Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and ''Conan the Destroyer''), ...

by Robert E. Howard was first adapted into

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

in 1952 in Mexico.

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

began publishing Conan comics with the series ''Conan the Barbarian'' in 1970.

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

published Conan from 2003 to 2018, when the rights were reacquired by Marvel Comics. Marvel published Conan comics until 2022, and Titan Comics took over the license from

Heroic Signatures Funcom Oslo AS (, formerly Funcom Productions AS) is a Norwegian video game developer that specializes in online games. It is best known for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) titles '' Conan Exiles'', ''Age of Conan'', ...

to begin publishing its own series.

''La reina de la Costa Negra''

The first comic book adaptation of a Howard Conan story was the feature ''

La reina de la Costa Negra LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...

'' (taken from the original Conan story, "

Queen of the Black Coast "Queen of the Black Coast" is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in ''Weird Tales'' magazine c. May 1934. During the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age, Co ...

") in the miniature-size Mexican anthology title ''Cuentos de Abuelito'' #8 (1952) published by Corporacion Editorial Mexicana, SA. The series features the main characters, Conan and Bêlit, though Conan is depicted as blond rather than black-haired. Issues 8 through 12 adapted the original Howard story, while subsequent issues featured original material. The feature ran in nearly every issue of ''Cuentos de Abuelito'' up through number 61. A digest-sized standalone series, ''La reina de la Costa Negra'', was published by Ediciones Mexicanas Asocidas in 1958–1959 which lasted for at least eleven issues. In 1965–66 Ediciones Joma published a standard-size ''La reina de la Costa Negra'' comic that ran for at least 53 issues.

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics introduced a version of Conan in 1970 with ''

'', written by Roy Thomas with art initially by

Barry Windsor-Smith Barry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith, 25 May 1949) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States. He attained note working on Marvel Comics' ''Conan the Barbarian'' from 1970 to 197 ...

, then

John Buscema John Buscema (; ; born Giovanni Natale Buscema, December 11, 1927 – January 10, 2002)Social Se ...

and Ernie Chan (aka Ernie Chua). The successful ''Conan the Barbarian'' series spawned the more adult, black-and-white ''

Savage Sword of Conan ''The Savage Sword of Conan'' was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of American company Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. ''Savage Sword of Conan'' starre ...

'' in 1974, by Thomas, Buscema, and

Alfredo Alcala Alfredo P. Alcala (August 23, 1925 – April 4, 2000) was a Filipino comics artist, born in Talisay, Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Alcala was an established illustrator whose works appeared in the ''Alcala Komix Magazine''. His 1963 cr ...

. ''Savage Sword of Conan'' soon became one of the most popular comic series in the 1970s. The Marvel Conan stories were also adapted as a newspaper comic strip which appeared daily and Sunday from September 4, 1978, to April 12, 1981. Originally written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema, the strip was continued by several different Marvel artists and writers. Other Marvel Conan titles over the years include ''

Savage Tales ''Savage Tales'' is the title of three American comics series. Two were black-and-white comics-magazine anthologies published by Marvel Comics, and the other a color comic book anthology published by Dynamite Entertainment. Publication history Ma ...

'' (1971–1975, issues 1–5 only), ''Giant-Size Conan'' (1974–1975), ''King Conan/Conan the King'' (1980–1989), ''Conan the Adventurer'' (1994–1995), ''Conan'' (1995–1996), and ''Conan the Savage'' (1995–1996). After the 2019 return of Conan to Marvel titles included ''Conan: Serpent War'' (2019–2020 miniseries), ''Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown'' (2020 miniseries), alongside the reappearance of ''Conan the Barbarian'' (2019-present) and ''Savage Sword of Conan'' (2019), which both received new #1s but retained the original "Legacy Numbering" continuing where their original Marvel series left off. Conan later appeared in the pages of '' Savage Avengers''. ''King Conan'' caused controversy when it included a character named Matoaka, the real name of

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

, and with a sexualized design and a backstory similar to that of the actual Native American woman. There was backlash at what was perceived a disrespectful portrayal, so Marvel announced that name would be changed in later issues, reprints and digital editions. Writer Jason Aaron issued an apology, and pointed that "This new character is a supernatural, thousand-year-old princess of a cursed island within a world of pastiche and dark fantasy and was never intended to be based on anyone from history".

Marvel Epic Collections

Awards

Academy of Comic Book Arts Shazam Awards: 1970 *Best New Talent: Barry Smith 1971 *Best Continuing Feature: Conan the Barbarian *Best Writer (Dramatic): Roy Thomas 1973 *Best Individual Story (Dramatic): "Song of Red Sonja" from ''Conan the Barbarian'' #24 by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith 1974 *Best Continuing Feature: Conan the Barbarian *Best Penciller (Dramatic): John Buscema *Superior Achievement by an Individual: Roy Thomas

Dark Horse Comics

began their take on Conan in 2003, which ended in 2018 when the rights were repurchased by Marvel. The first comic series published was written by

Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the ''Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled '' Astro City'', a four-year run on '' The Avengers, Thunderbolts'' and '' Superman.'' Early life ...

and Tim Truman and pencilled by

Cary Nord Cary Nord is a Canadian comics artist. He has worked on series such as ''Daredevil'', ''X-Men'', and ''Conan The Barbarian''. Throughout his career Nord has worked on books including ''Superman'' for DC Comics; ''Wolverine'', '' Mutant X'', ''Ghos ...

and

Tomas Giorello Tomas may refer to: People * Tomás (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Gaelic given name * Tomas (given name), a Swedish, Dutch, and Lithuanian given name * Tomáš, a Czech and Slovak given name * Tomas (surname), a French and Croatian su ...

. This was followed by '' Conan the Cimmerian'', written by Tim Truman and pencilled by Tomas Giorello,

Richard Corben Richard Corben (October 1, 1940December 2, 2020) was an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in '' Heavy Metal'' magazine, especially the ''Den'' series which was featured in the magazine's first film ada ...

and José Villarrubia. This series was a fresh interpretation, based solely on the works of Robert E. Howard and on the Dale Rippke

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of even ...

, with no connection to the large Marvel run. Dark Horse Comics also published digitally re-coloured compilations of the 1970s Marvel Comics ''Conan the Barbarian'' series in graphic-novel format, by Roy Thomas (writer), Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Ernie Chan (artists), and others.

Creative teams

*Kurt Busiek (writer) and Cary Nord (artist) (2003–2006) *Tim Truman (writer) and Cary Nord (artist) (2007) *Tim Truman (writer) and Tomas Giorello (artist) (2008) *Tim Truman (writer) and Tomas Giorello (artist), Richard Corben (artist 2008), José Villarrubia (colorist) (2008–2018)

Awards

*2004 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards :Best Single Issue or One-Shot: ''Conan #0: The Legend'' *2004 Eagle Awards :Favourite new comicbook: ''Conan''

Glénat

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the character is under

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...

, and on the Franco-Belgian market, the publisher Glénat has, since 2018, published a series of

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...

with the character, "Conan le Cimmérien", written and drawn by local talent."Conan le Cimmérien"
listing on Bedetheque.

Weird Book

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, the collective Leviathan Labs publishes a version by the publisher Weird Book.

DQómics

In 2021, the Spanish publisher DQómics ''Conan de Cimmeria'', written by Ángel G. Nieto with drawings by Julio Rod and colors by Esteban Navarro.

Titles

Conan series

Annuals

* Newspaper Strip (September 4, 1978 – April 12, 1981), ?? strips.

Miniseries

‡ ''Conan and the Demons of Khitai'' #3 featured a spoof nude advert for ''Conan'' #24–after complaints a second printing was issued replacing the spoof nude advert with the actual (non-nude) advert for ''Conan'' #24, with retailers offering the option to swap copies. (See Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled and erroneous comics.)

One-Shots

Graphic novels

Other series

Miscellaneous

Reprints

* ''Robert E Howard's Conan: The Frost-Giant's Daughter''

Adaptations

Miscellaneous or parody appearances

* '' National Lampoon'' (May 1972) * '' Mad'' magazine #235, December 1982, Conehead the by Dick De Bartolo and Don Martin. * ''Mad'' magazine #340, October 1995 Superhero High School (with Archie's Jughead) * ''

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! ''Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!'' is a DC Comics series about a team of talking animal superheroes called the Zoo Crew. The characters first appeared in a 16-page special insert in '' The New Teen Titans'' #16 (February 1982), follow ...

'' (DC, 1982), issue 7. Written by Roy Thomas: Bow-Zar the Barkbarian. * ''

What The--?! ''What The--?!'' is a Marvel Comics comic book series self-parodying the Marvel Universe, similar in vein to the 1960s series '' Not Brand Echh''. It was billed as "The Marvel mag of mirth and mayhem!" The series ran for 26 issues, from August 19 ...

'' #12 versus Groo (Goo) among others such as Hot Stuff and Yogi the Bear and Frosty the Snowman. * ''

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

'' in a dream sequence titled ''Conan the Librarian'' (1989). *

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat ...

'' (novels) by Terry Pratchett, featuring a parody character called "Cohen the Barbarian" * '' The Flesh'', a modified Conan the Barbarian action figure

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

Conan official websiteDark Horse Comics Conan Zone
{{Conan Characters created by Roy Thomas Characters created by Barry Windsor-Smith Comics characters introduced in 1970