Picking up the pieces
Picking up the pieces |
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Page 31 of 38  Covers to just a few of the Viz copyists. They tried to step into the distribution network that Viz had spent years building up. but most found that it helped to be funny. Left to right: UT (Sport Newspapers, 1991), art: Anon; Electric Soup (Electric Soup/John Brown, 1991), art: Frank Quitely; Talking Turkey (Galaxy. 1991). art: Hunt Emerson: Gutted (Humour Publications. 1992). art: Anon; Zit (Humour Publications. 1991), art: Anon. Conan the Barbarian, the comic, hit the stands in 1970, written by a longtime Howard fan, Roy Thomas, and drawn by a young Englishman, Barry Windsor-Smith. The title was a gamble in some ways because it did not fit into the established 'Marvel universe'. On the other hand, Conan looked like a superhero, and it was not difficult to market the title to the same audience. To all intents and purposes, he was one more superhero to add to the roster. Plus, Thomas and Windsor-Smith made a fine team: the stories kept to the spirit of the original tales, and the artwork was a mix of Kirbyesque dynamism and almost Art Nouveau decoration. The one restriction was the amount of violence that could be shown in a Code-approved comic. So, to get around this, Marvel launched a black-and-white magazine starring Conan, entitled Savage Tales, in 1971, to be followed by The Savage Sword of Conan in 1974 -Marvel's most successful magazine title. Now the blood could flow freely, as Conan battled an ever-more brutal array of enemies, including 'death wizards', elephant gods and giant spiders. These more adult magazines also allowed for a certain level of naked female flesh to be shown - another attraction for their mainly teen readership. They are credited with providing the inspiration for the series of Conan movies, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which appeared in the 1980s. |