Savage Tales

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Savage Tales is a black-and-white comics magazine anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1971-1975 (Volume 1) and from 1985-1986 (Volume 2). It marked Marvel's second attempt at entering the comics magazine field dominated by Warren Publishing (Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella), following the two-issue superhero entry The Spectacular Spider-Man in 1968.

Savage Tales #1 (May 1971). Cover art by John Buscema.
Savage Tales #1 (May 1971). Cover art by John Buscema.

The first of its two volumes ran for 11 issues and one annual, from May 1971 to July 1975. The first five issues of Savage Tales featured Robert E. Howard's character Conan the Barbarian and assorted sword-and-sorcery characters, as well as prose stories and articles. The first issue and the last six issues featured Ka-Zar, lord of the Savage Land. This time-lost country, in the Marvel Universe, is located in Antarctica and is home various prehistoric life-forms. Savage Tales Vol. 1, #1 also saw the first appearance of the swamp creature the Man-Thing, who would later get his own title.

Highlights of the first volumes of Savage Tales include painted covers by John Buscema (#1, #2); Neal Adams (#4-6) and Boris Vallejo (#7, #10). It also featured the first publication of stories often reprinted in later years, most notably "The Frost Giant's Daughter" (in #1) and "Red Nails" (in #2-3), both adapted from Robert E. Howard stories by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith.

Volume 2 ran for eight issues from October 1985 to December 1986. It featured adventure and action stories with a militaristic slant. Some stories it ran were reprinted in the color comic The 'Nam.