Conan Saga #31: "Red Sonja"

Download Conan Saga #31







A line on a piece of paper. Anyone can do it, but only a select few can conjure whole worlds with a few strokes of a pen. Alex Toth, certainly. Joe Kubert, for sure. The list of true illustrative geniuses however is a short one, and only those born with a silver pen in their hand are destined to rise above the rest. For over four decades now, there has been one who can be called an illustrator's illustrator. The gentleman's name is Esteban Maroto.

Born in Madrid, Spain in 1942, Esteban's career began in earnest as he apprenticed in the early 1960s under Manuel López Blanco. There, the "Adventures of the F.B.I." served as a springboard, enabling the young Maroto to create his own studio, and get involved in the burgeoning British comic market. Within a few short years, Esteban was both writing and illustrating stories that took full advantage of his outstanding abilities. Like the similar revolution that was taking place at Marvel Comics in the late sixties, the artist was becoming a bigger star than the character he was illustrating, and Maroto was on the fast track to stardom.

This story picks up where Conan Saga #8 left off in the previous post, which can be read by clicking here. With Esteban Maroto on pencils and Neal Adams on inks, it doesn't get any better than this!



Credits

Cover painting: Earl Norem
Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Esteban Maroto
Inks: Neal Adams & Ernie Chan (as Ernie Chua)

Reprinted:

• from Savage Sword of Conan, The (Marvel, 1974 series) #1 (August 1974).

• in Marvel Feature (Marvel 1975 series) #1 (November 1975).
• in Savage Sword of Conan (Marvel, 1974 series) #83 (December 1982).
• in Adventures of Red Sonja, The (Dynamite Entertainment, 2005 series) #1.
• in Conan Saga (Marvel, 1987 series) #31 (November 1989).
  

Conan Saga #8: "The Song of Red Sonja"

Download Conan Saga #8







Conan the Barbarian hit the newsstands in the fall of 1970. Scripts were by Roy Thomas, and the art was by transplanted British artist Barry Windsor-Smith. Although he initially worked in a variation of the Marvel house style, Smith soon developed his own approach. His work became more personal, more intricate, and demonstrated distinct pre-Raphaelite touches.

Thomas's adaptations drew much praise at the time. Smith, too, attracted attention and was soon winning awards from both his peers and his fans. He left the character in 1973 and was followed by several other artists, among them John Buscema, Ernie Chan, and Gil Kane. The shaggy hero continued for decades. The original Conan the Barbarian title ended with the 275th issue (July 1995). The black-and-white Conan Saga ended with the 97th issue (April 1995). These were followed through the late nineties by a series of Conan miniseries. While Conan seems to go on leave from time to time, there is little doubt of his eventual return.


Credits

Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Barry Windsor-Smith
Inks: Barry Windsor-Smith

Reprinted:

• from Conan the Barbarian (Marvel, 1970 series) #24 (March 1973)

• In Marvel Treasury Edition (Marvel, 1974 series) #15
• in Savage Sword of Conan (Marvel, 1974 series) #82
• in Conan Saga (Marvel, 1987 series) #8
• in Essential Conan (Marvel, 2000 series) #1

Red Sonja story continues in Conan Saga #31.

Epic Illustrated #34: "Death of a Legend" (Tribute to Robert E. Howard)

In 1936 Robert E. Howard, depressed over the imminent death of his mother, killed himself. He was just 30 years old. His stories of Conan, epics of adolescent fantasies and fears, were forgotten for nearly two decades. Then gradually they began coming back into print, first as hardcovers and then, with striking covers by Frank Frazetta, as paperbacks.

Conan found his widest and most enthusiastic audience in the 1970s, thanks to Roy Thomas and Marvel Comics. Thomas began as a fan and by 1970 he was an editor and writer at Marvel, concentrating on superheroes. Although he is often given sole credit for deciding to adapt Howard's barbarian to the comic-book format, artist Gil Kane maintained that he was the one who originally got Thomas and Marvel interested in experimenting with the character. At any rate, Conan the Barbarian hit the newsstands in the fall of 1970.

Credits:

Cover: Arthur Suydam
Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils and inks: Sandy Plunkett

Book of the Dead #1: "The Origin of the Man-Thing"

The inspiration for Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, and other walking compost piles, the Heap emerged from the muck in the third issue of Air Fighters Comics (December 1942) as the antagonist in a yarn about an aviator known as Sky Wolf. After a couple more skirmishes with Sky Wolf, who wore a white wolf's head as a hat while in the air, the Heap was eventually promoted to a feature of his own. That occurred in the thirty-second issue (October 1946). By then the magazine was calling itself Airboy Comics. The Heap remained until the final issue in 1952. Sky Wolf, on the other hand, had been grounded in 1947.

Harry Stein was the scriptwriter who first invented the Heap, Mort Leav was the artist who first brought him to life visually. It seems that during World War I a German flying ace named Baron Emmelman had crashed in a lonely swamp and been seriously injured. Instead of dying, his body merged with the vegetation, and he eventually became "a fantastic HEAP that is neither animal nor man." An ambiguous fellow, when the Heap finally left the swamp he tended to be anti-Nazi. And by the time he starred in a feature of his own he'd mellowed a great deal. He wandered from place to place, becoming involved in the lives of assorted people and usually helping them out of their problems and predicaments before shambling on. A sort of vegetarian Fugitive.

Script: Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway

Pencils, inks and letters: Gray Morrow

Reprinted:

• from Savage Tales (Marvel, 1971 series) #1 (May 1971). (Pictured below).
  
• in Monsters Unleashed (Marvel, 1973 series) #3 (November 1973).
• in Book of the Dead (Marvel, 1993 series) #1 (December 1993).
• in Essential Man-Thing (Marvel, 2006 series) #1.