Conan (comics)

Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard was first adapted into comics in 1952 in Mexico. Marvel Comics began publishing Conan comics with the series Conan the Barbarian in 1970. Since 2003, Conan has been published by Dark Horse Comics.

La reina de la Costa Negra

The first comic book adaptation of a Howard Conan story was the feature La reina de la Costa Negra (taken from the original Conan story, "Queen of the Black Coast") in the miniature-size Mexican anthology title Cuentos de Abuelito #8 (1952) published by Corporacion Editorial Mexicana, SA.^[1] The series features the main characters, Conan and Bêlit, though Conan is depicted as blond rather than black-haired.^[2] Issues 8 through 12 adapted the original Howard story, while subsequent issues featured original material. The feature ran in nearly every issue of Cuentos de Abuelito up through number 61.^[3] " A digest-sized standalone La reina de la Costa Negra series was published by Ediciones Mexicanas Asocidas in 1958-1959 which lasted for at least eleven issues. In 1965-66 Ediciones Joma published a standard-size La reina de la Costa Negra comic that ran for at least 53 issues.^[1]

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics introduced a fairly faithful version of Conan in 1970 with Conan the Barbarian, written by Roy Thomas with art initially by Barry Windsor-Smith, then John Buscema and Ernie Chan (aka Ernie Chua). The highly successful Conan the Barbarian series spawned the more adult, black-and-white Savage Sword of Conan in 1974, by Thomas, Buscema, and Alfredo Alcala. Savage Sword of Conan soon became one of the most popular comic series in the 1970s and is now considered a cult classic.

The Marvel Conan stories were also adapted as a newspaper comic strip which appeared daily and Sunday from September 4, 1978, to April 12, 1981. Originally written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema, the strip was continued by several different Marvel artists and writers.

Other Marvel Conan titles over the years include Savage Tales (1971 – 1975, issues 1-5 only), Giant-Size Conan (1974–1975), King Conan/Conan the King (1980–1989), Conan the Adventurer (1994 – 1995), Conan (1995 – 1996), and Conan the Savage (1995 – 1996).

Dark Horse Comics

An interior panel of Conan comic adaptation by Dark Horse Comics featuring the art of Cary Nord and Thomas Yeates.

Dark Horse Comics began their take on Conan in 2003.

The first comic series published was written by Kurt Busiek and Tim Truman and pencilled by Cary Nord and Tomas Giorello. This was followed by Conan the Cimmerian, written by Tim Truman and pencilled by Tomas Giorello, Richard Corben and José Villarrubia. This series is a fresh interpretation, based solely on the works of Robert E. Howard and on the Dale Rippke chronology, with no connection to the large Marvel run.

Dark Horse Comics is also publishing digitally re-coloured compilations of the 1970s Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian series in graphic-novel format, by Roy Thomas (writer), Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Ernie Chan (artists) and others.

Creative teams

• Kurt Busiek (writer) and Cary Nord (artist) (2003-2006)
• Tim Truman (writer) and Cary Nord (artist) (2007)
• Tim Truman (writer) and Tomas Giorello (artist) (2008)
• Tim Truman (writer) and Tomas Giorello (artist), Richard Corben (artist 2008), José Villarrubia (colorist) (2008-)

Awards

• 2004 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards

Best Single Issue or One-Shot: Conan #0: The Legend

• 2004 Eagle Awards

Favourite new comicbook: Conan

Titles

Conan Series

Annuals

• Newspaper Strip (September 4, 1978 – April 12, 1981), ?? strips.

Mini-series

‡ Conan and the Demons of Khitai #3 featured a spoof nude advert for Conan #24 - after complaints a second printing was issued replacing the spoof nude advert with the actual (non-nude) advert for Conan #24, with retailers offering the option to swap copies. (see Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled and erroneous comics)

Other Series

Graphic Novels

Misc. Conan Stories, Titles, and One Shots

Reprints

• Robert E Howard's Conan: The Frost Giant's Daughter

Adaptations

Miscellaneous or parody appearances

• National Lampoon (May 1972)
• Mad Magazine #235, December 1982, Conehead the Barbituate [sic] by Dick De Bartolo and Don Martin.
• Mad Magazine #340, October 1995 Superhero High School (with Archie's Jughead)
• Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! (DC, 1982), issue 7. Written by Roy Thomas: Bow-Zar the Barkbarian.
• What The--?! # 12 versus Groo (Goo) among others such as Hot Stuff and Yogi the Bear and Frosty the Snowman.
• UHF in a dream sequence titled Conan the Librarian (1989).
• Discworld Series (novels) by Terry Pratchett, "Cohen the Barbarian"
• The Flesh , a modified Conan the Barbarian action figure

Footnotes

Sources

• Lord, Glenn (1976), The Last Celt, Berkley Windhover Books, ISBN 978-0-425-03630-3 
• Shanks, Jeffrey (Spring 2013), "La reina de la Costa Negra: The Mystery of the Mexican Conan Comics", Comic Book Quarterly (11): 3–6, retrieved 2013-05-22 

External links

• Conan official website
• Dark Horse Comics Conan Zone