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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 22, 2014 9:19:26 GMT -5
Last issue had started an article about the Gnome Press editions of the adventures of Conan; it concludes here, with reproductions of the covers to Tales of Conan, King Conan and The return of Conan, the latter with art by none other than Wally Wood!  (Not Wood's most inspired piece, maybe, but there's no abundance of Wally Wood Conan images so we'll welcome all that we can)! Returning to comics, the following story is titled "Spell of the dragon" and features Jakes' Brak the barbarian. He's something of a standard barbarian hero, with a long blond braid to emphasize that he's not really a Conan imitation! Script by John Jakes himself, artwork by Val Mayerik, Joe Sinnott and Dan Adkins. The issue finishes with its future star in residence, Ka-Zar, lord of the hidden jungle! The legend of the lizard men is written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Buscema. (The grey wash is a bit unfortunate, as I think John's inking doesn't need any. But the art still looks pretty good.  Savage Tales would last for a few more issues, but Savage sword of Conan would see more than 200 issues! Marvel's tentative first steps into the B&W magazine field would have proven to be a pretty good idea. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 7, 2014 22:36:24 GMT -5
It is well known that Conan comes from the land of Cimmeria, cold, bleak and quite gloomy. He left to explore the world and was quite successful in his choice of careers, but at the start of our tale he's grown a bit weary of the artificial pleasures of the south; he's grown homesick and thinks of the girl he left behind when he first journeyed away from home. This allows Kane and Adams to give us a glimpse of the life of Conan as a youth. I'm finally working my way through my Savage Tales and Savage Sword of Conan mags and am immensely enjoying reading your reviews as a supplement to the experience! I have to say, though, that this particular story bothered me. While I LOVE the artwork, and can stomach yet another story in which Conan pursues a damsel in distress that we are somehow supposed to believe matters more to him than all the countless others (Belit aside), this depiction of Conan's native tribe simply didn't jibe with what I'd been imagining all this time. I envisioned a much hardier, primal lifestyle, set on the narrow ledges of steep cliffs, in nomadic tents as opposed to solid housing. Am I mistaken in having envisioned the Cimmerians as living in this fashion? |
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Post by benday-dot on Sept 7, 2014 23:13:51 GMT -5
I believe the Cimmerians are said to live in a dark and sombre hilly forest country, as opposed to cliff dwelling. I've always pictured it as a bleak, northern land, in which its inhabitants would live in whatever clearings were available, or so carved for settlement in small tribal villages. They were not nomadic in the sense of desert dwellers, but more isolationist with allegiance owed to familial clans. Think classic northern European barbarism.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 8, 2014 4:56:21 GMT -5
I believe the Cimmerians are said to live in a dark and sombre hilly forest country, as opposed to cliff dwelling. I've always pictured it as a bleak, northern land, in which its inhabitants would live in whatever clearings were available, or so carved for settlement in small tribal villages. They were not nomadic in the sense of desert dwellers, but more isolationist with allegiance owed to familial clans. Think classic northern European barbarism. That makes a lot of sense. Somehow, though, the way it was depicted in Savage Tales #3 just seemed too...comfortable. Not the kind of place where an uncivilized barbarian would be raised. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 8, 2014 5:54:06 GMT -5
I believe the Cimmerians are said to live in a dark and sombre hilly forest country, as opposed to cliff dwelling. I've always pictured it as a bleak, northern land, in which its inhabitants would live in whatever clearings were available, or so carved for settlement in small tribal villages. They were not nomadic in the sense of desert dwellers, but more isolationist with allegiance owed to familial clans. Think classic northern European barbarism. Quite so! I didn't mind the way Cimmeria is pictured in this tale because they look pretty much like Gauls in Asterix, and since Howard described Cimmerians as proto-Celts I thought it sort of fit. Perhaps the villagers could shown more grit; I'd expect Cimmerians to have gone after the raiders instead of just staying there nursing their wounds; but then, we don't see many warriors around. Maybe they were busy elsewhere when the Vanir attacked. |
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Post by shaxper on Sept 8, 2014 15:53:31 GMT -5
[ Perhaps the villagers could shown more grit; Yes, the helpless parents pleading for Conan to find their daughter, and while the daughter was tough, Adams and Kane made her features so soft, as well as her face so passive. I'd think a Cimmerian woman would have a little more hair and muscle on her, and would take out a few soldiers before stabbing herself as well. Of course, Conan is unique among his kind. Otherwise, there'd be Cimmerians running kingdoms all over Conan's world. But still, these don't feel like the people who draw strength from a god who could care less about their existence and leaves them to fend for themselves. I don't see these people as effortlessly scaling the sides of cliffs, nor holding off massive invasions with their own grit. I suspect it was just story convenience. It fell on a lot of old tropes that apply better to other fantasy villages in need of a hero than they do to Cimmeria. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 8, 2014 16:46:08 GMT -5
[ Perhaps the villagers could shown more grit; Of course, Conan is unique among his kind. Otherwise, there'd be Cimmerians running kingdoms all over Conan's world. But still, these don't feel like the people who draw strength from a god who could care less about their existence and leaves them to fend for themselves. I don't see these people as effortlessly scaling the sides of cliffs, nor holding off massive invasions with their own grit. I suspect it was just story convenience. It fell on a lot of old tropes that apply better to other fantasy villages in need of a hero than they do to Cimmeria. The Cimmerians seen in Alan Zelenetz's CtB 145 or the ones from the later part of Roy's second run were a lot hardier than the ones seen in ST #4, that's for sure. (The ones from Kurt Busiek's run at dArk Horse were also pretty tough, in a believable sort of way). To this tales's defense, we should say that Roy had to adapt a story originally set in Ireland and not Cimmeria, and that the girl being abducted was crucial to the plot. Tough as they were, I don't know if the Gaels were as badass as the Cimmerians. |
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Post by shaxper on Sept 8, 2014 19:32:29 GMT -5
To this tales's defense, we should say that Roy had to adapt a story originally set in Ireland and not Cimmeria, and that the girl being abducted was crucial to the plot. tough as they were, I don't know if the Gaels were as badass as the Cimmerians. I'd forgotten about that. Yep. That would explain it. Still, I'm surprised Roy Thomas was that careless in his adaptation. The regular Conan title had hit its stride by this point, so I've no doubt Thomas was generally watching his continuity and assuming this property was going to stick around for a while. |
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Post by rom on Sept 12, 2016 9:15:08 GMT -5
Great thread - I just discovered this.
These scans from the Savage Tales b&w mag. are amazing. Have these mag's ever been reprinted anywhere? I know DH has reprinted the SSOC mags., but am not sure above Savage Tales. Thanks in advance for any info. on this! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2016 13:47:49 GMT -5
Great thread - I just discovered this.
These scans from the Savage Tales b&w mag. are amazing. Have these mag's ever been reprinted anywhere? I know DH has reprinted the SSOC mags., but am not sure above Savage Tales. Thanks in advance for any info. on this! The Conan stories (not the other material) from Savage Tales are reprinted in the first phonebook collection of Savage Sword from Dark Horse. The Femizons story from Savage Tales #1 (reprinted in #3 too I think) was collected in the Fireside book The Superhero Women. Other than that, not sure on reprints. -M |
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Post by rom on Sept 12, 2016 15:31:44 GMT -5
Great thread - I just discovered this.
These scans from the Savage Tales b&w mag. are amazing. Have these mag's ever been reprinted anywhere? I know DH has reprinted the SSOC mags., but am not sure above Savage Tales. Thanks in advance for any info. on this! The Conan stories (not the other material) from Savage Tales are reprinted in the first phonebook collection of Savage Sword from Dark Horse. The Femizons story from Savage Tales #1 (reprinted in #3 too I think) was collected in the Fireside book The Superhero Women. Other than that, not sure on reprints. -M
Great to know - Thanks for the response. As it turns out, I have that first SSOC Trade from DH, but it's been years since I read this - so, I had forgotten about these ST reprints. What throws me off somewhat re: the DH phone-book trades is that the covers aren't printed in color, so they don't stand out to me that much.
In any case, it would be nice if Savage Tales were reprinted in it's entirety, not just the Conan stories. Those b&w Marvel mags. from the '70's were incredible - and in many cases, superior to many of the color comics that were coming out at the same time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2016 15:35:25 GMT -5
The Conan stories (not the other material) from Savage Tales are reprinted in the first phonebook collection of Savage Sword from Dark Horse. The Femizons story from Savage Tales #1 (reprinted in #3 too I think) was collected in the Fireside book The Superhero Women. Other than that, not sure on reprints. -M
Great to know - Thanks for the response. As it turns out, I have that first SSOC Trade from DH, but it's been years since I read this - so, I had forgotten about these ST reprints. What throws me off somewhat re: the DH phone-book trades is that the covers aren't printed in color, so they don't stand out to me that much.
In any case, it would be nice if Savage Tales were reprinted in it's entirety, not just the Conan stories. Those b&w Marvel mags. from the '70's were incredible - and in many cases, superior to many of the color comics that were coming out at the same time.
Problem is the rights-Marvel owns the non-Conan stuff, but not the Conan stuff. The rights for the Conan stuff are currently licensed by Dark Horse, but the parent company that owns the Conan material has a ton of issues in its management and direction, so getting and kind of deal for the whole shebang between them and Disney/Marvel is unlikely. -M |
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Post by rom on Sept 12, 2016 21:43:22 GMT -5
Oh yeah, those terrible licensing problems are always an issue when it comes to many reprints.
I remember when DH first started reprinting the classic Conan the Barbarian comics back in the 200X's (in a series of Trades). Many of the earlier issues that co-starred Red Sonja couldn't be reprinted because, at the time, RS was owned by Dynamite (who was doing reprints and an original series) - despite the fact that RS was part of the Conan universe.
Licensing issues are what's still holding up reprints of Micronauts, ROM, and other older series that really deserve to be reprinted.
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Post by tingramretro on Sept 13, 2016 2:38:16 GMT -5
Oh yeah, those terrible licensing problems are always an issue when it comes to many reprints. I remember when DH first started reprinting the classic Conan the Barbarian comics back in the 200X's (in a series of Trades). Many of the earlier issues that co-starred Red Sonja couldn't be reprinted because, at the time, RS was owned by Dynamite (who was doing reprints and an original series) - despite the fact that RS was part of the Conan universe. Licensing issues are what's still holding up reprints of Micronauts, ROM, and other older series that really deserve to be reprinted. Actually, while Red Sonja is published by Dynamite, and has been for eleven years now, they've never owned her. She is owned by a company called Red Sonja LLC, formerly the Red Sonja Corporation. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 13, 2016 4:41:23 GMT -5
Great thread - I just discovered this.
These scans from the Savage Tales b&w mag. are amazing. Have these mag's ever been reprinted anywhere? I know DH has reprinted the SSOC mags., but am not sure above Savage Tales. Thanks in advance for any info. on this! The Conan stories (not the other material) from Savage Tales are reprinted in the first phonebook collection of Savage Sword from Dark Horse. The Femizons story from Savage Tales #1 (reprinted in #3 too I think) was collected in the Fireside book The Superhero Women. Other than that, not sure on reprints. -M The Gray Morrow-drawn origin of Man-Thing from Savage Tales #1 was reprinted in Essential Man-Thing #1. |
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