The Savage Sword of Conan: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus, Vol. 6

The Savage Sword of Conan: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus

by Michael Fleisher

In this massive Omnibus collection, writer Michael Fleisher hits his stride with a series of mold-breaking Conan tales like “The Temple of the Twelve-Eyed Thing,” “Demons of the Firelight” and “Dominion of the Bat” — illustrated by top talents including Alfredo Alcala, Ernie Chan and, of course, the one and only John Buscema! Meanwhile, X-MEN superstar Chris Claremont pens an adventure that pits Conan against the minions of Thoth-Amon in a tour de force drawn by Val Mayerik! Conan legend Roy Thomas is also on hand to tell solo stories of Conan’s “Red Nails” colleague, Valeria. Rounding out this volume are the conclusion of John Buscema’s “Bront” — and extensive articles on, and the comic book adaptation of, the blockbuster Conan the Barbarian film!

COLLECTING: Savage Sword of Conan (1974) 73-87, Marvel Comics Super Special (1977) 21

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Fantasy, Graphic Novels

1016 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1983

About the author

Michael Lawrence Fleisher's comic-book writing career spanned two decades in which he authored approximately 700 stories for DC, Marvel, and other comics publishers. His work on series such as The Spectre and Jonah Hex is still highly regarded, as is his work on the Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes. After a widely reported libel case his comic output declined, with his last published comic assignment appearing in the UK anthology 2000AD in 1995.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots to like here. Fleisher starts off a little rough, I found his earlier stories to be quite generic but he starts to get good. I especially like his recurring character, the crazy pirate with a grudge against Conan. This series in general needs more recurring characters. Too many stories start with some random bad guy and end with Conan killing that person and kissing a random woman.

Alfredo Alcala keeps getting better. His pencil work he is among the best I've seen from him. Gil Kane also has a fantastic story, some of the best artwork I've seen from him.

John Buscema’s “Bront” is not my cup of tea. He's a fantastic artist but I couldn't get into this original story.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the work of Robert E Howard on Solomon Kane I turned towards my initial acquaintance with this writers work and that is the Savage Sword of Conan. Whe I was a lad I came across this comic and funnily this first one I read and the consequent number were my first steps within the world of Howard.
These collections are quite heavy books and this sixth one is no exception. While reading you will have a decent workout. I bought this 6th installment in a sale with the 7th one, for the privé of one, which was an easy choice.

In these black and White comics we'll get the complete and unedited comics collected from February 1982 till April 1983 and added the coloured movie special of one Arnold Schwarzenegger which opened in the Summer of 1983, which is at this time of reading 41 years ago.
The comics are still visually great and the stories well scripted. The Conan tales are quite briliant, the Valeria tale in several chapters is very good. The red Sonja story enjoyable and the various galeries with art from several great artists who draw this comic are welcome. Buscema & Chan remain my favorites.
The added letter pages from the original magazine are a fun read, truly strong fans.

There is little not to like about this collection, for a Conan fan they are an essential read.

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that I started getting these for some nostalgia because I read quite a few of these black and white Conan mags back in the day and because REH Conan stories have always had a place in my shelves.

As I have read each volume and caught up I am once again impressed by the art work and the stories, both adapted from REH and the new tales.

These books are a can’t miss for fans of Conan.

[OmniBen · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 3.75/5
I'm kind of running out of things to say about this series. Yeah, just more rock solid sword and sorcery comics. Yet despite its obvious strengths, it is Conan the god damn Cimmerian for crisssakes, I have at least as many nitpicks as superlatives. First and foremost, the complete lack of chestal nudity in this book. It may seem trite or ridiculous to some to complain about this, but this is meant to be the mature content published outside of the comics code, yet aside from a couple of beheadings, this could absolutely fit in alongside anything published in the comics. Sure, there is still a bevvy of beautiful ladies for Conan to slay, but I thought that the mature content would be, well... more mature. That and the second half of the book definitely isn't as strong as the first. What with Michael Fleischer's baffling need to treat Conan like Sherlock Holmes and pretend that every story needing a ridiculously galling and utterly unnecessary 'twist' near the end. It almost always derailed what was usually a pretty decent story up until that point.
I skipped all the back up stories, as well as the movie adaptation as I haven't seen it yet (somehow) and didn't want spoilers. All this aside, it's still Conan from the early eighties, so yeah, it still goes pretty hard, even when its going a little soft. 3.75/5


OmniBen.