kav Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 Not to mention all the byzantine baroque elements Smith incorporated-these were essential to creating that world. Buscema was not capable of this facet of the Conan stories. Frazetta would have done a bit better, but couldnt match Smith's inspired efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Aweandlorder said: BWS is just a legend.. when you thought in the 70s that his work was excellent he comes back in the 80s with a whole new style and masterpiece after masterpiece blows your mind away Legend man, legend His later work from the 80s onwards has my favourite art style. It might polarise some because, often to me, the faces in particular could look statue-like as if they were chiseled from marble, but, overall, there was a consistently excellent, classical quality to it. Superb comic artist. Edited June 17, 2019 by Ken Aldred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kav Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 10 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said: His later work from the 80s onwards has my favourite art style. It might polarise some because, often to me, the faces in particular could look statue-like as if they were chiseled from marble, but, overall, there was a consistently excellent, classical quality to it. Superb comic artist. Not a fan of his later stuff. They seem to have lost the fire of his earlier stuff. Many of his females looked quite manly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kav Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 Some of his stuff looks positively Liefeld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony S Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 2 hours ago, kav said: In many of the stories eg tower of the elephant, rogues in the house and god in the bowl, Conan was a youth. Frazetta never depicted this Conan. The Smith version is more realistic. A frazetta or Buscema 40 year old Conan in tower of the elephant would be ludicrous, IMO. Well - I sorta agree but sorta don't. Howard didn't write his stories in any sort of chronological order. The family hired a writer to put them in some order and then write patches to bridge the stories and have it all make sense. Conan's "origin" seems to be he spent time as a slave and escaped. In the movie this period of time of hard work is what lead to his being big and strong. And the Cimmerians were portrayed as pretty brutal, primitive culture. Regardless, Conan was never described as pretty and slender. As a slave we could assume rough treatment and a bit of the whip. But I'd certainly agree a younger Conan probably didn't have the scars that a 40 year old veteran of countless battles would have. I had read Lancer paperbacks before I read the comic. Smith's Conan didn't look like the Conan I expected. The art was great - but it didn't look like the character. I prefer Buscema's take because it comes closer. That's all. ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kav Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Tony S said: Well - I sorta agree but sorta don't. Howard didn't write his stories in any sort of chronological order. The family hired a writer to put them in some order and then write patches to bridge the stories and have it all make sense. Conan's "origin" seems to be he spent time as a slave and escaped. In the movie this period of time of hard work is what lead to his being big and strong. And the Cimmerians were portrayed as pretty brutal, primitive culture. Regardless, Conan was never described as pretty and slender. As a slave we could assume rough treatment and a bit of the whip. But I'd certainly agree a younger Conan probably didn't have the scars that a 40 year old veteran of countless battles would have. I had read Lancer paperbacks before I read the comic. Smith's Conan didn't look like the Conan I expected. The art was great - but it didn't look like the character. I prefer Buscema's take because it comes closer. That's all. Keep in mind the movie screwed the pooch. No Cimmerian would allow themselves to be held slave for 10-20 years. They would die first, probably taking many with them. Conan was taken slave a couple times in the books, once to row on a ship. But he never stayed captive more than a few days. I disagree Smith's Conan was some slender model type. His body was equal to that of any large professional weight lifter: Tony S and ComicConnoisseur 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony S Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Pretty boy adampasz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kav Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 adampasz, Tony S, Ken Aldred and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kav Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 36 minutes ago, Tony S said: I had read Lancer paperbacks before I read the comic. Smith's Conan didn't look like the Conan I expected. The art was great - but it didn't look like the character. I prefer Buscema's take because it comes closer. That's all. What about the backgrounds, clothing, vegetation, jewelry etc do you concede Smith is unparalleled in this aspect of illustrating the Conan stories? Tony S 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony S Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Pure awesomeness above. I might mention that it is Buscema's work on Conan in Savage Sword I most admire. Big John was a house artist for Marvel, because he could do a lot of pages every month. But go look at his work in the first 20-30 issues of Savage Sword. When he wanted to, he could turn out stunning work. Savage Sword also sat outside the confines of the Comics Code Authority censors. So was also closer to the books. ComicConnoisseur, Ken Aldred and kav 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaylam Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 What, no love for Gil Kane's Conan??? Ken Aldred, Tony S and kav 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jaylam Posted June 17, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) Also, I think Barry's work as it progressed in those first Conan books began to take on the attention to detail and finesse that Hal Foster had brought to his Prince Valiant strip back in the 30's. Actually I think Hal Foster's work is overlooked and under appreciated, especially if you consider the level of illustration that he was producing for his comic strip at the time, light years ahead of his contemporaries. Edited June 17, 2019 by Jaylam ComicConnoisseur, kav, Tony S and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 55 minutes ago, Jaylam said: What, no love for Gil Kane's Conan??? Another excellent Conan artist, particularly the combination with Neal Adams inking on Savage Tales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 11 hours ago, kav said: What about the backgrounds, clothing, vegetation, jewelry etc do you concede Smith is unparalleled in this aspect of illustrating the Conan stories? Heavy classical influence using the pre-Raphaelite style, which got even more detailed in his later, post-Conan art prints. kav 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Artboy99 Posted June 17, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted June 17, 2019 I love those early BWS Conans! I have some cool stuff to share: DavidTheDavid, Ken Aldred, ComicConnoisseur and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F For Fake Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 On 6/16/2019 at 12:58 AM, DavidTheDavid said: His young Conan was so lean. And this is probably the biggest reason why I never got into the BWS run. It just doesn't LOOK like Conan, to me. I realize this is heresy and I'll accept whatever punishment the boards see fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artboy99 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 have this page as well Tony S, ComicConnoisseur, ADAMANTIUM and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namisgr Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Jaylam said: What, no love for Gil Kane's Conan??? Face looks female. Edited June 17, 2019 by namisgr BlowUpTheMoon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namisgr Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 On 6/16/2019 at 12:58 AM, DavidTheDavid said: His young Conan was so lean. Well, most of us were when we were much younger. For me, the non-muscle bound version depicts the young Conan best. When he got older and more bulked up, and became a King, he needed to be rendered differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Marwood & I Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, namisgr said: 3 hours ago, Jaylam said: Face looks female. And that's some fart she's just done there. Phew.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
