Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906June 11, 1936) was an American writer. He wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subge ...

was first adapted into comics in 1952 in Mexico.

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

began publishing Conan comics with the series ''Conan the Barbarian'' in 1970.

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

published Conan from 2003 to 2018, when the rights were reacquired by Marvel Comics. Marvel published Conan comics until 2022, and Titan Comics took over the license from Heroic Signatures to begin publishing its own series.

''La reina de la Costa Negra''

The first comic book adaptation of a Howard Conan story was the feature ''

La reina de la Costa Negra LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'' (taken from the original Conan story, " Queen of the Black Coast") in the miniature-size Mexican anthology title ''Cuentos de Abuelito'' #8 (1952) published by Corporacion Editorial Mexicana, SA. The series features the main characters, Conan and Bêlit, though Conan is depicted as blond rather than black-haired. Issues 8 through 12 adapted the original Howard story, while subsequent issues featured original material. The feature ran in nearly every issue of ''Cuentos de Abuelito'' up through number 61. A digest-sized standalone series, ''La reina de la Costa Negra'', was published by Ediciones Mexicanas Asocidas in 1958–1959 which lasted for at least eleven issues. In 1965–66 Ediciones Joma published a standard-size ''La reina de la Costa Negra'' comic that ran for at least 53 issues.

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics introduced a version of Conan in 1970 with ''

'', written by Roy Thomas with art initially by Barry Windsor-Smith, then John Buscema and Ernie Chan (aka Ernie Chua). The successful ''Conan the Barbarian'' series spawned the more adult, black-and-white ''

Savage Sword of Conan ''The Savage Sword of Conan'' was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of American company Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. ''Savage Sword of Conan'' starre ...

'' in 1974, by Thomas, Buscema, and

Alfredo Alcala Alfredo P. Alcala (August 23, 1925 – April 4, 2000) was a Filipino comics artist, born in Talisay, Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Alcala was an established illustrator whose works appeared in the ''Alcala Komix Magazine''. His 1963 c ...

. ''Savage Sword of Conan'' soon became one of the most popular comic series in the 1970s. The Marvel Conan stories were also adapted as a newspaper comic strip which appeared daily and Sunday from September 4, 1978, to April 12, 1981. Originally written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema, the strip was continued by several different Marvel artists and writers. Other Marvel Conan titles over the years include '' Savage Tales'' (1971–1975, issues 1–5 only), ''Giant-Size Conan'' (1974–1975), ''King Conan/Conan the King'' (1980–1989), ''Conan the Adventurer'' (1994–1995), ''Conan'' (1995–1996), and ''Conan the Savage'' (1995–1996). After the 2019 return of Conan to Marvel titles included ''Conan: Serpent War'' (2019–2020 miniseries), ''Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown'' (2020 miniseries), alongside the reappearance of ''Conan the Barbarian'' (2019-present) and ''Savage Sword of Conan'' (2019), which both received new #1s but retained the original "Legacy Numbering" continuing where their original Marvel series left off. Conan later appeared in the pages of ''

Savage Avengers ''Savage Avengers'' is an ongoing Marvel Comics series where Conan the Barbarian teams-up with Wolverine, the Punisher, Venom, Elektra, and Doctor Voodoo. There was a preview of the series in the May 2019 Marvel's "Avengers" Free Comic Book Da ...

''. ''King Conan'' caused controversy when it included a character named Matoaka, the real name of

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter o ...

, and with a sexualized design and a backstory similar to that of the actual Native American woman. There was backlash at what was perceived a disrespectful portrayal, so Marvel announced that name would be changed in later issues, reprints and digital editions. Writer Jason Aaron issued an apology, and pointed that "This new character is a supernatural, thousand-year-old princess of a cursed island within a world of pastiche and dark fantasy and was never intended to be based on anyone from history".

Marvel Epic Collections

Awards

Academy of Comic Book Arts Shazam Awards: 1970 *Best New Talent: Barry Smith 1971 *Best Continuing Feature: Conan the Barbarian *Best Writer (Dramatic): Roy Thomas 1973 *Best Individual Story (Dramatic): "Song of Red Sonja" from ''Conan the Barbarian'' #24 by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith 1974 *Best Continuing Feature: Conan the Barbarian *Best Penciller (Dramatic): John Buscema *Superior Achievement by an Individual: Roy Thomas

Dark Horse Comics

began their take on Conan in 2003, which ended in 2018 when the rights were repurchased by Marvel. The first comic series published was written by

Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the '' Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled ''Astro City'', a four-year run on ''The Avengers, Thunderbolts'' and '' Superman.'' Early life ...

and Tim Truman and pencilled by

Cary Nord Cary Nord is a Canadian comics artist. He has worked on series such as '' Daredevil'', ''X-Men'', and ''Conan The Barbarian''. Throughout his career Nord has worked on books including ''Superman'' for DC Comics; ''Wolverine'', '' Mutant X'', ''Gho ...

and Tomas Giorello. This was followed by '' Conan the Cimmerian'', written by Tim Truman and pencilled by Tomas Giorello, Richard Corben and José Villarrubia. This series was a fresh interpretation, based solely on the works of Robert E. Howard and on the Dale Rippke

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , '' -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. ...

, with no connection to the large Marvel run. Dark Horse Comics also published digitally re-coloured compilations of the 1970s Marvel Comics ''Conan the Barbarian'' series in graphic-novel format, by Roy Thomas (writer), Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Ernie Chan (artists), and others.

Creative teams

*Kurt Busiek (writer) and Cary Nord (artist) (2003–2006) *Tim Truman (writer) and Cary Nord (artist) (2007) *Tim Truman (writer) and Tomas Giorello (artist) (2008) *Tim Truman (writer) and Tomas Giorello (artist), Richard Corben (artist 2008), José Villarrubia (colorist) (2008–2018)

Awards

*2004 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards :Best Single Issue or One-Shot: ''Conan #0: The Legend'' *2004 Eagle Awards :Favourite new comicbook: ''Conan''

Glénat

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, the character is under

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

, and on the Franco-Belgian market, the publisher Glénat has, since 2018, published a series of

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

with the character, "Conan le Cimmérien", written and drawn by local talent."Conan le Cimmérien"
listing on Bedetheque.

Weird Book

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, the collective Leviathan Labs publishes a version by the publisher Weird Book.

DQómics

In 2021, the Spanish publisher DQómics ''Conan de Cimmeria'', written by Ángel G. Nieto with drawings by Julio Rod and colors by Esteban Navarro.

Titles

Conan series

Annuals

* Newspaper Strip (September 4, 1978 – April 12, 1981), ?? strips.

Miniseries

‡ ''Conan and the Demons of Khitai'' #3 featured a spoof nude advert for ''Conan'' #24–after complaints a second printing was issued replacing the spoof nude advert with the actual (non-nude) advert for ''Conan'' #24, with retailers offering the option to swap copies. (See Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled and erroneous comics.)

One-Shots

Graphic novels

Other series

Miscellaneous

Reprints

* ''Robert E Howard's Conan: The Frost-Giant's Daughter''

Adaptations

Miscellaneous or parody appearances

* '' National Lampoon'' (May 1972) * '' Mad'' magazine #235, December 1982, Conehead the by Dick De Bartolo and Don Martin. * ''Mad'' magazine #340, October 1995 Superhero High School (with Archie's Jughead) * '' Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!'' (DC, 1982), issue 7. Written by Roy Thomas: Bow-Zar the Barkbarian. * '' What The--?!'' #12 versus Groo (Goo) among others such as Hot Stuff and Yogi the Bear and Frosty the Snowman. * ''

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

'' in a dream sequence titled ''Conan the Librarian'' (1989). *

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat ...

'' (novels) by Terry Pratchett, featuring a parody character called "Cohen the Barbarian" * ''

The Flesh ''The Flesh'' ( it, La carne) is a 1991 Italian drama film directed by Marco Ferreri. It was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Paolo is a municipal employee, who in his spare time works at the piano bar of a club, is divorced and ...

'', a modified Conan the Barbarian action figure

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

Conan official websiteDark Horse Comics Conan Zone
{{Conan Characters created by Roy Thomas Characters created by Barry Windsor-Smith Comics characters introduced in 1970