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Post by berkley on Oct 18, 2014 20:02:55 GMT -5
Don't remember much about the Conan story in this one. I never liked Infantino's 70s artwork, though thankfully it was masked to a large extent by Alcala'a inks here. But even Alcala wasn't enough to make this story stand out to me, apparently.
Of course RR is correct that the back-up stories were the highights of this issue.
This is probably the Solomon Kane story I remember best, as far as comics are concerned, an yes, I'm sure that the bare-breasted Queen Nakari had a lot to do with that. I liked the artwork in this one, even though the inks were perhaps a little too slick to convey the kind of atmosphere appropriate for a Solomon Kane story.
The Kull story is probably the single best piece of work Mike Ploog ever drew and one of my favourite stories of all time. In my idea of a perfect world Ploog would have been a regular artist in a black and white Kull and the Barbarians mag that went on for years instead of just 3 issues. (Vicente Alcazar would have been the other regular artist).
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Post by benday-dot on Oct 18, 2014 20:16:55 GMT -5
Don't remember much about the Conan story in this one. I never liked Infantino's 70s artwork, though thankfully it was masked to a large extent by Alcala'a inks here. But even Alcala wasn't enough to make this story stand out to me, apparently. I've actually come to appreciate and even be turned into a bit of a fan of Infantino's 70's work. There is something I find cool and breezy, as unintelligible as that may sound, about his later work. This was apparent in his earlier, more finely rendered stuff as well, but in the 70's there was a fluidity to the composition in conjunction with that peculiar Infantino angularity that presented with a nice poppy effect. Maybe, Conan wasn't the best book for it, but later Infantino, after sharing your opinion of it for a long time, has grown on me I do admit. But yes, here it is mostly all Alcala in any event.
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Post by foxley on Oct 18, 2014 21:28:06 GMT -5
If I'd just seen the artwork, I probably wouldn't have pegged it as Infantino. The Alcala inks really transform it..
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 19, 2014 10:55:35 GMT -5
The Kull story is probably the single best piece of work Mike Ploog ever drew and one of my favourite stories of all time. In my idea of a perfect world Ploog would have been a regular artist in a black and white Kull and the Barbarians mag that went on for years instead of just 3 issues. (Vicente Alcazar would have been the other regular artist). May I second that notion?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 19, 2014 10:58:17 GMT -5
Don't remember much about the Conan story in this one. I never liked Infantino's 70s artwork, though thankfully it was masked to a large extent by Alcala'a inks here. But even Alcala wasn't enough to make this story stand out to me, apparently. I've actually come to appreciate and even be turned into a bit of a fan of Infantino's 70's work. There is something I find cool and breezy, as unintelligible as that may sound, about his later work. This was apparent in his earlier, more finely rendered stuff as well, but in the 70's there was a fluidity to the composition in conjunction with that peculiar Infantino angularity that presented with a nice poppy effect. Maybe, Conan wasn't the best book for it, but later Infantino, after sharing your opinion of it for a long time, has grown on me I do admit. But yes, here it is mostly all Alcala in any event. I grew to like Infantino's odd version of Star Wars, even if at first I deplored that characters and machines barely looked like what was in the movie... Eventually, though, the Infantino way of depicting the Star Wars technology just started feeling right, feeling like the "real" thing. His work on the three issues of John Carter he drew was also perfectly adequate, although there just as here the inker (Rudy Nebres in that case) pretty much made the art his own.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 19, 2014 10:59:01 GMT -5
If I'd just seen the artwork, I probably wouldn't have pegged it as Infantino. The Alcala inks really transform it.. Alfredo is kind of an overpowering inker, that's for sure! That's what John Buscema didn't like about his style, I believe.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 19, 2014 11:02:22 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #35, November 1978 issueCover by Ernie Chan (his second in a row). For some reason, the frontispiece of this issue (drawn by Dino Castrillo) always stuck in my memory. The lion/dragon/man thing looks funny, the scene looks posed, but the whole thing works anyway! Table of contents: Black tears, a Conan adventures A gazetteer of the Hyborian age, part four The poetry of Robert E. Howard, a few illustrated poems.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 19, 2014 11:21:19 GMT -5
Black tearsScript by Roy Thomas Art by Ernie Chan Adapting a Conan pastiche by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. Continuing the trend set by previous issues, this is an adaptation of one of the fill-in stories that de Camp and Carter produced to bridge the actual REH Conan stories collected in paperback in the 60s. It is not a Conanization but an original story, and... it is not very good. The main reason for this story's existence seems to be a bit of continuity adjustment, as it shows how Conan lost the leadership of the desert-raiding Zuagirs. Conan had gained said leadership in SSoC #5 ( A witch shall be born), and since at the time Marvel didn't have the rights to the de Camp/Carter pastiches, SSoC #9 ( the curse of the cat goddess) had shown how the Cimmerian, under the spell of a magical statue, had led these Zuagirs nigh unto annihilation before being replaced by a new leader who continued the job. Here, in flashback, we learn how Conan first rejoined the few Zuagirs to survive the events from SSoC#9 and how regained the head spot by wrestling their new champion. But then we see how he loses the leadership again, this time by taking his men into a part of the desert reputed to be haunted! (Deadly afraid of the place, the Zuagirs drug their chieftain and abandon him during the night). On foot, running out of water and passing out, Conan is saved by a kindly old man and his comely daughter. The old man explains that he's from a nearby city, where a while ago a sorcerer came calling, posing as a friend. In no time at all, the sorcerer had convinced the town's people to depose the king and had summoned a demoness to rule over them all (and doesn't the wizard look like Dr. Strange's Stygyro?) The sorceror meant to be the power behind the throne, but the demoness destroyed him and started making the place unliveable. Among her abilities is that of turning people into stone by looking at them through a third eye that she has on the forehead; by doing so, she sucks all youth out of her victims and rejuvenates herself. Conan agrees to slay the demoness and that doesn't prove difficult at all, all things considered. Conan then bids farewell to the old man's heartbroken hot daughter (he didn't get her all unstressed the way he did Ilga in issue #34!) and rides off into the sands, pondering that "it does a man good, once in a while, to be virtuous...aye, even a Cimmerian!" I wonder if that concluding line is actually an excuse of sorts for Conan's behaviour in the previous issue! Notes: - Ernie Chan was better known as a Conan inker in those days, although he'd do a lot of complete art in the coming years. - Conan is about 31 in this story. - A Turanian named Boghra is seen in this story; Conan says they met ten years ago, when the Cimmerian served in the Turanian army. I admit I don't recall that fellow; I'd have to go back to the early CtB books to check if Roy had used him. (Maybe he didn't on account of Marvel not having the rights to the pastiches).
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 19, 2014 11:31:10 GMT -5
A gazetteer of the Hyborian world of Conan, part four, compiled by Lee Falconer
The Encyclopedia of the Hyborian world continues, illustrated by sketches from different artists. We go from
ICY NORTH - a region where meteorites were found, presumed to lie beyond the remote northeastern taiga. Return of Conan 2
to
KYROS - a region or city, presumed in western Shem, famous for its wine. Flame knife, Conan the Buccaneer 1.
I swear, had I been the editor of SSoC in the 80s after Roy left, every Conan writer would have had to read the gazetteer.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 19, 2014 11:42:40 GMT -5
The poems of Robert E. Howard as illustrated by various artists. "The"poems is a bit ambitious a title, as Howard wrote enough poetry to fill this big door-stopper of a book. Here we get three poems altogether. I'm hard pressed to identify the artist for this one. It looks Smith-esque, especially in its lushness and in details like the shortness of a few skirts, the helmet worn by a guy and the way the horse is drawn. The minarets are also pretty much like Smith's. However, the sketchy rendering and the way Conan's face is drawn (both un-Smith-like) leave me in doubt. The GCD says it's Buscema, but I don't really see it. Any ideas? The second poem features Bran Mak Morn; it is quite beautifully illustrated by Michael Moyle. A third poem is illustrated by Ernie Chan, and an ad for the book "Scenes from the magic planet" almost counts as a fourth part because of its big illustration by Richard Corben. More ads in the mag feature good art: there's one for a Robin Hood portfolio, and another one for a Cody Starbuck one, both by Howard Chaykin at his best: inked by himself. There's also a twopage ad for posters by Frazetta Smith, Vess and Gould; lovely stuff, if a bit tiny.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2014 18:53:42 GMT -5
The poems of Robert E. Howard as illustrated by various artists. "The"poems is a bit ambitious a title, as Howard wrote enough poetry to fill this big door-stopper of a book. Here we get Three. I'm hard pressed to identify the artist for this one. It looks Smith-esque, especially in its lushness and in details like the shortness of a few skirts, the helmet worn by a guy and the way the horse is drawn. The minarets are also pretty much like Smith's. However, the sketchy rendering and the way Conan's face is drawn (both un-Smith-like) leave me in doubt. The GCD says it's Buscema, but I don't really see it. Any ideas? To my very untrained eye, the Conan figure looks to be a different artist than the rest of the piece, almost like it was taken form another piece and pasted in the spot left for it in the background art. The necklace he is wearing reminds me slightly of the Kane/Adkins Conan wardrobe, but there is nothing Gil Kane at all in that figure work or face, maybe Adkins, but not Kane. But overall the Conan figure looks like it has a different line texture and especially the ink work on Conan's right shoulder looks misplaced ot the background image behind it, the ink line is much too thick there for the rest of the piece. Conan's loincloth seems to be the only thing in the figure work that appears "to be of a piece" with the background piece, as it's ink texture/wash style matches the washed out look of the crowd and cityscape. So I wonder if it is possible that the background was done in a very Smith-esque style by someone and another artist, or the same artist using their own style did the Conan figure and added it via a paste up to the piece? -M
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Post by berkley on Oct 19, 2014 18:59:01 GMT -5
The Kull story is probably the single best piece of work Mike Ploog ever drew and one of my favourite stories of all time. In my idea of a perfect world Ploog would have been a regular artist in a black and white Kull and the Barbarians mag that went on for years instead of just 3 issues. (Vicente Alcazar would have been the other regular artist). May I second that notion? I'm glad someone did! It's fun to imagine what might have been. Come to think of it, Marie and John Severin most likely would have looked good in black and white as well as in colour, going by John's history with Warren, so they could have appeared in KatB too. And of course, BWS and/or Tim Conrad would have done a whole series of Bran Mak Morn back-ups, or maybe there'd be an entire 3rd magazine devoted to Bran ...
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Post by berkley on Oct 19, 2014 19:01:25 GMT -5
I definitely didn't see a copy of SSoC #35 on the stands: don't recognise the cover or any of the interior artwork, and I'm pretty sure I would have bought this one, as I liked Chan's style in the colour CtB series and I think it works quite well in black and white, going by the samples here.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 26, 2014 9:31:40 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #36, December 1978 Cover by Earl Norem Good, strong, epic cover that could be a movie poster! Only one story in this issue, with the fifth instalment of the gazetteer of the Hyborian age. My personal copy has a crease across the front cover: I remember buying it while going by bus to a judo competition as a teen, and the hapless issue was folded and stuck at the bottom of my smelly sports bag! (The same happened, on a different occasion, to my copy of Avengers annual #8).
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 26, 2014 10:00:41 GMT -5
SSoC #36 presents the adaptation of a special story: Hawks over ShemScript by Roy Thomas Art by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala Adapted from the story by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp. The original Howard story was an unpublished crusader tale ("Hawks over Egypt") eventually published in the road of Azrael in 1979. It was Conanized by deCamp in 1955 and published in the magazine Fantastic Universe and in the Gnome Press hardcover Tales of Conan. It would later be a part of the stories in the paperback Conan the freebooter. I call it a special story because even if in and of itself it could be seen as just another tale about revenge and Conan breaking a few heads while failing to gain either political power or money, it is one that was the subject of much attention by writer/editor Roy Thomas. Every comic fan knows that Roy is a historian at heart. He treats comic-book continuity as if it were actual history, helping make it far more believable and interesting (at least to this reader). The coherent universes he builds in his stories make me want to know more about them, and they make me chase back issues because I know they will help me further that knowldege. That wouldn't be true if he just made up stuff as he went along, disregarding all that came before, the way several other writers did with Conan at Marvel over the years (much to my chagrin). In the case of Hawks over Shem, we deal with the Shemite port city of Asgalun, in which a complex political situation is key to the plot. Furthermore, we know that Bêlit, the famous Queen of the Black Coast and Conan's one-time great love, had ancestors who ruled in Asgalun; in fact, in the Marvel Conan continuity, it was established that Bêlit's own father used to be king of the city. Many of these elements were carefully introduced by Roy over the course of years in the Marvel Conan continuity! (This was done in the color mag Conan the barbarian, both before and after the adaptation of Hawks over Shem in SSoC, because the story would probably have been readapted in color sometimes in 1981-1982 when the chronological depiction of Conan's life reached that point in the color book). I beg your indulgence as I refer to the color book frequently in this review of SSoC#36; I feel that Roy's work deserves to be recognized... especially as it was so carelessly disregarded by the people who followed him on the Conan titles. Conan meets the pirate queen Bêlit for the first time in Conan the barbarian #58. It is love at first sight and the Cimmerian joins her as first mate. Bêlit leads a crew of Corsairs from the Silver Isles, far in the south and off the coast of Kush. Their ship is a swift Shemite galley, the Tigress, and in issue 59 we learn its origin (and that of Bêlit). As a child, she was the daughter of Atrahasis (love the authentic Akkadian name!), king of Asgalun, and even at a tender age she accompanied her father on cruises aboard his prize ship, the selfsame Tigress. Bêlit's mentor was the southerner N'yaga, who loved her dearly. Then tragedy struck: Bêlit's uncle, Nim-Karrak, led a palace revolt against Atrahasis with the help of men sent by the king of Stygia. The child saw her father assaulted by the rebels, and only N'yaga's quick thinking managed to get her out of the palace unharmed. Under N'Yaga's command, the Tigress left Asgalun and took the child south, toward the Silver Isles from which N'yaga hailed. There, to gain acceptance for the child, he used his court magics (sleight of hand and colorful fires, mostly) to have her pass as the daughter of Derketa, the pale-skinned goddess of death (thus explaining why the corsairs view Bêlit as a goddess). Growing up, Bêlit gained ascendency over the Silver Islanders by her bravery; she and N'yaga taught the men to man the Tigress, and they became highly successful pirates. But the girl never forgot the treachery of her uncle, nor the complicity of the Stygians; her piratical career included many, many, many Stygian victims.
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