Conan the Barbarian #16

Conan the Barbarian #16

Comic: Conan the Barbarian #16
Language: English
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Year: July 1972
Condition: Fine Plus, FN+, 6.5

Conan the Barbarian #16 brings the comic adaptation of the original story The Frost Giant's Daughter by Robert E. Howard. This story had already appeared a year earlier (May 1971) in black and white in the Marvel magazine Savage Tales #1. Here the story is reprinted in colour. An interesting detail: some panels were minimally censored by the Comics Code Authority (the self-censorship body for comics in the USA). Anyone who has seen the original story (uncensored in Savage Tales #1) can compare it panel by panel. Roy Thomas (script) and Barry Smith (art) are responsible for this comic. The issue is in good used condition.

Conan the Barbarian ran as a comic series at Marvel from 1970 to 1993 and reached a total of 275 issues. It was unusual for Marvel at the time to buy licences to produce comics. Roy Thomas convinced his boss Stan Lee and the publisher's then-owner Martin Goodman to bring out Conan as a comic. As it would soon turn out, Thomas had the right instinct - fantasy was booming in the 1970s, and Marvel's version of Robert E. Howard's barbarian was able to grab a good share of this trend. In the early 1970s, the Briton Barry Smith shaped the style of the comics, but it was John Buscema who would ultimately go down in comic history as the Conan artist. Later spin-offs followed, such as Savage Sword of Conan, the Giant-Size issues and King Conan.

Tags: conan the barbarian, robert e. howard, barry smith, roy thomas, john buscema, marvel comics