Savage Sword of Conan by John Buscema: Witness a man in love with his work

[@BlueWingedRino]

My first SSOC off the newsstand was in the lower 60’s and I was blown away by first reading it. Buscemas artwork was so amazing. Coming from the color Conan monthly I thought SSOC was way superior.

[@teambloodforce]

That's what I saw, Buscema drew very differently for black & white, way more detail. It's incredible looking stuff.

[@michaelsmith1884]

I had all the original Savage swords in 1970 when I was in my late teens Adam for 40 years those are the best the best are the best inking the best of Conan

[@TheMontoya76]

Great vid! Love this old style of art. Some great panels and splash pages. Reminds me of some of your work that isn't superhero stuff.

[@teambloodforce]

In response to this I actually just heard about an Artists Edition that's going up soon on Zoop that's gonna cover basically everything I went through this week, plus some extra. Guess it's time to start saving.

[@peybak]

When I think Conan, I think John Buscema and when I think John Buscema, I think Conan.

[@MusicTheLifeBlood]

The larger format of the magazine size book & no color really allowed his work to stand out against his peers. No one comes close to him. Dude is a titan. -Dustin

[@MrMann-vb6xt]

if anybody can help me find a conan comic book I'm looking for it was where conan is battling a one armed warrior they team up fighting in a arena think he had a double sided ax

[@10471804]

i agree that Alfredo Alcala is Big John's best inker. Even if Buscema hates his inkers i just think Alcala elevates his work even more since Alcala is also inspired of Hal Foster. You should check out his own comic Voltar

[@teambloodforce]

Absolutely. Like I love Buscema, but with Alcala inking he's on a whole other level. Thanks for the recommendation, that sounds worth checking out!

[@samuraijacques952]

Totally agree

[@kerry-j4m]

John Buscema was on record that he hated drawing super-hero comics,thought the entire concept of them was crazy.

[@teambloodforce]

Yep, I can relate.

[@kerry-j4m]

@@teambloodforce You can ??? HUH ???

[@teambloodforce]

@@kerry-j4m Yeah, I know, right? Powers I can deal with, it's just the idea of costumes is so 30s. It's a carny thing. Superman wears a big blue suit because he's a circus strongman. And then everyone just aped off that. I can justify it in mine because it's a comedy book. But like I can’t read a Batman book without snickering to myself a bit.

[@kerry-j4m]

@@teambloodforce I understand your reasons and thanks for the explanation also. What do you think of the pulp heroes from the 30s era ??? And Tarzan,Flash Gordan,Buck Rogers,etc,etc,..???? But,I can understand the folks back in the late 1930s loving the newly formed comics,it was a-GREAT-escape from the Great Depression. Extreme poverty,soup-lines,stock market crash,etc,etc

[@erdio21]

I never knew that about Buscema. He didn’t like drawing super hero comics?

[@franketwas6917]

So good, so great!

[@henrymach]

John Buscema was the best artist Marvel ever had

[@teambloodforce]

He's definitely in the running

[@randolphdixon891]

John Buscema was a BONAFIDE fine artist but his comic book style was influenced by Jack Kirby.

[@Raelspark]

John did many issues of Thor. He took over the title The Mighty Thor from Jack Kirby. He also did the first serious issues of Silver Surfer in the title Fantasy Masterpieces. Add those to Conan and you have John's best stuff.

[@teambloodforce]

I did know about the Surfer comics, but not the Thor. I'll have to check those out some day.

[@Raelspark]

@@teambloodforce JB's Thor comics come after issues #165 ....

[@nicholaswimborne]

I loved Buscema! His pairing with Ernie Chan blew my mind as a teenager. Still my favourite.

[@teambloodforce]

It's some absolutely gorgeous work. John Buscema's one of those guys who's always at least really good, but he just found a different gear on Conan, easily the best stuff I've seen from him.

[@duarteperdigao6934]

personally I love Alcalas rendering of Buscema's drawing, but Buscema didn't approve of Alcalas's overly complex rendering. He was more in the Steve Rude's camp of clear simple shapes. You can see this in the Conan comics that Buscema inked himself, like in Marvel Graphic Novel 69 - Conan the Rogue

[@BrothuhRabbit]

Grew up in the Bronze Age. As I got older, I gravitated away from superheroes towards titles like Conan/SSOC. John Buscema is one of my favorite artists. His work on the Silver Surfer character is equally impressive. Inkers can make a difference in the traditional production methods. Ernie Chan is my favorite for Buscema's work. John's brother Sal's work is also good and looks similar. Alfredo Alcala is one the the many artists from the Philippines whose art was prominent in the 70's. Frank Redondo is my favorite.

[@snakeoilkassett9198]

Great vid!

[@teambloodforce]

Thanks!

[@eric106071]

Check out Roberto De La Torre on Conan the Barbarian

[@chazkhaira6621]

Love Alfredo Alcala inking john Buscema

[@teambloodforce]

This was my first time seeing it, it's absolutely mindblowing.

[@MourningConstitution]

Thanks!

[@frankygonzales15]

Just picked up Savage Sword Of Conan # 204 Thomas, Buscema, Chan. Murderer's Grog by Thomas and Hondru awesome Story👍🔥🔥👍

[@teambloodforce]

Good stuff! That's one quality book, you're pretty much guaranteed a good time with a Savage Sword issue.

[@RedEdgedSavage]

One of the best in character art.. he had the corner box character art

[@RedEdgedSavage]

John Byrne is great also

[@Alwaysdoubt100]

What was the first Conan story drew by buscema?

[@teambloodforce]

I guess that would be Conan the Barbarian #34, though I don't think he became the regular artist until #58.

[@murrayk.morrison9673]

Conan the Barbarian 1970 issue #25. First work on Conan

[@henrymach]

I'd really love to see the pencils for one of these pages just to see how much of it is Buscema and how much is Alcala

[@teambloodforce]

Well there's a huge difference between a page inked by Alcala and one inked by anyone else, so he probably is adding quite a bit. I keep getting recommended his Voltar series, that would be a good way to compare.

[@nerzenjaeger]

I love the artistry of Alcala, but I think the argument can be made that he was over-rendering, and that's why Buscema didn't like him as his inker as much. It does take some of the dynamism out of Buscema's pencils. But for me, seeing all those delicate inking lines is pure bliss.

[@teambloodforce]

Yeah, it's obviously not Big John's original intention, but it's such an incredible mix, the rendering is amazing. If Buscema was stuck with him as an inker I could see that getting frustrating, your actual vision isn't getting out; but as an every once in a while thing, man is it something else to look at.

[@tobukan]

Buscema was a beast. Alcala's inking was a bit overworked, but it looks like his style might have been strongly influenced by the work of Franklin Booth. Some of the best inking to JB's pencils was done by Tony deZuniga - he kept more true to the spirit of the original drawings

[@teambloodforce]

Yeah, I'm hearing that Buscema preferred simple lines that more closely resembled the original illustration, but I have to say I love Alcala's embellishments.

[@tobukan]

@@teambloodforce It's hard not to admire the skill and effort Alcala put into his work. Like Buscema and deZuniga, he was a true craftsman

[@csako2668]

Some thoughts - First, NO ONE has more respect, admiration, or love for John Buscema's artwork. If you doubt this I'll be happy to meet you out back when we're through here. FRANK FRAZETTA, not Buscema, or Marvel comics was the catalyst for the popularity of Conan. Read Howard's description of Conan's appearance, and compare that to Frazett's take. Read what Schwarzenegger, John Millius, Jason Momoa, and every other Conan movie version said about the inspiration for the look, FRANK FRAZETTA. For me, John's earlier Marvel work, Avengers, Surfer, etc. is greater than his later Conan stuff. Even with his dislike for superhero work, it stands out. Two main reasons, the earlier original art pages were on bigger paper. This gave him, and other artists more room to work, second he was doing FULL pencils, being inked by the best. His human figures were glorious. His later work had become simple breakdowns, suggestions of what was going on. Look up his page breakdowns that were handed over to the inker. Often no more than what looks like stick figures. Maybe some of the work he inked himself is really outstanding, but it's a matter of opinion. Only artists who were good/decent pencilers inked his work so they could finish what was needed. I'm not saying I think they were good or did him justice though. Alfredo Alcala, WOW, what beautiful brushwork! Someone here suggested looking for his Voltar, his barbarian-created character. Do so. This told to me by Rudy Nebres - As a boy during WWII, Alcala spied on the Japanese risking his life to get intel to the philippine and later Allied resistance. At the start of the war, he buried his collection of Golden Age comics in a hole in the dirt and covered them hoping to retrieve them later. You can imagine what was left when he went to dig them up at the war's end. The few times I met John, he was an incredibly nice man, generous, and patient with whomever he was engaged with. Same for Rudy Nebres, both great teachers, generous and patient. Barry Windsor Smith, an arrogant, belittling, snobby elitist, according to my interactions with him, but other than that a great guy.

[@teambloodforce]

First off, I've never heard of this Frazella guy, so I doubt he had that much influence over the property's popularity. No, just kidding. I mean I'll take your word for it, I don't know if there's an empirical way to determine which has more influence (though I am aware the increasing popularity of the reprinted novels probably was what caused it to pop up on Roy Thomas' radar). I probably read up on it on Wikipedia, so there's a good chance there's wrong information in there; that said, I doubt Arnold actually cared where the character came from, and I wouldn't trust Jason Momoa's opinion on anything other than best quality surfboards and where to cruise for chicks. Director's probably different, though even then I wonder about producers - they're generally the ones to get everything rolling. Besides, I like my narrative where a little bit of Arnold's success is thanks to Big John, and nobody can 100% prove otherwise, so I'll hang on to that as fact. Thanks for the extra info, I didn't really know anything about Alcala and that's a hell of a story. I did see that John's work had degenerated later in his career, though it sounds a lot worse than I would have thought. And characterizing BWS as an "arrogant, belittling, snobby elitist, but other than that a great guy" is good stuff. Cheers, bud!

[@csako2668]

@@teambloodforce Thanks - A fun enough video, John was a great guy. What I put down doesn't even scratch the surface - These are from my life as a "comic book malingerer" who worked for and around comics since I was 16, having been published by nearly a dozen companies (penciler), in (4 movies) and other commercial work, all from personal contact. Until I lost the drive in the late to early 90s and gave it up. I had the great fortune of getting to meet, work with, and hang out with many well-known creators, many before they made a name for themselves. You can find much of this information on John if you look on KZbin, The Frazetta "Girls" even cover the Conan tale. Bies yes, but from close to the sources. My afternoon with Ellie Frazetta, now that's an interesting thing. Anyway, lots of J Buscema documents can be found, and some decent overseas books as well, a guy from Spain did a good line of collected works of several 60s-70s artists, the Buscema book is great. These comments are from my personal experiences (read BWS) your mileage my vary.

[@murrayk.morrison9673]

@22:30. Buscema did what BWS could not… get his work done on time! And with great quality! lol@ BWS comments of him being a company man…jealous much?

[@teambloodforce]

The thing that gets me is that he had an argument except that he himself had gone back to work for mainstream superhero comics several times at the point of that interview. Kind of hard to argue for a purely artistic lifestyle after that.