THE ILLUSTROUS CONAN ARTISTS

The Comics
Conan the Barbarian #76 from MARVEL comics featuring the artwork of the late John Buscema and Ernie Chan(Chua) in the tale titled ‘Swordless in Stygia’ by Roy Thomas left a burning impression of the Cimmerian in my mind that can never be erased. This is further cemented by the Black & White classic renditions in the Savage Sword of Conan magazines and leaves no room for doubt that Buscema and Chan are the best Conan illustrators ever. This, I have found is the opinion of most Conan readers (of the comics) as well as the professionals. Every one of the comics featuring the Art of Buscema is a treasured must for every collector. For me, Conan the Barbarian #27 is of much more worth than CTB#1 featuring BWS’ talents. Sorry, Barry!

The look and feel of the thief, reaver and future king come rippling to life in the pages like no other comic ever can. Buscema’s pencils embellished by Alfredo Alcala, Pablos Marcos and Joe Sinnott come in close. Ernie Chan’s solo runs on the Savage Swords also leave an impression but without Buscema’s layouts, his art lacks the edge somewhat yet is of impressive quality. Ernie Chan’s inks over Walt Simonsen’s pencils for the THOR comic impresses no less.

At DarkHorse, Cary Nord’s stuff is awe inspiring, but he somewhat lacks the savage grandeur of his predecessors. Half of the credit for the exhilarating look on the series goes to the digital painter, Dave Stewart.

The Paintings
Apart from the comics, the works of Frazetta, Vallejo, Jusko and Ross on Conan stand miles above any other. Joe Jusko and Alex Ross’s renditions of the Cimmerian betray strong influences from Buscema; especially the intense look in Conan’s eyes that only Buscema’s art brings out.

CONAN AND I (cont'd)

Why does 'Conan the Barbarian' appeal to me so much?As a reader of fiction, I have come across many types of characters over the many genres of stories and tales. Each character holds his/her own in their respective worlds and spheres of existence, but none dominates with such savage ferocity and indomitable conviction as the Cimmerian King of Aquilona.

I read a lot. The works of Asimov, Howard, Sagan, Michener, Crichton, Clarke, Gemmell, etc. make up the bulk of my collected Library but first and foremost, I collect comic books. And read them all, of course.
Dominating my collection is ‘Conan’ from Marvel and Dark Horse.
Conan appeals to me because of the magnitude of aggression and confidence that emanates from the characterization at all times in the story. He has no super-powers, he is just a normal human being who makes the most of his surroundings and tries to get on with life every day. Along the way he’s happy to have some wine, women and gold. Who doesn't anyway?

Conan’s not a hero, neither does he aspire to be one. He’s just out there to have a life and then there are things that happen that make him a hero. Conan will steal, he will plunder, break a few heads, even kill (naturally, he’s a barbarian), but Conan will never deprive an honest man, commit rape or leave anyone in danger if he’s able. That’s what makes a hero, not someone who decides to wear tights and say, ‘Gee, now let’s go patrol the city for some bad guys to pummel.”

I love super-hero comics too. Superman’s the best. But humans doing extra ordinary things in fantasy fiction appeal to me more. Characters such as Tarzan, the Phantom, the Batman (Robin, Night Wing, Batgirl, Catwoman, Azrael), the Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Jonah Hex, Sheena, Shanna, Red Sonya/Sonja, Kazar, Green Arrow, etc. who need to rely on their frail human talents and reflexes, their wit and abilities to over come great odds and obstacles make greater heroes than 'powers in tights'.

The early nineties saw a decline in the regular Conan comics published from Marvel and reprints were hard to find. The one shots and mini-series that Marvel published through the nineties were not that up to the Hyborian mark and recorded a significant down time in Conan’s history in illustrated publication. It was a frustrating time to be a collector worldwide, as I found out from various online communities dedicated to Conan.

In 2003, Dark Horse Comics brought about a new dawn to the adventures of the Cimmerian by publishing a fresh line of Conan comics featuring the remarkable talents of Kurt Busiek, Cary Nord and Dave Johnson. At the time my drive as a comic collector needed this shot in the arm, as the decline in printed Conan also put a slump in my quest for collecting. Unfortunately none of the Dark Horse Conans made it to India and it wasn't until two years later, (two years of torturing myself by visiting online forums where everyone from the Manhattan Island to Sao Paolo to Manila to Perth and even Reijavik went on about how cool and mind blowing the new Conan was) that I managed to place an online order and get them all. Someday, when my bank account recovers, I’ll re-order the whole lot again as well as the Collected Trade Paper Backs.

Conan the Barbarian, from the works of Howard, Thomas and even Busiek reflects the indomitable spirit of human nature, the iron will to survive no matter the odds, to defeat evil in any of its forms and stand triumphant and tall, get drunk and go bed the girl. Tomorrow will be another adventure.

Now who wouldn't relate to that, who wouldn't find that appealing? Not I.

CONAN AND I

Conan the Barbarian of Cimmeria is my favourite character from fictional literature. Created by the American writer of adventure and fantasy pulps, Robert Ervin Howard in the 1920s and 30s, the adventures of this mightily thewed sell-sword has been well documented in novels, short stories, comic books, graphic novels and cinema.

Back in 1984, (I was well into comic book reading by then) I got my first look at Conan the Barbarian, at the local second hand bookstore. Number 76 (Swordless in Stygia by Thomas, Buscema and Chan) and Number 78 (Curse of the Undead Man by Thomas, Buscema and Marcos). What got my attention was that it was different. Different from what I had been reading till then; mostly super-heroes and vigilante heroes. This Marvel book featured a bare-chested, dark maned swordsman hell bent on slaughter - nothing like I had ever seen before. Well, I did have some Tarzan comics and novels, but then Tarzan was nowhere this savage.

Conan the Barbarian immediately captured my imagination and my mind in that order. I grabbed both issues at four rupees a piece, pretty pricey (remember, this was 1984) for a 12 year old with a limited allowance. I demanded the dealer show me all the comics he had on Conan, but the old fool, bless his soul, had only these two and in multiple copies. Too bad I didn’t have enough money to buy doubles. I do have the money now, but alas, the books are no longer available.
Once I had my fill of reading the two issues many times over, I set off on mission to find out and acquire all there was on this sword and sandal adventurer.

Soon after finding Conan comics here and there, even at 2 bucks a piece from a friendly book vendor outside my own school, I began to build a decent collection. I got the stuff by Thomas, Buscema, Chan, Kane, Adams and Jones all from the old book stores. Back in those days there were no Landmarks, Waldens and Crosswords. But we had the reliable Wheelers that had a good supply of comics, mostly DCs that were available at decent rates.

News of a Conan movie being out was really exciting. But of course in 1986 (when in released in a local theatre), I had to miss out on account of being under-age thanks to the movie’s R rating. The posters displayed a huge, muscular actor portraying Conan.
‘WOW!’ I went, ‘That IS Conan!’I didn’t really know at that time that the movie was a gross misrepresentation of the Conan Saga to suit the commercial market and what a rather ‘dumbed down’ Conan Arnold S. presented. I did get to see the movie five years later along with its sequel, realizing then that the last five years I had spent lamenting on missing out on the movie the first time was in vain.

By this time I had a sizeable collection of ‘Conan the Barbarians’ from Marvel. Most of them ranging from poor to good condition; well worn and read from cover to cover, a few also had pages missing from the middle. Getting them in mint or near was close to an impossibility.
Everything else was available here in good to fine condition. The likes of Superman, Batman, JLA, LSH, Hawkman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Brave and Bold and Flash from DC; Spider-man, Hulk, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Defenders, Master of Kung-Fu, Power Man and Iron Fist from Marvel; also some of the good old horror, cartoon and SF comics from Gold Key, Harvey and Dell made the stores.
So why not the Conans?

Wasn’t there a market for them here? I decided to find out and did a little survey of my own in 1992. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that people here related only to the Conan movie and knew nothing about the comic. (At this time I was still vague about the Conan novels and didn’t really have much regard for REH. Conan meant the writings of Roy Thomas and the art of John Buscema, Ernie Chan and Alfredo Alcala to me.)
Everyone seemed to be going, “Ah! Arnold was awesome!”
All that was cool and all, and I have great respect for the Austrian Oak as a bodybuilder (since I was seriously lifting heavy metal at the local gym at the time) but I don’t feel he has what it takes to be an actor. I’d rather see Sean Connery as King Conan if they made Phoenix on the Sword as a movie in the 90s. (Connery was a Mr. America runner up to Steve Reeves in the 40s, so he’s no string-bean).

So I concluded that no one else in this country knew Marvel’s Conan as much as I and focused my comic-o-scope outside India. Many a pen-friend over the Globe I had around that time, and this one guy from Portugal sent me an old Savage Sword. I literally got blown away by the tabloid sized BW giant and the contents within. The story was ‘Black Colossus’ by Thomas and the mind-blowing art was by Buscema and Alcala; and it was so different from the mainstream (in colour) Conan the Barbarian comic from Marvel.

The somber, BW atmosphere brought forth the Cimmerian darkness in a way that I had never seen before. The Savage Sword of Conan magazine from Marvel gave a shot in the arm to my already over the top drive to collect all things Conan and that’s when I got serious to go for the source. The source of all things Hyborian – ROBERT ERVIN HOWARD.

I scoured the old bookshops for anything by this writer and found... nothing. Bummed and bewildered, but not beaten, I connected with knowledgeable Conan and REH experts and fans around the world. Armed with information on the good books (almost all suggested that I go for the Howard originals and not stuff by DeCamp and Carter), I went about touring the country’s major metros until I found what I was looking for. And let me assure all and sundry, the stories I found was worth the expedition and pilgrimage times ten.

It has now been twenty three years since I first became aware of Conan of Cimmeria. The journey was long and frustrating but the destination is a reward that spans the entire globe. I’d do it all over again.

Today, of course, one can order online and get home delivery. I have in my collection most of the Conan comic books, many in double and many reprints. All worth the fabled Atlantean Sword!

Comic Book Collecting: An Expensive Hobby Cont'd.

The scene is so different today for us comic book collectors in India.
Gone are the days when imported comic books were hard to readily find and arrived in occasional crude bulks as ‘remaindered’ copies to India from the USA via the UK or the Phillipines, but those books were real cheap, some as cheap as two bucks a piece (in the mid 1980s) and in good to fine condition.
Then as the demand for them grew, the asking price of the comics (mostly DCs, a few Marvels) went up from 2 to 4 to 5 and then 7 apiece. By 1992 such issues were priced between 12 to 15 rupees, depending on your retailer/dealer. Finally settling down to a flat Rs.18 a piece from 1996 onwards.
Around that time bulk copies of Image and Malibu, Topps and Valiant and Defiant made it to the old bookstores in Kolkata. I picked up around 400 issues (mostly Image) for a cool six grand (15 bucks apiece) in one go in the summer of 1997.

And then… about mid 1998 Gotham comics had to run in and dilute the import market pricing their reprints at 20 bucks apiece. Can’t say the quality matched those of Malibu and Image and DCs, but they did sell well. Superman and Batman and Tarzan. Woo!

Those old imported pulps are still available the way I remember, in most moldy old bookstores… but the scene is so different now. Giant bookstores like Landmark, Crossword, Walden and Blossoms are selling those very books at converted cover price (a ripoff). Imagine a 32 page Superman going at 299 rupees in India. Hah! I’ve heard a parent or two chiding his/her child that a small, thin Spider-man comic book (Gotham) is too expensive at Rs 10. The Graphic Novels, however, are fairly priced. 180-200 pages of cool artwork and killer stories priced between 700 – 1000 bucks. Not bad.

I picked up graphic novels/bound comic book sets like OMAC, GRIFFIN, TEMPUS FUGIT, STREET FIGHTER, STARWARS JEDI TALES at 90 to 140 bucks apiece back in the mid 1990s. Cheap!

I may be speaking for myself here, but the searching, browsing, hunting and finally acquiring those thin pulp papered books back in the 1980s and 1990s was such an exciting and cherished endeavour, and I miss it. Now you get them all in pocket book size, the colours are poor, paper stock is bad and print tiny.
No offense to the Gotham Comics people, but comic books should be of A4/One4 size. Even better if they are magazine size, like the British LEM Superman/Batman series from 1988. Got some of them for 15 bucks a piece back in 1993.

I’m getting kinda lost here composing this, but you get the picture. Those were the days.

Comic Book Collecting: An Expensive Hobby!

In India people like me are rare... or so I thought when I first started reading comic books back in the late 1970s and then on through the 1980s and 1990s. Hardly did I come across anyone else who shared my passion for reading and collecting comic books in my city.

I have been collecting comic books from 1982; starting with the local Indrajal comics and Amar Chitra Kathas. Marvel and DC were the two big publishers then and some of their releases made it to India that too in poor condition and were rather expensive. Rs 5 each was expensive back then in the 1980s, especially to a school-going kid. Now of course it is different.

There is a whole nation load of Indian comic book readers and quite a few serious collectors. Comic Books are also much easier to acquire today but no less expensive though. That is if you want to collect an entire series or some of those awesome Graphic Novels you see at the LandMark and Crossword Stores across India.

Bangalore based GOTHAM Comics did start of well, bringing a lot of hope and joy to the average comic book reader in India, both in content and pricing, but alas they fizzled out and died rather tamely. And it was definitely a major letdown by Gotham Comics to have left a lot of titles with story lines hanging and shut shop like that. However the number of specials they released was commendable.

Presently I’m back to square one, ie, acquiring comic books the way I used to – by browsing around the old bookshops in the city. You can also order them on the Internet… but you see, paying close to Rs 250000 for the entire Conan Collection to be shipped here from the US is pretty darn expensive!

DarkHorse's Conan started off well with Busiek, Nord and Stewart... but it's gone a bit downhill since.

300 and Kingdom Come in their original US print are a must buy for any serious collector. The Star Wars Clone Wars entire set is available at the big bookstores now for less than 5000 rupiah; and it is worth every paisa.

Gotham Comics at Bangalore has started reprinting the thin monthlies again and I sure hope they reprint the specials too. There are a lot of loose ends they left hanging… but then that’s a common situation for a comic book collector in India to suffer.

Hoping to make some profit out of any kind of books collection in India is a pipe dream, but then sometimes it pays off. Funnily I have sold off most of my Archie series collection at a profit. As well as some of the old Tintins and Asterixes and also the OmPapas and Lucky Lukes. But as far as the real good stuff is concerned, as in Marvel, Image, DarkHorse and DC, etc. you’d be lucky to get back half the price you paid.