Savage Sword of Conan

Savage Sword of Conan
The cover to The Savage Sword of Conan #1 (Aug. 1974). Art by Boris Vallejo.
Publication information
Publisher	Curtis Magazines Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre
Publication date	August 1974 – July 1995
Number of issues	235
Main character(s)	Conan
Creative team
Writer(s)	Roy Thomas, many others
Editor(s)	Roy Thomas, others
Collected editions
Volume 1	ISBN 1593078382
Volume 2	ISBN 1593078943
Volume 3	ISBN 1593079605
Volume 4	ISBN 159582149X
Volume 5	ISBN 1595821759
Volume 6	ISBN 1595823751
Volume 7	ISBN 978-1595825100
Volume 8	ISBN 978-1595825827
Volume 9	ISBN 978-1595826480
Volume 10	ISBN 978-1595827999
Volume 11	ISBN 978-1595829030
Volume 12	ISBN 978-1595829405
Volume 13	ISBN 978-1616550608
Volume 14	ISBN 978-1616551483

The Savage Sword of Conan was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of American company Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. Savage Sword of Conan starred Robert E. Howard's most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, and has the distinction of being the longest-surviving title of the short-lived Curtis imprint.

As a "magazine", Savage Sword of Conan did not have to conform to the Comics Code Authority, making it a publication of choice for many illustrators. It soon became one of the most popular comic series of the 1970s and is now considered a cult classic. Roy Thomas was the editor and primary writer for the series' first few years (until issue 60), which featured art by illustrators such as Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Pablo Marcos, and Walter Simonson. Painted covers were provided by such artists as Earl Norem, Bob Larkin, and Joe Jusko.

Savage Sword of Conan was published under the Curtis imprint until issue 60, when it became part of the Marvel Magazine Group. Stories from the comic were reprinted in the Marvel UK title of the same name.^[1] Savage Sword of Conan ran until issue #235 (July 1995).

Publication history

The adventures in Savage Sword of Conan are not always consecutive (as they are in the color Marvel title Conan the Barbarian), and they cover different eras of Conan's life. The Savage Sword stories mostly feature an older Conan, and adapt R. E. Howard stories and pastiches starting from "Black Colossus" (according to the Miller/Clark chronology), thus following the Roy Thomas stories in Conan the Barbarian.

The first issue leads off with Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith's adaptation of one of Howard's shortest but most well-known Conan tales, "The Frost Giant's Daughter". This is one of Conan’s earliest tales chronologically. Still a teenager, he encounters a beautiful woman in the frozen north who leads him into an ambush by her giant brothers. Issue #2 featured another Howard adaptation, "Black Colossus", in which Conan faces off against a three-thousand-year-old sorcerer. This story teams long time Conan penciler John Buscema with his frequent partner Alcala. The cover of issue #5 sports a Boris Vallejo painting of Conan being crucified, from the story "A Witch Shall Be Born." This story features Conan at his most resilient, surviving a desert crucifixion to get revenge on the man who put him there.

Issues #6-10 included "People of the Dark", a 30-page tale scripted by Thomas and drawn by Alex Niño; the continued adaptation of Howard’s only full-length Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon (the first parts having been printed in Giant-Size Conan #1-4); and the adaptation of "Iron Shadows in the Moon", by Buscema and Alcala, where Conan goes from chief of the Zuagirs to pirate captain of the Red Brotherhood.

The next three years of the title featured numerous adaptations of Howard stories (many by the art team of Buscema and Alcala), including "Shadows in Zamboula", "The Devil in Iron", "The People of the Black Circle", "The Slithering Shadow", "The Pool of the Black One", "The Tower of the Elephant", "Jewels of Gwahlur", "Beyond the Black River", "The Scarlet Citadel", "The Flame Knife", "Hawks Over Shem", "The Treasure of Tranicos", and "Wolves Beyond the Border".

A later issue (#204) adapts Howard's "Drums of Tombalku".

Collected editions

Main article: Conan (Dark Horse Comics) § The Savage Sword of Conan

In 2007, Dark Horse Comics began issuing a series of trade paperbacks, collecting and reprinting early issues of the title, as well as stories which originally appeared in Savage Tales.^[2]

Issues

Abbreviations: C = Conan, RS = Red Sonja, K = King Kull, TXT = Important article, RE = Later reprinted (Co = Conan the Barbarian, CoA = Conan the Barbarian Annual)

Issue	Abbr	Title	Writer	Artist	Cover	Re	Notes
#1 1974	C RS	"Curse of the Undead-Man"	Roy Thomas	John Buscema, Pablo Marcos	Boris Vallejo		^[3]
	RS	"Red Sonja"	Roy Thomas	Esteban Maroto, Neal Adams, Ernie Chan			^[3]
	TXT	Conan's Women Warriors	Fred Blosser
		"Blackmark", #1	Gil Kane	Gil Kane
	C	"The Frost Giant's Daughter" Re: Conan the Barbarian #16	Roy Thomas	Barry Smith			^[4]^[5]
#2	C	"Black Colossus" 3 parts	Roy Thomas	John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala	Neal Adams		^[6]
		"Blackmark", #2	Gil Kane	Gil Kane
	KK	"The Beast from the Abyss"	Roy Thomas	Barry Smith		CoA #3	^[7]
#3	KK	"At the Mountain of the Moon-God" #2: "Where Dark Death Soars"	Roy Thomas	John Buscema, Pablo Marcos	Mike Kaluta	CoA #3
		"Blackmark", #3	Gil Kane	Gil Kane
	KK	"Kull of Atlantis"	Barry Smith	Barry Smith			^[8]
	C	"Demons of the Summit"	Roy Thomas	Tony deZuniga		Co #87	^[9]

Awards

The comic won the "Comic" British Fantasy Award in 1975 and 1976.^[10]

Notes

↑ Savage Sword of Conan (Marvel UK) at the Comic Book DB
↑ Savage Sword of Conan (Dark Horse Comics) at the Comic Book DB
1 2 Freely adapted from the story "Mistress of Death" by Robert E. Howard.
↑ Adapted from the story "The Frost Giant's Daughter" by Robert E. Howard.
↑ Here uncensored version. Page 1 slightly trunken from the bottom.
↑ Adapted from the story "Black Colossus" by Robert E. Howard.
↑ Adapted from the story "Black Abyss" by Robert E. Howard & Lin Carter.
↑ Quotations from the story "Exile of Atlantis" by Robert E. Howard.
↑ Adapted from the story "Demons at the Summit" by Björn Nyberg.
↑ Edwards, Jan; (with additions from) David Sutton. "The British Fantasy Awards: a Short History". Retrieved 14 October 2009. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)

References

'The Savage Sword of Conan' at the Grand Comics Database
The Savage Sword of Conan at the Comic Book DB

Conan the Barbarian

Stories, books

Books	Conan (books)

Original works by Robert E. Howard	"Beyond the Black River" "Black Colossus" "The Black Stranger" "Cimmeria" "The Devil in Iron" "Drums of Tombalku" "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" "The God in the Bowl" "The Hall of the Dead" "The Hand of Nergal" The Hour of the Dragon "Jewels of Gwahlur" "The People of the Black Circle" "The Phoenix on the Sword" "The Pool of the Black One" "Queen of the Black Coast" "Red Nails" "Rogues in the House" "The Scarlet Citadel" "Shadows in the Moonlight" "Shadows in Zamboula" "The Slithering Shadow" "The Snout in the Dark" "The Tower of the Elephant" "The Vale of Lost Women" "A Witch Shall be Born" "Wolves Beyond the Border"

Non-Howard works (some based on non- Conan Howard works)	"Black Sphinx of Nebthu" "Black Tears" "The Blood-Stained God" "The Castle of Terror" "The City of Skulls" Conan and the Amazon Conan and the Death Lord of Thanza Conan and the Emerald Lotus Conan and the Gods of the Mountain Conan and the Grim Grey God Conan and the Manhunters Conan and the Mists of Doom Conan and the Shaman's Curse Conan and the Sorcerer Conan and the Spider God Conan and the Treasure of Python Conan at the Demon's Gate Conan, Lord of the Black River Conan of the Isles Conan of the Red Brotherhood Conan of Venarium Conan, Scourge of the Bloody Coast Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Barbarian (2011) Conan the Bold Conan the Buccaneer Conan the Champion Conan the Defender Conan the Defiant Conan the Destroyer Conan the Fearless Conan the Formidable Conan the Free Lance Conan the Gladiator Conan the Great Conan the Guardian Conan the Hero Conan the Hunter Conan the Indomitable Conan the Invincible Conan the Liberator Conan the Magnificent Conan the Marauder Conan the Mercenary Conan the Outcast Conan the Raider Conan the Rebel Conan the Relentless Conan the Renegade Conan the Rogue Conan the Savage Conan the Triumphant Conan the Unconquered Conan the Valiant Conan the Valorous Conan the Victorious Conan the Warlord "The Curse of the Monolith" "Death-Song of Conan the Cimmerian" "The Flame Knife" "The Gem in the Tower" "Hawks over Shem" "The Ivory Goddess" "The Lair of the Ice Worm" "Legions of the Dead" "Moon of Blood" "The People of the Summit" "Red Moon of Zembabwei" The Return of Conan The Road of Kings "The Road of the Eagles" "Shadows in the Dark" "Shadows in the Skull" "The Star of Khorala" The Sword of Skelos "The Thing in the Crypt" "The Witch of the Mists"

Collections	Black Colossus The Bloody Crown of Conan The Coming of Conan The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian The Complete Chronicles of Conan Conan The Conan Chronicles (Howard et al) The Conan Chronicles (Jordan) The Conan Chronicles, 1 The Conan Chronicles 2 The Conan Chronicles, 2 The Conan Chronicles II Conan of Aquilonia Conan of Cimmeria Conan the Adventurer Conan the Avenger Conan the Barbarian (1954) Conan the Barbarian (2011) Conan the Freebooter Conan the Swordsman Conan the Usurper Conan the Wanderer Conan the Warrior The Conquering Sword of Conan The Devil in Iron The Essential Conan The Further Chronicles of Conan Jewels of Gwahlur King Conan The People of the Black Circle The Pool of the Black One Queen of the Black Coast Red Nails Rogues in the House Sagas of Conan The Sword of Conan Tales of Conan The Tower of the Elephant The Treasure of Tranicos

Scholarship	The Blade of Conan The Conan Grimoire The Conan Reader The Conan Swordbook The Spell of Conan

Authors

Creator	Robert E. Howard

Later authors	Poul Anderson Leonard Carpenter Lin Carter L. Sprague de Camp Roland J. Green John C. Hocking Robert Jordan Sean A. Moore Björn Nyberg Andrew J. Offutt Steve Perry John Maddox Roberts Michael A. Stackpole Roy Thomas Harry Turtledove Karl Edward Wagner

Other media

Television	Conan the Adventurer (animated series) Conan and the Young Warriors Conan the Adventurer (TV series)

Film	Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Destroyer (1984) Conan the Barbarian (2011)

Comics	Conan (comics) Conan (Marvel Comics) Conan (Dark Horse Comics) Savage Sword of Conan

Games	Age of Conan (Rise of the Godslayer) Conan (2004) Conan (2007) Conan: Hall of Volta Conan: The Mysteries of Time Conan Against Darkness! Conan Collectible Card Game Conan Role-Playing Game Conan: The Roleplaying Game Conan the Buccaneer Conan the Mercenary Conan Triumphant Conan Unchained!

Setting

Characters	Bêlit Conan the Barbarian Kulan Gath Queen Taramis Red Sonja Serpent Men Thoth-Amon Thulsa Doom Valeria Vammatar Xaltotun Zenobia

Deities	Crom Mitra Set

World	Hyborian Age Aquilonia Cimmeria Acheron Empire

Chronology	The Hyborian Age Conan Chronologies

Kull	Thurian Age

Red Sonja	"The Shadow of the Vulture"

References	Cohen the Barbarian Conan the Librarian

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