Saturday, August 7, 2010
Grooviest Covers of All Time: John Buscema's Conan, Round 1
As much as we loved bashful Barry (Windsor-) Smith's painfully short tenure as main Conan artist, Big John Buscema quickly became the jelly to Conan's peanut butter. Here are a half-dozen reasons why John Buscema was THE Conan artist of the Groovy Age...
By Crom!
ReplyDeleteJohn Buscema was indeed the Conan artist of the 70's! He had alot to live up to after Barry Windsor Smith's & Gil Kane's both way too short stints on this barbaric series! Thanks to these men & Roy Thomas they made be discover Conan & a fan for life!
Coming Soon! Conan The Retailer & Conan the Librian! If you don't believe me! Look it up on Youtube!Keep on Grovvin Groovy One! CROM!!!
Oh, man...I grew up on Buscema's Conan comics.
ReplyDeleteNone finer!
(Looking both ways) I've always preferred the Buscema Conan over Barry's...
ReplyDeleteYou got it right, Groove! Buscema's Conan had the best covers AND interiors. For my money, those 70's Buscema Conan comics were as good as comics get.
ReplyDeleteI love john Buscema's work and his take on Conan was vital. The big problem was that John had pressing deadlines that didn't allow him to do with Conan what he was fully capable of but not afforded the time to do. So, sadly, Conan became the stereotypical comic character, looking the same, dressing the same, never aging, never changing his taste in clothing, arms, jewelry or even his footwear. There was also no character growth. Conan was essentially static through most of the Marvel comic period except when different writers would toy with his character (often to dismal results).
ReplyDeleteThat said, when John was ON, he was really ON! Too bad those were the handful of exceptions and not the rule. His first 20 issues of the regular series were impressive. I wish all of the Conan by John was like his work on the last GN, Conan the Rogue.
@ original post - HEAR HEAR!!!!
ReplyDeleteCROM! If only John could have drawn MAN-GOD! Also more issues of Nova the Human Rocket! It's sad he really didn't enjoy drawing superheroes. I was shocked to hear him say that. But I understand, it must have been very time consuming for him to draw those titles. Buscema Rocked! Loved his Doc Savage as well!
ReplyDeleteBig John B did some terrific color Conans, particularly in the long Belit saga with Ernie Chan inking-- I'm partial to the two or three he inked himself...his best "Conan" may be found, however, in the SAVAGE SWORD magazines of the same era, with Alfredo Alcala or Tony DeZuniga. He seems to have relished the bigger and somewhat less restrictive format.
ReplyDelete