blogging by Andrew Wickliffe


Conan the Barbarian (1970) #6


Ctb06

Thomas is really bad about following a story with something very similar but not exactly alike. This issue Conan has to rescue a girl from a tower, a tower where there’s something mysterious going on. Thomas doesn’t come up with anything awesome like a flying elephant from outer space, just a giant bat. Sure, it’s supposed to be a god….

In the little background Thomas gives though, he’s able to make the giant bat god work. It seems like some prehistoric beast, now revered by a cult. It works.

Buscema’s back on the inks and it shows. Windsor-Smith has some fantastic panels here. Still can’t figure out his oddly rectangular eyes though. And the splash page has some weak horns on Conan’s helmet. I thought he was wearing goggles.

The pacing is good–there’s a first act, then a second, finally a one page third. It’s a fine read.


One response to “Conan the Barbarian (1970) #6”

  1. And now it begins…Both Smith and Thomas begin to get a handle on what it is they’re doing, and their stylistic choices work better with experience. While Smith eventually decides to go completely art wank and not be able to do a monthly book, the voyage there is utterly beautiful in it’s transformation from the caterpillar to the butterfly. Later, John Buscema, the guy that CAN do deadlines, takes over and becomes an even better fit on Conan. Go figure. The first eighteen or so issues of Conan are history not only for their development of a genre within our medium, but as an artistic spectacle to demonstrate that all things are possible.

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