The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 2
by Roy Thomas
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Book Summary Information
Author: Roy ThomasIllustrator: Barry Windsor-Smith
Illustrator: John Buscema
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2008-03-05
ISBN: 1593078943
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Dark Horse
Book Reviews of The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 2
Book Review: the best comic ever
Summary: 5 Stars
What comics do well is fast, abbreviated action. Comics at their best are like a sped-up movie. Good comics are often "cheesy", but in a good way: over-the-top, wildly inventive, no-holds-barred attempts to entertain, to give everything a great b-movie gives, only for a lower price tag and in a form you can carry with you. What more could anyone ask?
In the Gold and Silver ages of comics (until about 1970), even the best comics were not much more than "camp", that is, simplistic kid's stuff whose greatest value was in its naive silliness. In the modern age of comics (since the mid-1980's), comics are "dreck", insufferably pretentious, precious attempts to be "mature" and to achieve effects that this medium simply is not meant for and cannot do well.
But for a brief shining moment in the 1970's, comics were everything they could be and should be, as the commercial failure of the superhero stuff left the door open for a new wave of creators to try other directions. And no one questions that the defining comic of that great era, the "Bronze Era" as it is called, was the Thomas/Buscema Conan.
Roy Thomas knew better than anyone what the limitations of the comics genre are, which is what makes him as good a comic scripter as has ever come along. He knew how to write comic book dialogue: with a melodramatic flourish and with condensed information to keep the narrative moving. He is at his all-time best doing Conan, a character he obviously loves and was meant for (and Conan and the comic book medium are, of course, another perfect match).
John Buscema's art is of an equal caliber: he was the best at striking the perfect balance between detail and sketchiness. Detailed art doesn't work for comics because it causes the eye to linger, the last thing you want in a medium meant for speed and action. (For much the same reason, black and white almost always works better in comics than color). At the same time, one must create atmosphere; with too little detail the sense of reality, of suspended disbelief, will be lost. Buscema somehow does both, almost regardless of who is inking him; in addition he was a master of anatomic dynamism and expressiveness; and most importantly, he was probably the best in the medium's history at dramatic layout. Why else would Marvel have had him literally write their textbook on the subject?
Savage Sword was the grown-up, magazine version of Conan, the originals were in black and white, and so it is even better than the great comic book run by the same team. In short, this is the ultimate comic book character with the ultimate creative team from the age when comics were comics, so there isn't much chance that anything will ever surpass this.
Here it is nearly forty years later, price inflation has run wild in everything else, and Dark Horse is offering this, what is beyond any reasonable question in my mind the best comic book ever created, for about what you would have paid had you bought the original magazines when they came out.
As they used to say at Marvel: 'Nuff said.
Summary of The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 2
In the mid 1970s a comics magazine was published containing some of the most exciting epic fantasy tales the world has ever known - The Savage Sword of Conan. Based on the work of renowned author Robert E. Howard, each issue offered multiple thrilling of tales of the legendary barbarian. The magazine was also a showcase of comics talent, headed up by Conan aficionado Roy Thomas. Now for the first time ever, these stories are being collected in a series of omnibus-style books, with over 500 pages of classic sword and sorcery - for the complete Conan collector! Included in this volume are tales featuring the stunning art of such comics luminaries as Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Pablo Marcos, Walter Simonson, and many more.Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
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