Conan Saga #31: "Red Sonja"

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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).
  

Sgt. Rock Special #1: "Another Time, Another Place"

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Created by DC's resident war correspondent, Robert Kanigher, and drawn by Joe Kubert, Sgt. Rock as we know him first went into battle in Our Army at War #81 (April 1959).

The stories were set during World War II and Sgt. Frank Rock was topkick of a platoon called Easy Co., also known as "the Combat Happy Joes of Easy." He and his men did the majority of their fighting in the European Theater of Operations. Kanigher's idea of combat owed as much to movies and John Wayne as it did to research, and Rock's gang had the same colorful mix of men as might've been found in an MGM epic of a decade or so earlier. Among the personnel were Wildman, Bulldozer, Ice Cream Soldier, and Jackie Johnson, a black. Kanigher fudged on Johnson, giving Rock the only integrated platoon in World War II.

The adventures were gritty, grim, sentimental, and full of Technicolor heroics. The sergeant related most of the battle reports himself—"Here's a war story that'll tear at your heart... or my name ain't Sgt. Rock." Kubert did a commendable job of illustrating the Easy tales. Russ Heath also drew the feature. The sergeant's name eventually began appearing on the covers in larger and larger letters. Finally, with issue #302 (March 1977), the magazine was retitled simply Sgt. Rock. It held on longer than any other war comic, surrendering at last in the summer of 1998. The sergeant re-upped for the Sgt. Rock Special that reprinted his earlier combat adventures for a twenty-one issue run from 1988 to 1992.

Script: Bob Haney
Pencils and inks: Neal Adams
Colors: Tatjana Wood

Reprinted:

• from Our Army at War (DC, 1952 series) #240 (January 1972) (Pictured inset).

• in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest (DC, 1980 series) #12 (August 1981).
• in Sgt. Rock Special (DC, 1988 series) #1 (1988).

Vampirella #1: "Goddess from the Sea"

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The Bettie Page of the vampire world, Vampirella was introduced by Warren Publishing in 1969. The Vampirella magazine, like Warren's Creepy and Eerie, was black-and-white, aimed at a somewhat older audience, and sold for fifty cents. A Frank Frazetta color cover introduced Vampi to readers, showing her in her terse crimson costume, posing with one spike-heeled foot resting on a human skull. Sci-fi maven Forrest J. Ackerman, who was editing Famous Monsters for Warren, came up with the name, and in the early issues Vampi was played for laughs. When Tom Sutton became the artist with the eighth issue things got serious. Scripts by Archie Goodwin helped convert Vampirella into a viable vampire. A typical good/bad girl, she sometimes gave in to the urge to sink her teeth into somebody's throat, but she also built a career as a sexy ghostbuster, aided by her mentor Pendragon. Vampi usually appeared in the opening story with the rest of the issue given over to assorted horror tales. The magazine ended in 1983.

Since then the virtuous vampire has been brought back to life several times and is now published by Dynamite Entertainment.



Credits

Cover painting: Frank Frazetta
Script: Don Glut
Pencils: Neal Adams
Inks:Neal Adams

Reprinted:

• in Vampirella Annual (Warren, 1972 series) #1
• in Eerie (Warren, 1966 series) #125
  

Zero Patrol #2: (Esteban Maroto art)

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Download Legionarios Del Espacio #2







Zero Patrol is an adaptation of Esteban Maroto's 30-year old action/adventure series originally published in Spanish under the title "Cinco Por Infinito" ("Five For Infinity"). Neal Adams reworked some of the panels and story elements and re-dialogued the series to come up with a somewhat new story.

The Zero Patrol consists of five people whose lives are altered when they are endowed with extra-normal powers and abilities; they become intergalactic guardians who travel among the stars, saving damsels in distress and planets from destruction. The five characters include an ex-CIA agent, a Reed Richards "brainy" type, a psychic, and a pop star. The Grand Comics Database says the following about this series: reprinted from "Legionarios del Espacio" (alternate title "Cinco por el Infinito"). The original work was by Esteban Maroto with some changes made by Neal Adams.



Credits

Script: Esteban Maroto; (additional touches by Neal Adams)
Pencils: Esteban Maroto; (additional touches by Neal Adams)
Inks: Esteban Maroto; (additional touches by Neal Adams)

Reprinted:

• in Zero Patrol (Continuity, 1987 series) #1.