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!
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!
