Savage Sword Of Conan #200 (Marvel B&W)
Roy Thomas (w) John Buscema (a)
After a long illness (see here) I am back to not only comic collecting but blogging about my hobby! What better title to start off with than Savage Sword of Conan's 200th issue!
Savage Sword was Marvel's "sole" success in the "black & white" market, with only the Conan Saga reprint mag having had a longer run than all the rest. Marvel just put out far too many titles back in the seventies which not only didn't last but drove Skywald's mags off the stands and out of business, which was a shame having read some of their output.
Nevertheless Savage Sword was and is a good read and this rather unusual story by "rascally" Roy Thomas was joyous to read. Conan is defending a Turan border fort with a band of mercenaries until he is literally the last man standing. Enter the obligatory "Dark Mage" and monster & the adventure truly begins in the Hyborian Age,
Fast forwarding to the future, Conan's creator, Robert E. Howard appears in a number of "flash forwards" as he travels to Mexico for inspiration. At this stage Conan is not even an embryonic thought in his head though an encounter with a Indian spiv takes him magically into an adventure. Only afterwards does Howard create Conan from a spooky vision in front of him.
Conan of course fights it out with monster and mage. You can guess the outcome.
Finish off with a history of the Marvel black & white version of Conan and a biography of Robert E. Howard himself.
Great mag. Grab a copy if you see it
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