al Williamson, and Frank Brunner.
John Buscema cover painting.
Cover price $0.75.

In an interview performed May 1998 by Jon B. Cooke at Comic Book Artist (CBA) Barry Windsor-Smith (Barry) offered these amusing answers:

"CBA: "Red Nails" is, in my opinion, your best work from that era. How long did it take you to complete that incredibly detailed work? Were you satisfied with the final production?

Barry: Oh, God—! "Red Nails"! How many time can I use the term "nightmare" in one interview? I should grab a thesaurus right now, right? How long did it take? Oh, only forever. Detail—? What detail—? There was detail in that thing? Where're my pills—? Somebody get me a doctor.

No, I'm fine. It's okay—I just need to breathe. S'okay. What was the question?

CBA: The second chapter of "Red Nails" showed a departure in your inking style from the delicate, finely rendered line to a more spotted, bold approach? Was this experimentation or the demands of the deadline?

Barry: Deadline—? There was a deadline? What do you mean "spotted'? Am I alright? Where's my medicine?"

Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2.

Furthermore this mag is a good example of Roy Thomas' and Barry Windsor-Smith's approach to the fantasy genre. Barry Windsor-Smith wrote in his book Opus 2:

"Although they were not unknown to us, Roy Thomas and I tried to avoid the excesses and clichés of the sword and sorcery/adventure genre. We mostly avoided monsters; instead I'd draw actual animals on a grand scale, like a giant dog or a reptile. The Red Nails story called for a real dragon, so I created a hybrid Stegosaurus. If we used sorcery, I'd try to keep the principles credible to some extend".

So the Stegosaurus in this mag illustrates the more restricted fantasy approach (one dares not write "realistic approach", so I will not do that! :-) which I believe was indeed a wise choice.
  
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