Friday, March 1, 2013

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Barry (Windsor-) Smith Beyond Conan

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Before, during, and after Barry (Windsor-) Smith was setting the comicbook world on fire on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian, he was occasionally turned loose on a non-Conan comicbook cover. Ol' Groove thought it might be cool to look at a few of them, not only to admire how freakin' far-out they are, but to watch a major talent g-r-o-w! Can you dig it?

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6 comments:

  1. Rip JaggerMarch 1, 2013 at 3:18 AM

    Those earliest Barry (Not-Yet-Windsor) Smith covers and comics are a total hoot. I love the unbridled energy and enthusiasm in them. His skills are marginal at best, his storytelling in some cases incoherent, but the comics regardless have a charm, and always have had.

    When he evolved on Conan into the more complete artist we know today, he had to necessarily drop some of that abandon, replacing it with actual skills, but I still adore those early efforts.

    Rip Off

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  2. BooksteveMarch 1, 2013 at 3:22 AM

    I always loved Smith's DD and Fury issues--a wild mix of Steranko and Kirby as he was quickly teaching himself the basics.

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  3. Mike MikulovskyMarch 1, 2013 at 10:42 AM

    I loved BWS on Conan of course & the Avengers #98-#100. Even if all his Avenger's faces did look just like Conan! LOL I remember the letter pgs few issues after #100. Complaining of that, but it was true. Even if that was one of the biggest Avenger's epics ever! It featured every one who had been a Avenger up tothat time. A epic enough feat to draw all those characters!

    Beside's those Conans, Avengers, DD & X-Men. My favorite story he drew was in Tower of Shadows #5. The Monster who Devored Hollywood! With a epic cover by Marie Severin in a very BWS style too! I just missed out on buying that cover & two of those pgs! GGGRRRRR!! His issue of Ironman #50 I believe was epic too. Retelling the origin of Ironman!

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  4. david_bMarch 1, 2013 at 12:30 PM

    I LOVE EARLY SMITH.. He's the 'love child' of Steranko and Kirby, earnestly. I love his wonky early work, most folks write it off as his 'hunt for a style', but I actually prefer it greatly to his Bronze work. I was grabbin' all his issues for a while last year, like his Xmen ish feature Blastaar, his DD work, you name it.

    NO ONE does a brooding Vision in those early Avengers like Smith.

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  5. david_bMarch 1, 2013 at 12:33 PM

    I just wish he'd had done a year with Mar-Vell (not just that cover..).

    It would have been GLORIOUS.

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  6. Gey BlabbyMarch 1, 2013 at 6:45 PM

    Just got to echo what everyone else is saying: I shouldn't like them but I do!

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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