Back in middle of 1976 Alan Austin mentioned that he was planning to do a Sword & Sorcery special edition of his monthly fanzine Comics Unlimited, along the lines of the previous Batman and Shadow specials. If you remember, the early to mid 1970s had experienced a resurgence of the Sword & Sorcery genre, on the heels of interest sparked by the Lancer(US) and Sphere(UK) paperback editions of Robert E Howard’s original stories, and subsequent new content by Lin Carter and L Sprague de Camp.
This interest was most visible in the comics world through the Conan, Ka-Zar, Savage Tales and Savage Sword of Conan books from Marvel.
Ultimately Alan decided to abandon the project of devoting an entire issue of C.U. to the subject, for fear of alienating some of the readers; he gave his reasons in the editorial of Comics Unlimited #39.
However, prior to that decision Alan had asked our SuperStuff pal Geoff Cousins to submit a draft cover for the subsequently abandoned edition. We'd all had some success at having our artistic swipes accepted as spot illos in Comics Unlimited, but here was Alan asking for a cover submission from Geoff!
I came across Geoff’s original submission in the SuperStuff files (Alan had returned the artwork to me for some reason) which I have published below for the first time anywhere!
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| Conan © Conan Properties International. Original cover drawn for Comics Unlimited #38 |
I decided to try colouring it for my own amusement, which I have included below. (Geoff has approved this).
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| Conan © Conan Properties International. Colourised cover for C.U. #38 |
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| Conan © Conan Properties International - alternate colourisation by IEB |
So, in an alternate timeline, this might have been the cover of Comics Unlimited #38.
Very nice, B, but I'd like to see the map behind Conan with slightly different colours (or shades) on some parts of it.
ReplyDeleteWell Kid, I've added an alternate colour version with areas in different pastel shades. It seems to be to lend it an "administrative counties" air, which perhaps indicates a level of civilization not yet acquired the the Hyborian Age? I think the small area by Conan's right leg must be the Hyborian version of Rutland.
DeleteWell, these kind of maps aren't supposed to be by (or for) Conan; they're merely a helpful representation by editors (and artists) to give readers an idea of the 'geography' of ancient times.
DeleteSo is the coloured map version your preference when comparing the new one above to the previous version? btw….Ghost Breakers arrived in the post today
DeleteI'll give it a whirl, Kid. I'm slowly building up my skills with a very old copy of Paint Shop Pro.
ReplyDeleteExcellent stuff Ian great to read about teachings from a long list time in comics history. Nice covers.
ReplyDeleteThanks McScotty - I’ll pass on your comments to Geoff who drew it.
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