Barbarian Life: A Literary Biography of Conan the Barbarian

Barbarian Life: A Literary Biography of Conan the Barbarian #2

by Roy Thomas, Bob McLain (Editor)

In thousands of four-color panels for Marvel Comics, Roy Thomas told the tale of Robert E. Howard’s greatest creation, Conan the Barbarian. Now, in this definitive biography and analysis, Roy chronicles Conan’s comic-book life, issue by issue, plot by plot, and artist by artist. For ten years, from October 1970 when Roy and artist Barry Smith assembled the first issue of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian , to October 1980 when Roy and artist John Buscema completed their last issue together on the series, Thomas wrote of Conan's gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth—as well as the wars, the wenches, and the wizardry that bedeviled the Cimmerian from one issue to the next. In this second of three volumes, Roy Thomas explains the creative process behind nearly 50 issues (#52–#100) of Conan the Barbarian . Roy talks about how he plotted and scripted each issue, devised new adventures for Conan that expanded Howard's original stories into a world-spanning epic, and worked with such Conan artists and inkers as John Buscema, Gil Kane, Ernie Chan, and George Roussos. Whether you’re a Conan fan or a comics fan, you'll enjoy this in-depth look at a Marvel comic-book classic.

Genres: Biography

292 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2019

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Eddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oof. I loved the first volume, but in this second one Roy keeps grinding axes. In particular, he gets very defensive of racist portrayals, and I had to put the book down when he flat-out says people who call out problematic elements are stupid. Still, it's a solid 180 pages before that, and maybe some day I can get past the outdated perspectives, but not today.

[Ben Duerksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second entry in Roy Thomas’s collection of essays covering his time writing the Conan the Barbarian comic series. This book takes us up through issue 100, and like the first volume is filled with great insights, interesting stories, and a black and white illustration of each issue’s cover. Also like the previous volume, it seems no one could be bothered to run spellcheck, let alone hire a worthwhile editor.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entertaining volume of Roy’s insightful thoughts and opinions about the Conan the Barbarian colour comic – this time covering issues 52 to 100. The many intricacies involved in creating, scheduling and publishing the series is detailed in such a way that you can only ‘marvel’ at the overall process, respecting the effort and diligence required to maintain a schedule and consistently produce a product that will both retain and gain readers during its lifetime.

The Howard estate were very fortunate to have Roy at the helm of Conan, as his interest in the character, and respect for Robert E Howard, allowed the series to achieve the authenticity it deserved, regardless of all the changes and additions necessary in the comic format (which includes adapting plot lines from other sources, and fitting numerous original characters/places into an expanded world). Roy’s attention to detail and personal desire to maintain synergy with Howard’s (limited) output can be seen and read on the pages of every issue – and it certainly helps when you’ve got the bonus of a stellar line up of visual storytellers to bring this altered/new content to life.

I’m already looking forward to reading the next volume, as there’s little doubt that it will also be of great interest. There are a few annoying typos, and the repetition of previously read details returns again, however, the content is still of a high quality, and these minor problems certainly didn’t spoil my overall enjoyment.

[David Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the first volume, this one did a nice job in letting me know what it took to write a monthly comic for years on end. It was chatty insightful. Some of Thomas's opinions came across as cranky, like a comment about a female writer changing the origin to Red Sonja. That came out as a little too old man, get off my lawn.

[Dr NSCA-CPT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comic book legend Roy Thomas describes the origin of the Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian issues #52 through #100. Barbarian Life: A Literary Biography of Conan the Barbarian (Volume 2) is an interesting history of the classic Conan comics.

[Nicholas Pendleton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A review for both volumes. I am consistently astonished that Thomas, who arguably made a hunk of his comics career from adapting Howard and writing Conan The Barbarian for decades could so horribly misunderstand the character and botch the feel of the original stories. Just another subpar pastiche hack who made bank off the original author.

The books are redeemed with early insider talk about the acquisition of the license and working with Marvel, Barry Smith, and J. Buscema to bring the Cimmerian to the page. At least the art is goddamn pretty.