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March 2008
This is an idea that has dwelled in my mind for over a year now. Often we are consumed, as comic’s fans, by what is coming out now or soon, the immediate. We do focus on the past, through continuity, but we rarely focus back on comics as being complete series or ideas because many are ongoing and still going. However, there are many that have ended their runs or had short runs to begin with and this column is dedicated to looking back, reviewing, and analyzing a series as a whole, from start to finish. Sometimes they are designed to "finish", take any Spider-Man monthly that has stopped, but a run of a series can be evaluated on what its intent and quality were over the course of its life.
The first series I’ve decided to look at is not a traditional comic book series, and to be fair it had a series that led into this run that I will look at in a later column, but I felt that series was just too long to examine first time out. So instead I decided to focus on a shorter series in this column, only 10 issues long, Conan The Savage. A very interesting series that has a sordid and varied history in terms of quality, continuity, and typical feel since this was the follow up to the long running (The) Savage Sword of Conan (The Barbarian). (Most do not say or remember that all of that is the title’s true full name.) In late 1994, Savage Sword (the most common shortened version of the title) was on its death bed, due to the executive decision to try to raise Conan’s salability. This was during the era where each of Marvel's comics belonged to its own family line, and Conan was essentially an orphan, not enough of a star to have his own line, like Spider-Man. At this time Roy Thomas was Conan at Marvel. The (then) current Conan The Adventurer, Conan Classics, and Savage Sword were all Roy Thomas productions. The line was stable and selling to those who loved Conan, and particularly those that loved how Roy did Conan, which was most if not all of the Marvel Comics Conan fans. Conan though was not attracting new readers . . . New titles were born to replace the titles in "slumps", and from this Conan The Savage was born, to replace The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian. (Savage Sword ended July 1995, the same month that Conan The Adventurer ended, and both Conan and Conan The Savage started in August 1995.)
(Basic premise? Conan is the quintessential sword and sorcery character, created years before J.R. Tolkien would introduce Middle Earth, Conan would traipse across a fantasy world similar to our own, with countries derived from ancient history and legend. Conan born in the simple warrior land of Cimmeria would travel the world back and forth, becoming a thief, warrior, gladiator, mercenary, epic lover, epic drinker, and eventually king of the greatest land in the entire world. The character was introduced in a story in the pulp magazine, Weird Tales, already king and short on words, but full of anger and violence. Conan would have an interesting publishing history during the character’s run in Weird Tales, with stories taking place all over his life’s span and following no chronological order under his creator’s suicide. Conan eventually came under several hands and types of media, comics being perhaps his most prolific.)
Whereas Savage Sword had started as a rotating story, continuity, artist, scholarly and fan article magazine (and make no mistake Savage Sword and Conan The Savage were both magazine size, black and white, and a little more adult) which after the departure of Roy Thomas in the early 80’s became a more stable, one or two story Conan in any time frame of his life magazine, till Roy Thomas’s return where the magazine changed again to being a two stories and extensive letters/Conan history magazine, Conan the Savage only kept one of these elements. Two stories, every issue, except the last, with rotating creative teams and concepts set throughout Conan’s lengthy life. This approach yielded some very different yarns and seems to be an attempt to vary the Conan "style" of story. That was the "attempt" . . . it was not always the "product" and the "attempts" were not always good.
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Issue 1 begins with a good fresh perspective. Crisp clean cover image of Conan done down and dirty, yet majestic and awe inspiring, by Simon Bisely, Mr. Heavy Metal himself (next to Kevin Eastmen). Simon Bisely’s art was inspired through a dirty, darker, heavy metal avenue of Frank Frazetta, the definitive Conan artist to most, especially non- comic readers, and his choice as the artist to launch Conan The Savage as its first cover artist was inspired. The cover’s logo, text parts, everything balances well, though more room for the image would be nice. The cover is not entirely misleading either as the first story "Hounds To The Slaughter" with artist Alcatena is in a very Bisely frame of draftsmanship. And with no Bisely artwork inside one would hope something would echo the cover. The Chuck Dixon written story is nothing too special for Conan and falls into the typical
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Punisher/Conan/Wolverine trap that some comic writers end up in: "stupid people start something that they can’t finish and it is up to our main character to get them out, and watch them die horribly because they are stupid." While well done for an introductory Conan story is has been done before and better done by Robert E. Howard in the classic story: "Beyond the Black River". The story also harkens back to the first Arnold Swazeneager film with Conan strapped to the "wheel" as a prisoner, though here it is because he disobeyed orders and broke the jaw of a superior. Chuck Dixon’s Conan is very fitting with the Robert E. Howard (here in REH as is he is more commonly cited) mode with Conan being a mercenary, sullen, and brief in words. The only main continuity gaff would be how the attacking Vanir are depicted as savages, attacking in very visual and warped animal masks, something more commonly done for the Pict race, though again REH did that better also in "Beyond the Black River". What is interesting to note here is the trend that would start with Conan the Savage, apparently due to earlier criticism, is to make Conan and his foes easier to tell apart by putting them in elaborate armor, or wear notable masks. Again a trend that would continue.
The other story in issue 1 is most notable for keeping the continuity of Savage Sword going by having Roy Thomas involved. The man who still holds the record for most Conan stories written, his involvement is a no-brainer . . . but this story "The Circle of Set" is a fairly bland "mistaken identity" story with there being no true villain, just a person mistakenly put in the villain role and Conan finding out . . . just in time. A Conan story that has been done before, often, but is make blander by Tim Conrad’s very bland painting/art style. His characters lack emotion and depth and the details are few and far between. The magazine also ends with a new Savage Mails letter column, with no letters and no Roy’s Ramblings, a column made popular during Savage Sword’s run. There is a slight next issue preview, a reminder about the new second issue of the title "Just" Conan and on the back inside cover an advertisement to make most fans sit up, and laugh, cry, or be amused with the blurb "WOLVERINE’S A WUSS SO SAYS . . . CONAN!!" The picture is by Tim Sale and even the back cover is a Conan contest, making the magazine cover to cover Conan. A nice start, with promises a good future, but lacking solid connection to what has happened before, poor use of the Conan commodity that is Roy Thomas, and tales that fit "somewhere" in his life. A good start, but not great.
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#2 follows up with a better entry which flounders in cover art by Doug Beckman and has nothing to do with the interior story and a blurb that would have worked better as the title of the first story instead of "Jobber". Another Alcatena, Dixon effort, (seeing a trend?) with again situations and races used from the Conan Mythos in ways we haven’t seen used before and Conan being drawn in some of the most unusual attire (with him this time using the animal motif and even a devil motif). Another typical story with Conan working as a gladiator and being attacked for not bending his knee to civilization or any royalty which are Conan themes that we’ve seen before but are hard not to go back to.
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The visuals of this story though are greatly improved and striking with the backgrounds and battlefield being elaborate, detailed, and exotic. Again Conan dressed as a devil, his entire body painted, and killing aboard a vessel built like an angel/swan, is a visual you won’t soon forget. The story also dips back toward the first Conan movie with Conan losing anther warrior woman lover who he then sends up on a funeral pyre at story’s end.
The second story in #2 is a classic Roy Thomas yarn, featuring artwork by his Savage Sword "Conan the Barbarian" partner Mike Doherty that takes place during the Belit arc of the classic Roy Thomas/John Buscema Conan the Barbarian series. This story would seem to fall near the end of that arc, before the tragic end in issue #100, with the Black Corsairs raiding vessels and Belit having renounced her crown in Stygia recently. The story, a to be continued two parter, finds that Conan and company have "rescued" a fair damsel who maybe be able to produce some money for her return, launching them into a mad battle for Conan’s life against an intimidating foe: "Ghoml!" (Direct quote there.) which Conan apparently losses . . . This is a good tale with great character moments, such as Belit’s jealousy over Conan’s rescue of the maiden and great artwork. The only problem with the story is portraying a maiden who has skin "the color of Elephantine Ivory!" in a black and white magazine. Very hard to do. With his issue Conan the Savage begins a climb upward to not only being a successful successor to Savage Sword, but sating the appetites of both hard core fans and newbie’s.
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Issue #3 continues the trend, a mediocre cover, with the first story this time in another very familiar Conan place, at sea leading mercenaries who have stolen treasure and are fleeing. The treasure? A young maiden with "skin like milk and hair of gold". (Seeing a trend here?) Dixon and Alcatena (who no has no first name listed, but is listed on several sites as Enrique) continue all their previous trends. The costumes and armor are elaborate and exaggerated with the enemy soldiers looking like giant fat hobbits, sheathed in skins, armor, and over the shoulder spikes. Conan’s gear is also elaborate and extremely visual. We do get one difference, yet a return to form, with a
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"monster of the issue" coming into play, a common theme in many Conan comic tales. Well done, but predictable, and again an improvement story wise over the past two issues (art wise you just can’t top Conan as a devil gladiator, sorry.)
The second story continues our three part Belit tale with Conan revealed to be very obviously, not dead, and spotting classic corny lines that if "for a dead man to live -- one of the living -- must die!" This is great old school fun that, although campy, still doesn’t kill the flow of the story. What we find with this story is Belit captured, enraged, and freed by Conan to continue their journey south to deliver the maiden wherever some gain can be made. Her cryptic clues lead them to a dark, cold land, with penguins, where they are surrounded and at story’s end surrender to learn more of what is going on. As second chapters go it is a bit weaker, and last issues fight seems mostly just to have been to fill space. Still the artwork continues to impress and a return to classics for Roy Thomas is very welcome.
The end of issue #3 contains a surprise though, with Marvel finally publishing some acknowledgment of Conan the Savage’s predecessor Savage Sword, but promising Conan the Savage will be very different with "the industry’s top creators [invited] to spin the wildest yarns they could imagine for Conan, with the only rule being -- have fun!!" They show us over two pages artwork for Barry Windsor-Smith’s Conan Vs. Rune one shot, not published in Conan the Savage, and showing off artwork from the little known Neil Hansen, more Alcatena with Ian Edgington instead of Chuck Dixon, and Todd Johnson and Larry Stroman, creators of Tribe (which if you remember . . . wow) promising a Hyborean-Age version of the Black Panther. Interesting. Finally, the big news was a yarn by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, the definitive Conan comic team planned for later on (issue #10 to be precise). With this preview high hopes could be had for Conan the Savage . . . but would it last?
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Issue #4 was a good sign that it would. This issue, the final I’ll cover for this installment, was the conclusion of a "trilogy" in the current Conan books, with a Conan Vs. Rune special done by Barry Windsor Smith, Conan The Barbarian’s original artist. The Conan The Savage issue was the end of the Trilogy, and the cover reflected it with King Conan and Rune grappling. Although not the most striking art, the cover is very telling of the story inside, again another Dixon/Alcatena effort, which works on many levels. First, the story concludes the Conan Vs. Rune trilogy, by having King Conan take on a mad elder god and Rune at the same time, in a triangle
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battle scheme that leaves both Rune and Conan victorious . . . and not in the way you’d expect (well that most would expect). Also the gore, the use of a wiser Conan, and the quote: "Tell me . . . your name . . . so I may howl it in the void . . . " To which there is only one response: "Conan. And there will be many there to howl it back to you . . . " This tale represents the best of the Dixon/Alcantena stories and a great Rune (for fans of the underrated Malibu character) story and a great Conan story.
The last tale to cover is the second half of issue #4, the conclusion of Roy Thomas’s Belit tale, with Belit getting revenge on the other part of her holy crusade, the murderer of her mother (she spent many, many issues of Conan the Barbarian trying to get revenge for her father’s death). Other then that it is a classic Roy Thomas tale with the end result being an ending that leads us back into continuity and the eventual end of the Conan/Belit team in Conan The Barbarian 100. What is great here is that despite this tale not being a "greatest ever", the classic feel helps to return something that Conan The Savage has been missing, a bigger tie to Marvel’s Conan legacy. After all, all the tales told so far, even with Rune, could have been a part of the Dark Horse title’s continuity! Until this three parter, it didn’t feel as tied together . . . Of note though is Roy Thomas’ continued theme of working in and adapting other stories in Conan works. This tale featured concepts from "At the Mountains of Madness" by HP Lovecraft and "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" by Edgar Allan Poe.
In looking over these four issues as the start of Conan The Savage one would feel they have a good run going here. The mixed approach of stories and continuity works and feels like a good follow up for Savage Sword, even if the letter column is missing, as well as essays on the life, times and publishing history of our favorite barbarian. These first four issues are awash with great art, good stories, and a solid character. However, the future was not bright for Conan The Savage and his last tale chronological "ever!" was soon to come. Overall a great start to a series.
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Copyright © 2008 Ian Melton
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