Conan Issue 1 by Barry Windsor Smith was Later Redrawn by John Buscema! We Compare and Contrast!

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[@Lexy-O]

Gil Kane & Buscema are my favorite Conan artists.

[@CartoonistKayfabe]

Have you read Superman: Blood of My Ancestors? It's Kane's and Buscema's final pencil job and I think it features a Superman barbarian story. Finishes by Kevin Nowlan to tie it together. - Jim

[@TurnipCasserole]

I miss Savage Sword of Conan. The sex, violence and fantastic art of John Buscema just blew my young mind away when I discovered it in the early eighties.

[@reprintranch]

I jumped into comic collecting with both feet in the spring of 1974, right about the time Conan the Barbarian hit issue 39 or 40. The title and the character were incredibly popular at that time -- consider, for example, that Howard the Duck issue 1 includes a barbarian on the cover. No accident there. Conan was, by far, the most "adult" four-color comic Marvel published in the mid-70s -- not only did he steal for a living and kill people left and right, but the title also included numerous references to sex and openly depicted Conan consuming alcoholic beverages. Plus, he used the word "wench" all over the place. Not stuff that you'd see Spider-Man doing, lol. But pre-teen boys like myself found it thrilling to live vicariously as a swaggering, hard-drinking, wenching, sword-wielding son of a gun. "A thief. A reaver. A slayer." as the Marvel collector coin said. In my opinion, part of the reason the title succeeded was that the Robert E. Howard pulp stories were pretty good and were readily adaptable to comics. Part of the reason the title's popularity declined was that few recurring characters or villains were introduced, and after several years the title had largely become a "monster of the month" affair (Berni Wrightson used that phrase to describe his dissatisfaction about Swamp Thing.) Also, if you've never seen the art of illustrator Howard Pyle, take a look at his pen-and-ink work, like "Otto of the Silver Hand." Smith pretty much borrowed his style lock, stock and barrel. It's tentative in Conan issue 1, but by 1972-73 he was all-in with the Pyle style, and comic-geek kids like me had no idea. Pyle deserves a lot more love than he gets these days. Bonus fact -- the first well-known comic artist to depict CTB was not Frank Frazetta, but Wally Wood, who rendered the dust jacket art for a book, "The Return of Conan," back in the '50s.

[@tommyandredanielsen]

Buscema crushing it! Master at work here.

[@kemouse]

From the opening shot where they compare the opening pages there's no contest. I like BWS and his Weapon X shows a drastic improvement so no disrespect to him.

[@christhayil8354]

John Buscema was Marvel's greatest artist IMO.

[@kevinlkoehler]

I think I read once - BWS while doing Conan was 'living on a park bench, living off candy-bars'

[@TheNomad2727]

Some of the first issues of savage sword of Conan are so detailed and amazing.. it blew me away when I first saw the art

[@kenking3587]

I get so excited when Ed and Jim gush about the older artists. More Buscema and Romita Sr vids please.

[@beck769]

You should have done "The Tower of the Elephant". That really shows the difference between the comic version and the magazine one! Something that was just briefly mentioned. The writer and artist have more pages to develop the story vs. comics.

[@artcreativz1861]

Buscema was born to draw Conan, BWS's early work on the book was fine but I was always "drawn" to John's version and his phenomenal grasp of anatomy and dynamism. BWS's art evolves into an amazing style. But for Conan...there is no contest.

[@A_YouTube_Commenter]

Buscema is to Conan what Kirby is to early Marvel.

[@ronnyrono782]

I thought Smith do the younger Conan and John did an older one

[@pjscardoso1972]

Guys, I would love to see your comments to some Buscema / Alfredo Alcala Conan stories. The artwork is A M A Z I N G!

[@Artistram3d1]

Yeah! Alcala's inks were Stupendous! So much detail! I read somewhere that Buscema himself wasn't a big fan of Alcala's inks over his pencils, but man, I think he did gorgeous stuff over Buscema (and so many others). I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Alcala at a Creation Comic Con in NY in '77. I was sitting at a table selling my measly bunch of comics and shared a table with him, Ernie Chan and Rudy Nebres. I was in heaven seeing them draw commissions! I've tried buying brushes like theirs but I found out that they got them from the Philippines.

[@inkswithbrush]

Here’s one for you. Colleen Doran’s a distant soil has two editions.The original WARP graphics version and The current version are different. She started the series over after her break from WARP. The first was rendered in pencils and scripted by Richard Pini and the second is inked and written entirely by Doran.

[@Santarriaga]

Great chapter! Both Conan comics got reprint in Mexico and its Awesome to compare this 2 awesome artists

[@JimOverbeckgenius]

I have every Conan thing till circa 200, then enough except for big eds + 3 original posters on my wall leading to a study. Red Sonja, Kull - yep.

[@stewartmiddleton4527]

Just seen this...excellent side-by-side of the work of 2 masters. Such a shame that John Buscema is no longer with us.

[@jlolsson2]

That was a fascinating walk through guys! I love this and hope we get some more of these :)

[@violencehero]

I'm a big fan of the compare & contrast episodes. It's a great method of studying the varying interpretations of the artists. Keep on bending those spines!!

[@mattyleadfoot]

Barry Winsor Smith all the way for me. He creates a psychedelic, more trippy world. The storyline where he meets Elric of Melnibone is a great example of the things I love about BWS Conan. I would also love to see Disney embrace a more trippy Conan, (maybe Red Nails)... animated to look like the art style from the comic. And I would like to see a lean and agile Conan, rather than a muscleman. (Like Barry Windsor Smith's version).

[@seanluke2992]

Fun Video. One aspect of the difference in layout that was passed up in the difference is the page size ratio between a comic book and a magazine. It really does matter in the amount of space afforded you in terms of composition.

[@garybthecasualcomicguy5136]

Great breakdown gents. I love both artists and each of them ushered in Robert E Howard's barbarian in classy style alongside the incomparable Roy Thomas. Without his writing and storytelling ability things could have been way different. I will say as much as I love Barry Windsor Smith it is John Buscema's Conan I envision when I picture Conan. BWS gave a dynamic introduction to our favorite Cimmerian but John Buscema made him iconic imo.

[@josephbarbera9220]

Wow! Well done comparing these two mega comic artists! It took a little time for me to get used to Buscema work on Conan but I soon became one of his biggest fans! His brother Sal could have been just as good but I always felt he sacrificed artistic style for speed. Maybe you can do a feature on him someday.

[@oceguera]

Conan - Queen of The Black Coast by Dark Horse and The Cimmerian - Queen Of The Black Coast by ABLAZE. They are both based on the same original story by Robert E. Howard. Different takes of the same story. You guys are awesome, looking forward to more of your videos. Cheers!

[@portland-182]

Ed and Jim, you might like to look at 'Killraven', and the UK 'Planet of the Apes', by Marvel. POTA was popular for longer in the UK than the US. Even at 6 pages (or so) per issue, the UK ran out of 'Apes' material from the US to reprint. They 'adapted 'Kilraven' into a POTA story by editing and pasting Apes heads over some characters. It IS the same comic, but not. UK POTA issues 23 - 30 and 'Amazing Adventures' Vol 2 (not sure of the issue numbers - 21 to 39?)

[@russworks2882]

He was called Apeslayer! So weird.

[@A_YouTube_Commenter]

I had no idea. That's nuts.

[@kevinlkoehler]

some of The Planet Of The Apes tv series was some one said based on episodes of Bonanza

[@matthewbrookeart]

buscema's is deffo more acomplished and he is one incredible artist, but BWS conan has this odd charm and appeal, i love both tbh

[@kirktingblad6667]

You are correct, see Buscema ink himself was always a treat!

[@vincentdrawing3599]

Nice one for this guys!

[@Rockjesu]

Well, that was only the first Conan from BWS, if you follow the evolution of his art during his time in Conan, he will improve until a point I think I never saw such a great artist in a comic, ever.

[@scottscomicsretroreview3726]

I remember reading an interview years ago, I can’t remember who the interviewee was, but he said Roy sent him the original story with highlights of what he wanted illustrated. Essentially, not actually writing out a plot. Also, I think Roy tied Kull into Conan’s universe. It’s been a long time since I read the Robert E Howard stories. However, I do remember reading a Roy interview in which he talked about taking an unrelated character, Red Sonja, changing little bits of the story and folding her into a Conan story. I believe he did the same with all of Howard’s characters, making a universe.

[@ryanm573]

I’d love to see you go over the King Conan series by marvel with Buscema that would be earlier work on the character, and also the dark horse era Conan art by other artists.

[@chrisschuber9149]

Man I was looking at my Conan books yesterday. Read my mind man

[@duarteperdigao6934]

EXCELENTE showcase of different interpretations. if you are curious there are many interpretations of the classic Conan stories, like “The People of the Black Circle” - Marvel’s Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Alfredo Alcala’s OR Dark Horse’s Fred Van Lente and Ariel Olivetti’s OR french take by Sylvain Runberg and Jae Kwang Park. But I recommend that you have a look at "red nails" from BWS and compare it with the french version from Cassegrain. I would also be very interested in hearing your take of diferente inkers over buscema's pencils (especially Alcala's deep rendering compared with the streamlined Buscemas own inking).

[@andreasesser4641]

Young Barry vs Big John is a bit of a brutal comparison. Young talent vs a master that has been doing it for 30 years by then. Buscema's work on Savage Sword is simply deluxe.

[@moonlander2821]

I always got a kick comparing the inks over John Byrne's pencils on Avengers Annual 14 & FF Annual 19. Loved seeing how Joe Sinnott and Kyle Baker approached the same panels!

[@ryancarroll2886]

Ron Simmons! Kull was an orphan of an unnamed tribe, adopted by Atlanteans thousands of years before they even developed a civilization. He became King of Valusia, the oldest nation in the world at the time, leading a coup against crazed King Borna. Kull the Conqueror #2 was the first non-Star Wars or Xena comic I had as a kid, so I was obsessed with him more than Conan.

[@royalboiler]

Very cool comparison!

[@Jcastroley]

There is a Superman story that has two versions, "the Sandman" or something like that, the original was from Curt Swan and the "modern" was from Walter Simonson. Love the channel by the way!!!

[@GaryHodgesDVSM]

This is great!

[@kenis77]

I remember chuckles lmao

[@nerdyoldwoman9651]

LOL when you mentioned cracking the spines bothering some of your viewers . I found myself having an internal conversation that went along the lines of,"Oh, the BWS is just a repro with those shiny pages...I wonder if they have another copy, even tho it's a reprint...yeah, I bet that's not their only copy..." Thank you for all of your excellent videos, this one was great!!

[@florianneumann9441]

i did some of this comparisons latly - became a big conan fan due the dark horse - colossal conan HCs and they redo some of the stories from savage sword of conan, like 'People of the black circle' and 'The tower of the elephant' I too - greatly enjoyed looking at the different interpretations of the story.

[@sithlordx2521]

Two different iterations of Invisible man are Supernatural Thrillers #2 and Marvel classic comics. #25. Check the comparison of these out guys.

[@DaveSteele07]

Buscema and John Byrne my idols!!

[@daranaraghi1991]

Speaking of different artists drawing the same script, here's one I'd love for you guys to track down and feature, although I'll need help from fellow Kayfabers as the details are fuzzy in my mind. I remember reading a story in a Conan comic (Maybe a back-up in Savage Sword?) which was recycled and used in an indie comic, with just the lead character switched out. I believe the other comic was "The Young Master," a late 80s samurai book from New Comics Group. In the story, Conan agrees to train 3 young warriors, and in the process proceeds to give each a terrible disability (blinds one, cuts off another's hand, and something with the third one, which I can't remember). But then he teaches them how to overcome their new impairments. Kind of a weird, twisted story. But like I said, the same exact story was recycled in this other comic, with the samurai character in the Conan role. I *think* the writer was Roger McKenzie, but I could be wrong about that. Anyone else remember this?

[@ryanjavierortega8513]

I think I just inked myself...

[@ericmolesworth6370]

Keep busting them spines boyysss #forourbenefit

[@katsujinken10]

I just ordered the first 2 volumes of the Conan the Barbarian The Original Marvel Years Epic Collection. I already had the first 5 volumes of the old Savage Sword of Conan collections. Are there many stories that are reused? I wanted more 1970s Conan but it'll be dumb if I'm just reading all the same stories again with less sex & violence than the ones I've already read.

[@sdal]

It's not a verbatim example, but there are multiple versions of Star Wars movie adaptions. You got the marvel ones, you got manga versions, and I just bought a new version of Return of the Jedi which maybe European, maybe Italian? I 'd have to check to remind myself. Anyway, that's my suggestion.

[@chazkhaira4690]

Is it true that BWS and Buscema didn’t like each other’s style on Conan? Also BWS improved a lot if you look at the cover art of the Conan Saga he did it might give an indication of how he might have rendered Conan after maturing as an artist than looking at what was his first assignment. But for me the best was Buscema with Alcala inks or Buscema inking himself.

[@isaacmeredith9421]

Have you guys done a review on Tim sale long Halloween or daredevil yellow? I think he is also a very good dynamic artist

[@russworks2882]

It's all about context for me. The Buscema art is more accomplished academically, but he must have drawn more Conan pages by this time than BWS drew in his entire life and, by this time, the approach was set in stone and readers knew what to expect, so there is a sameness. Conan #1 was unlike any other comic when it first appeared, and the Smith art also had a different feel. It was more impressionistic and (because of the era) leaned more heavily into the psychedelic. That panel of the shaman seeing the vision of the spaceman is much more intense than the Buscema panel; you really get the sense of a frightening vision. If you read the original Howard, there is a feeling of the exotic and alien in Conan's world that is reduced to a world of rubble and Hal Foster landscapes in Buscema. In the BWS version, the atmosphere becomes more outre and elaborate as he develops over the twenty-something issues.

[@presteign99]

That black and white Buscema art is beautiful! The closest thing to modern pulps is probably the Kindle self publishing movement. A lot of people there will write a book in a month or less and just churn out content.

[@A_YouTube_Commenter]

I like his black and white much better. The colors of that era took away from his art.

[@sgtjarhead99]

The problem with Buscema's take is that Conan always looks like he's between 30-40. Smith drew Conan as an 18 year old with an 18 year old's body, which was correct for the timeline in the story.

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

It's weird, because Barry Windsor-Smith started out as more Jack Kirby, but evolved to be more like painter Alphonse Mucha. Buscema's Conan was always more "burly" and manly, while BWS's Conan was more scrawny and sinewy. I think I preferred Buscema.

[@donivanpotter2762]

I always liked jusko and Buscema. I honestly never cared for smiths artwork of Conan. I'm huge fan of the savage sword of Conan.

[@ronnyrono782]

If we're talkin Conan the Barbarian we're talking Barry Smith or John Bescuma...Period

[@garyglover6767]

JOHN BUSCEMA HAD NO EQUALS, FULL STOP!

[@mikehelak8874]

Buscema's Conan was too cartoonist. By issue 24 (Red Sonja) Barry Smith was in a league of his own. Barry Smith, Jim Steranko, and Neal Adams changed the industry. Great memories. PS loved Buscema's work on other titles.

[@JeremyBransford]

Cassaday's cover reminded me of the inexperience in Smith's comic. Very amateurish for being in the Omnibus. No competition to Vallejo or Frazetta - not even anywhere near the same level of art.

[@J-G-]

BWS version looks better on newsprint without those awful bright colors.

[@juliusfrank1995]

(First, sorry for my bad English) John Buscema draws the muscles and faces more accurately, but that´s all. In any other aspect Barry Winsor Smith is in my opinion much better. I admit, BWS often draws the eyes too close together. JB´s Conan are pretty average and also boring because the movements and hands posture of Conan are often almost the same. It is easy to copy. BWS`s Conan bends his body more dynamic and is more agile. When he is not fighting, his body language is subtle, sensitive and appropriate to the story. The way BWS`s Conan walks looks more cool. Combined with the different facial expressions, BWS creates the illusion that Conan is a real person. He gave Conan a personality. JB`s Conan only moves while BWS`s Conan is acting. JB`s Conan is just an angry body builder drawn on paper. BWS also cares a lot about the background. His design of the surrounding and the wear is imaginative. The perspective and image area of BWS´s panels are spectacular. But above all, BWS`s storytelling is absolutely great. His innovative storytelling is fluid, logic and breathtaking inventive and astonishing. He is really in the story while JB stays at the surface. One Example among many: On page 7, BWS shows the old man and the woman from the distance. This panels shows the distance between Conan and the both characters. On the other hand JB draws them very close. This does not fit to the story at that moment. It disturbs the flow of reading. BWS`s panel shows what Conan is seeing at that moment. This brings the reader into the story. Besides that, in BWS´s version the old man looks more sinister. I admit some flaws in his drawings but nevertheless BWS`s work on Conan the Barbarian is the work of an genius. I don`t care much about muscles but about storytelling and BWS is a master at it. Walt Simonson, Mignola and even Jim Lee and lots of others also often drawing the muscles incorrectly. To me, BWS`s run on Conan is among the very best Marvel has ever released. When BWS stopped drawing Conan, I stopped collecting. in Issues Conan The Barbarian 21 on page 12 someone shoots arrows on Conan while he rides a horse. In Savage Sword of Conan 21 on page 19 is a similar panel. The inking is made more nicely in JB`s panel and I like the organization of light and shadow. BWS`s panel is inked similar to the European style, which I also like. but most of all, BWS`s panel is more vibrant. This is how storytelling should be. BWS impresses me totally with every Panel.

[@mikefiftynine]

Nah.

[@snarferyasmr3739]

Honestly never much liked Barry Windsor Smith on Conan. Very sterile feeling

[@juliusfrank1995]

I find Buscema's Conan sterile and his storytelling boring

[@soundeducation5554]

I never liked the Conan character as portrayed by John Buscema. Just your standard savage without any real emotions. The BWS version soon developed into something very classy and unique.