Conan the Barbarian is a character with a rich history. He was first created by Robert E. Howard. He was one of the most prolific and tragic of the pulp authors of the ’30s, a man who ended his own life in 1936, four years after writing the first Conan story for Weird Tales, one of the premiere pulp anthologies of the day. Howard wrote 21 Conan stories in the four years before his death, creating his Hyperborean Age, a time in human history when magic ruled the Earth, and brutal men and women strove for powers against gods and monsters. After Howard’s death, the character would continue to be published and ended up inspiring legions of writers and artists to create their own barbarian characters. It led to one of the best swords and sorcery movies ever in 1982’s Conan the Barbarian.
However, 12 years before, Marvel Comics readers got their first look at the Cimmerian bad boy in 1970’s Conan the Barbarian #1. This comic is the first of the amazing Conan run of one of Marvel’s greatest writers, Roy Thomas. Thomas is a nerd’s nerd; he was a kid reading Golden Age comics, making fanzines in the ’60s, and got a job at Marvel as Stan Lee’s assistant. Thomas loved anything fantasy or sci-fi or superhero, so he was obviously a fan of Conan. Joining him was Barry Windsor-Smith, a young Canadian artist who would go on to make one of the best Wolverine stories ever with “Weapon X”. The two of them kicked off a run that made Conan more popular than ever.
By the time Conan the Barbarian #1 rolled around, Howard had been dead for 38 years. 1967 saw the rights to the character go to L. Sprague de Camp, who reprinted all of the old books in collected editions and started producing new stories. Going to Marvel was the perfect for a character whose stories used to come out in the monthly pulp magazines of the day. While the page count and format were different, this was the kind of storytelling that made the character popular and it was a smart move to bring the barbarian to the four-color page.
Putting on Thomas for the book was a stroke of genius as well. By 1970, Thomas had become one of the House of Ideas most important creators. If you like the Avengers, it’s because of him; he took over the book from Stan Lee and made it sing, creating the most iconic roster of the team – Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, Giant-Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Wonder Man, and the Vision – and in 1971, would give them the epic “Kree-Skrull War”. He wrote the X-Men for years, although he did that when the book was failing, so maybe we shouldn’t talk about that one. Readers knew that they could trust him and he shined so bright on Conan it wasn’t funny.
While I’m more partial to John Buscema’s work on Conan with Thomas (if I’m being honest, I’m just generally partial to all Buscema’s work – and his brother Sal’s too), Barry Windsor-Smith was an amazing choice for the book as well. He was still in the early stages of his career – the man who would draw “Lifedeath” and “Weapon X” was still working to get to that level – but he had something right from the start. At the time, his style was closer to the Marvel house style of the day than what it would be in the future and he was able to bring Thomas’s scripts to life beautifully during their time together.
Conan’s time at Marvel is one of the most important times of his entire existence. In 1970, Marvel was the undisputed champion of the comic industry. It was the best place to put the character, because it would ensure that he would have the most eyes on his stories. Thomas worked hard to get the license and it ended up costing so much that he had to go with Windsor-Smith because Buscema’s rate was too high, but it paid off. The two of them made magic with this first issue and the book would go on to reach issue #275, finally folding in 1993. Fans loved the book so much that it even got a black and white Conan magazine, The Savage Sword of Conan. All of this success led directly to the 1982 movie, which made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star and the character a household name in the ’80s (I’m an ’80s baby and everyone loved Conan back then).
Conan the Barbarian is one of the greatest series in Marvel history. Between Thomas and Windsor-Smith’s first 24 issues together, Thomas and Buscema’s legendary work on the book, and the legion of writers who also worked on the book – names like J.M. Dematteis, Doug Moench, Jim Owsley, and Chuck Dixon – it was a comic that gave readers everything they could want, month in, month out – Conan slicing through everything in his way, monstrous villains, and beautiful women. It was the perfect evolution of the character’s pulpy roots and it helped lead him to greater success than anyone knew was possible.
Conan the Barbarian #1 came as the ’60s were ending, when Marvel was still at their zenith of their powers. It’s a perfect example of the energy that made the House of Ideas’ books so electric; Thomas’s style had the kind of zing that a book like this needed, engrossing readers with his prose. Meanwhile, Windsor-Smith was doing work at a level he hadn’t before, nailing every page. Sure, his Conan looks a little skinny compared to the barbarian’s future, but his page layouts, figure work, character acting, and action penciling shows just how good he’d get in the years to come. This comic is a legit piece of comic history.
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