This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the first authorized appearance of Conan in comic book form (not including those Mexican “bootlegs” in the ’50s and ’60s). In late summer of 1970, Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian #1 hit the newsstands and spinner racks and comic books were never the same. Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by a young Barry Windsor-Smith, this four-color version of Bob Howard’s best-known character helped launch a new era in graphic story-telling. Dark Horse, publisher of the current Conan comics has now released a hardcover volume reprinting the first eleven issues of that groundbreaking series, entitled The Barry Windsor-Smith Archives, Conan Volume One. A second volume containing the remainder of the Thomas/Windsor-Smith Conan run will be released later this year.

The original Conan series broke new ground in the comics medium when it was released. By 1970, the Comics Code Authority, which had effectively emasculated comic book storytelling since its establishment after the Congressional juvenile delinquency hearings in the mid-1950s, was beginning to somewhat loosen its censorial stranglehold on the industry. This allowed for more mature storylines with grittier action, a higher threshold of violence, and protagonists with a bit more moral ambiguity than your typical 1960s superhero – all elements necessary for a successful sword and sorcery tale (at least one that I would want to read). As a result of these new freedoms, comic creators in the 1970s (now referred to as the Bronze Age of comics) began to explore new genres and styles that would take the medium to levels of artistic expression both visual and textually that had never before been achieved – and it was Conan that led the way.

As many readers probably know, however, Marvel’s first proposed sword and sorcery hero was not Conan, but Lin Carter’s Thongor. In his introduction to the new Dark Horse volume, Roy Thomas recounts the now well-know story of how he sold Marvel’s then-editor Stan Lee and publisher Martin Goodman on the idea of a sword and sorcery comic series. Goodman agreed, but only approved a fairly meager budget for the project. Thomas assumed that securing the rights to Conan would be too expensive, but that Lin Carter’s character might be doable – and besides, Stan Lee liked the name “Throngor” better than “Conan” anyway (this from the man whose nomenclatural acumen brought us the likes of “Kraggoom,” “Orrgo,” and “Fin Fang Foom”). After, seeing REH literary agent Glenn Lord’s name and contact information in one of the Lancer Conan volumes, however, Thomas decided to contact him. Much to his surprise, Lord agreed to license the Conan property to Marvel for a mere $50 more an issue than they were planning to offer Lin Carter. Thomas quickly agreed (without consulting his bosses, Lee and Goodman). Due to the budget shortfall created by the higher licensing fee, though, Thomas would not be able use his first choice as artist for the series, John Buscema, but would instead have to go with a less expensive choice – enter Barry Windsor-Smith.

Barry Smith (as he was then known) was a young up-and-coming artist who had previously done some work for Marvel on X-Men and the Avengers, when he signed on as the primary penciler for the new Conan series. His style at that time essentially mimicked that of his biggest influence at the time, the already legendary Jack Kirby, and the early issues of Conan the Barbarian reflect this. As the series progressed, however, Windsor-Smith began to develop his own style – less stylized, more detail oriented, more elegent, yet still dynamic and exciting. By the later issues in his Conan run, his line work had become incredibly intricate, almost baroque, to the point where he began to miss deadlines and other artists like Gil Kane had to fill in for him and one issue even contain reprint material. When his work finally came in, it was beautiful – the cover to his last Conan issue (#24) is simply stunning – but the deadline pressures got to be too much, and Windsor-Smith finally left the series (or was fired according to some rumors).

The new generation of comic artists, circa 1975. From left to right: Bernie Wrightson, Jeffrey Jones, Michael Kaluta, and Barry Windsor-Smith.

John Buscema would take over the art with issue 25 and the Conan series, with Roy Thomas at the helm would go on to become one of the most popular comic books of the 1970’s, with sales numbers right there alongside with Spider-man, Hulk, and Batman. In fact it is no stretch to suggest that Conan’s increased visibility within popular culture in the years prior to the Milius film, was due as much, if not more to the comic book series as it was to the Lancer paperbacks with their iconic Frank Frazetta covers.

But for aficionados of Bronze Age art there is something quite special about those early Barry Windsor-Smith issues. One can watch him grow and develop from the Kirby-clone of the early issues into a talented artist with his own signature style, heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite school of the late 19th century. His supposed “firing” from the Conan series became the stuff of urban legend, giving him a sort of “street cred” with fandom. The idea of an artist putting the integrity of his work above the publisher’s desire to quickly crank out a mass-produced commodity was a theme that resonated in the early 1970s. There are stories of Windsor-Smith striding through the convention halls at the early comic-cons like a rock-star surrounded by admirers and fans.

Windsor-Smith’s own evolution as an artist reflected a growing trend within the industry itself. He, along with Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, and several others, represented a new wave in comic art as individual artistic styles began to be celebrated over the ability mimic the “house styles” of the Big Two publishers. Those early Conan issues then are in many ways a microcosm of a larger event – the birth of a new phase in graphic storytelling – and their influence has been felt ever since.

Interior page from the new BWS Archives: Conan Volume One.

The Windsor-Smith Conan run has been reprinted on a number of occasions – in treasury editions, in black & white form in Conan Saga magazine and the Essential Conan trade paperback, and more recently in Dark House’s Chronicles of Conan with new coloring. This latest hardcover archives volume, also by Dark House, is an improvement over the aforementioned Chronicles version, though it is not without controversy. There were a number of complaints about the re-coloring of the artwork for the Chronicles trade paperbacks. The sometimes garish hues overpowered the linework, and the latter was often barely visible (I’m convinced that Windsor-Smith’s Conan art is best viewed in black and white if you really want appreciate the details). Due to fan response, Dark Horse initially announced that the new archives edition would use the original color guide from the comics, but this was soon scrapped in favor of modern-style coloring once again. They did, however, tone down the colors from the Chronicles reprints and made the linework bolder. While it is not perfect, this new version is perhaps a good compromise.

As noted above, Volume One of the Barry Windsor-Smith Archives contains the first eleven issues of Conan the Barbarian. Just as one can watch Windsor-Smith’s artwork grow and develop, you can also see Roy Thomas’ scripts improve as he begins to get a better handle on Howard’s character and themes. It is important to note that Thomas only had access to the deCampinated Lancer volumes as source material. Thus the modern REH purist might find themselves wincing on occasion, for example at the appearance of “Arenjun” the City of Thieves. But, such were the times. For me, it is reminder of how fortunate we are today to have the pure texts. Likewise, Thomas’ pastiche stories are hit-or-miss in these early issues, though “Devil Wings over Shadizar” is the most Howardian (more so than some of the pastiche stories in the current Dark Horse series).

As might be expected, Thomas is on better footing when he actually adapts REH. Four of Howard’s Conan stories are translated to the four-color medium in this volume: “The Tower of the Elephant,” “The God in the Bowl,” “Rogues in the House,” and the Nestor synopsis (aka, “Hall of the Dead”), as well as two non-Conan yarns converted to Conan stories (another unfortunate byproduct of the deCamp/Carter era). Thomas does make some changes – Aztrias becomes a woman (not a huge leap) and Nestor is given a different name, for example – but for the most part his adaptations do a good job of capturing the spirit of Howard’s work.

Also, included in the archives edition are the original covers from the comic books, a welcome addition that was absent from the Chronicles version. The binding is very nice – beige, pseudo-leather with a pictorial front board and it even has a nice sewn-in ribbon bookmark. All in all, this is nice edition to add to the shelf and, along with the forthcoming second volume, will likely become the definitive collection of this landmark run for the foreseeable future.