tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post551979503796175940..comments2024-03-19T10:41:35.976-05:00Comments on Bronze Age Babies: Big John's Barbarian: Conan 25Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-33850211888095958672016-04-04T14:43:18.276-05:002016-04-04T14:43:18.276-05:00Problem with John Buscema's Conan,his look bec...Problem with John Buscema's Conan,his look became to much of costume.Captain America boots,fur loin clothe,arm ring,gold cuffs.Barry Smith show have inked Buscema's pencil,adding Age Undreamed of look.John Buscema was at figures,especially women.The world ok,but BWS drew like REH wrote.Doc Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08255204147754923490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-20763015707926291002013-09-14T01:29:00.061-05:002013-09-14T01:29:00.061-05:00Conan and Thor did, in fact, meet in What IF? #39,...Conan and Thor did, in fact, meet in What IF? #39, albeit in a tale unfortunately neither written by Thomas nor drawn by Buscema. That may be why so few people remember it...Edo Bosnarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-31880274931537454212013-09-14T01:02:31.564-05:002013-09-14T01:02:31.564-05:00Barry Windsor-Smith gets and deserves high praise ...Barry Windsor-Smith gets and deserves high praise for his truly revolutionary Conan work, but despite that, it wasn't until Big John took the artistic reins of the Cimmerian that the series really began to hum on all cylinders. <br /><br />The same masculine charisma which Robert E. Howard imbued Conan with also was possessed in massive quantities by John Buscema, a man's man for certain. That rugged confidence informed his work and gave Conan a sturdy storytelling which made him a mainstay of Marvel for years and years. <br /><br />The Dark Horse reprints have just about gotten through Buscema's tenure on the character, an awesome collection of stories indeed. <br /><br />Rip OffRip Jaggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09936426877024852134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-89994783979026452012013-09-13T21:51:06.086-05:002013-09-13T21:51:06.086-05:00By the scales of Set!
Fred, I'm sure Roy thou...By the scales of Set!<br /><br />Fred, I'm sure Roy thought about teaming up Marvel's two most popular barbarians at the time (yes, Thor can be considered a barbarian!) but for one reason or another it didn't pan out.<br /><br />Doug, besides the computerized colouring, I think it's simply Big John's first effort at drawing Conan which makes you think something's off. Usually when an artist draws a character for the first time he experiments with different ways of representing the character, sometimes in very subtle ways like drawing a different shape to the ears or angle of the eyes, and while the reader doesn't notice that, he can sense something is off. Of course, Big John would be more consistent in his portrayal as the series went on. <br /><br />I think Ernie Chan's inks complemented Big John's pencils well. Of course, Chan's style can be overpowering at times, but in general they meshed well. I always felt Chan's strong, rough lines were ideally suited to Buscema's pencils on a powerful character like Conan.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Mike 'my mirror needs lots of Windex' from Trinidad & Tobago.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-52631616958544039062013-09-13T18:46:39.561-05:002013-09-13T18:46:39.561-05:00While I rather prefer Smith's art on Conan, Bu...While I rather prefer Smith's art on Conan, Buscema certainly did some excellent work on the mag as well. It's similar to when Romita took over Spider-Man from Ditko. Certainly for most of the 70s, I most associate Big John with Conan and Thor (I wonder how Roy Thomas resisted the temptation to team those two up!). Fred W. Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07602124919964053532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-11378159873189999762013-09-13T14:11:48.217-05:002013-09-13T14:11:48.217-05:00Thanks for the kind words, guys.
It's my beli...Thanks for the kind words, guys.<br /><br />It's my belief that the inking just generally comes out as very black with the recoloring process. I need to check out my Tales of Asgard trade and see how Vince Colletta's feathery style looks in that book. In both of the books I highlighted today I just felt like the blacks overpowered the art, sometimes to the detriment of the originally intended pencils. <br /><br />Speaking of Vinnie, Karen and I are kicking around some ideas for Thor reviews in November. That's when the new Thor film debuts, so it seems appropriate.<br /><br />Have a great weekend, everyone -- another chance to discuss Saturday cartoons is coming your way in the morning!<br /><br />DougDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-754322270322493212013-09-13T10:37:47.047-05:002013-09-13T10:37:47.047-05:00I like the page with Conan holding the barrel over...I like the page with Conan holding the barrel over his head. These 2 issues aren't my favorites. I think Buscema/Chan had a great run right after this from about issues 27-45, where Chan's inks really work well and Buscema finds his groove with Conan. <br /><br />I agree that the computer coloring is bad in these Buscema reprints, especially when you had Glynis Wein originally coloring these stories. She was one of the very best colorists in the Bronze age, adding expression with color and not simply describing what color objects are.Garettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-68803763090773355242013-09-13T08:15:01.147-05:002013-09-13T08:15:01.147-05:00Very good review and agreeing totally with Edo, I&...Very good review and agreeing totally with Edo, I'm SO not into that new coloring.. I'd prefer the originally printed look anyday. <br /><br />I certainly feel the richness of the story/art/genre lends itself to smooth reimaging (much like we see in the original Trek series...), but give me the original printing process. <br /><br />It's kinda like the masses here preferring scans the original scraped-up comic covers to brand new, perhaps touched-up NM cover scans. There's unspoken character and nobility when you see a well-read comic..david_bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00218727673816200051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-87940141504890536572013-09-13T07:55:08.015-05:002013-09-13T07:55:08.015-05:00As usual, very thorough review. And don't worr...As usual, very thorough review. And don't worry about squeezing two issues into one, especially since you're substituting it with a Garcia Lopez feature - can't go wrong with him.<br />As to the art here, I like both, i.e, I think Sal's inks in particular always look good on John's pencils, but I don't mind Chan's inks, either. Maybe, however, that's because I got so used to seeing the Buscema/Chan team on Conan in the later '70s. Either way, I never thought Chan overpowered Buscema's pencils, rather I thought their styles meshed together pretty well. In fact, on that topic, I think Severin's inks (on those two Kull flashback pages if I'm not mistaken) are much more overpowering than Chan's.<br /><br />What I can say - as I've said several times before - is that I just DO NOT LIKE that computerized recoloring. In my opinion, that's what you're probably finding "off" about Buscema's art here.Edo Bosnarnoreply@blogger.com