Everything old is new again! - Savage Sword of Conan - Reforged #1 -John Buscema, Barry Windsor Smith

Titan comics, who currently hold the publishing rights to Conan, have released another new Conan book to add to their monthly colour "Conan the Barbarian" title and their black and white "Savage Sword of Conan magazine" that may be of interest to bronze age comic fans. "Savage Sword of Conan - Reforged" is a new magazine sized monthly that reprints coloured versions of the classic black and white tales from the legendary “Savage Sword of Conan" monthly from the 1970's, and the first issue is a decent package wrapped up in an actioned packed cover by Roberto De La Torre.

The main story in the first issue of "Reforged" is "Tower of the Elephant" by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala from Marvels "Savage Sword of Conan” #24 . I had missed this tale first time around in the US (and UK reprint) and had only previously read the Thomas / Smith version in "Conan the Barbarian" #4 - so I was more than happy to shell out £8.99 to read this. Below are a few pages from what I think is excellent magazine.

"Reforged" also features a newly coloured version of one of my favourite Conan stories, "The Frost Giants Daughter" by Thomas / Smith (originally published in black and white in " Savage tales" #1 and a coloured version reprinted in "Conan the Barbarian" #16).

This issue also sees a new coloured verion of the Robert E Howard poem "Cimmeria" by Barry Smith & Tim Conrad.

This new book is going to appeal to those bronze age Conan fans who don't have the original comics/magazines or those looking for a decent comic to read (like myself). Of course there will be those Conan/Marvel fans that don't approve or like the colouring and although I do not think the black and white versions will be surpassed, I did enjoy these coloured versions. Issue 2 features "The Devil in Iron" (from SSOC #15) which I will be picking up.

Favourite Comics: Savage Sword of Conan issues 16 - Worms of the Earth by Barry Smith & Tim Conrad

It was on a very hot summers day in 1977 when on a family weekend holiday to Blackpool with my mum and dad, that I spied a copy of “Savage Sword of Conan” #16 (Dec 1976) . At this time Conan was my favourite comic book character, so it was a no brainer, I was going to buy this issue without my customary check to see who the creators were. As it turns out this was a true comic book classic issue with artistic efforts by John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Walt Simonson, Barry Smith, and Tim Conrad, all wrapped up in a wonderful Earl Norem cover. Not only was this my first Conan black and white magazine it was my introduction to the then new art style of Barry Smith (with Tim Conrad) on the wonderful “Worms of the Earth” featuring Bran Mak Morn the legendary King of the Picts.

Of course the main strip in this issue featuring Conan was just as impressive with some of big John's and Alfredo Alcala's best art.

It wouldn’t be until around 1979/80 when I picked up issue 17 of "Savage Sword of Conan" which continued the tale of Bran Mak Morn this time with Tim Conrad completing the art chores, this still looked very nice but lacked the excitement and wonder that Barry Smiths brought to the previous tale. The Buscema / Alcala team as expected provided their usual wonderful work on the main Conan strip.

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Favourite horror comics: Tales of the Zombie '#7 - Alfredo Alcala & Doug Moench

Back in 1973, the Zombie was not the pop culture icon it is today, they did not run in packs of maniacal flesh-eating cadavers rampaging through the streets munching on the brains of innocent bystanders. In 1973 the Zombie was portrayed as a solo drone under the control of a voodoo priest or priestess as was the case with Simon Garth, the Zombie in question who appeared in Marvel's “Tales of the Zombie” magazine which ran for 10 issues and one annual from March 1973 to October 1975. In this series Simon Garth is cursed to rise from the dead controlled by a mystic amulet that leads him on a quest to find the amulet of Damballah which when combined with his own amulet would free him from the curse. I only managed to purchase this copy of “Tales of the Zombie” (from September 1974 - cover above by Earl Norem) around 1979 and even as a 19-year-old the stunningly spooky art by Alfredo Alcala freaked me out. Below are a few of the excellent pages by one of comics true masters - enjoy, but don’t have nightmares:

In this issue Simon Garth wanders through the bayou but takes a detour after fighting an alligator as you do, to a house in the swamps where a murder mystery is taking place during the reading of a will. Deciding to help protect a young girl at risk from the murderer the Zombie shuffles into action. When the will reader, a man named Ralston is called to read the will, it states that the entire estate is to be divided among the surviving family members. However, one-by-one the surviving family members are murdered, until it becomes clear that Ralston is the man responsible. The Zombie, watching the entire event unfold, decides to get involved, killing Ralston before vanishing into the night. After a police investigation of all the murders, they find fingerprints belonging to Simon Garth, which puzzles them because their records show that Garth has been dead for two years. This is a pretty strong horror story by Doug Moench expertly illustrated by Alfredo Alcala.

Above, some of the excellent house ads for "Tales of the Zombie" that appeared in various Marvel colour monthlies at the time - Have a happy Halloween!