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First Conan Cover in Comic-Magazine Medium?

Started by bounty_coder,

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bounty_coder

bounty_coder

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Anyone have a clue how this badboy should be handled? The book is "I'll be Damned" #1 . It has a simply stunning cover by Frank Frazetta titled "Conan the Fearless"

 

This book was printed in May of 1970 and was limited to 1000 copies. Obviously predates Conan the Barbarian #1 by 5 months and Savage Tales #1 (first Conan App. in Magazine) by a good 7 months or more.

 

Thoughts?...Do many Conan fans know of this issue?

 

604535-I%5C%27ll_Be_Damned_1_1970.jpg

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Fan4Fan

Fan4Fan

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It is Extremely Uncanny how that looks like Ahnold! Haha I wonder if they used this cover for the casting call Guidlines?!?!!? insane.gif

 

Anybody ever ask Frazetta who he used as a model? Arnold was body-building during this time so there would have been pictures of him out there...

 

893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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bounty_coder

bounty_coder

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bounty,

That is very cool (never saw it before) but what is it? A portfolio, fanzine or comic mag?

 

 

Jay, yeah it is an insanely cool book. It would be considered a Fanzine but is magazine sized. It has another awesome picture of Conan Lobbing a dudes head off by Berni Wrightson as well as some amazing Ken Smith art (I think its Ken Smith).

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Jayman

Jayman

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bounty,

That is very cool (never saw it before) but what is it? A portfolio, fanzine or comic mag?

 

 

Jay, yeah it is an insanely cool book. It would be considered a Fanzine but is magazine sized. It has another awesome picture of Conan Lobbing a dudes head off by Berni Wrightson as well as some amazing Ken Smith art (I think its Ken Smith).

 

(If it's not too much trouble)

Could we see the Berni Conan art...huh, huh, pleeeze? hail.gif

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rob_react

rob_react

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It is Extremely Uncanny how that looks like Ahnold! Haha I wonder if they used this cover for the casting call Guidlines?!?!!? insane.gif

 

Anybody ever ask Frazetta who he used as a model? Arnold was body-building during this time so there would have been pictures of him out there...

 

In practical terms, Frazetta doesn't use models or reference. He speaks of occasionally taking some photos to "check things out" but he never uses them in the way most artists would think of using them (tacking them up to the easel to use as immediate reference.) In the few cases where he would take photos, the act of taking the photo and maybe looking at it afterwards is enough to imprint the scene in his mind's eye.

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rob_react

rob_react

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As a note, I don't want to imply that Frazetta has never drawn or painted from models, he certainly has. One doesn't get to be the master of expressive anatomy that he is, by forgoing drawing the human body as it exists. It's just that for the most part, the his paintings are the result of the convergence between his imagination and the masonite, not the result of posed models offering up a roadmap to the finished image (not that there's anything wrong with that- I'm a big Alex Ross fan after all...)

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bounty_coder

bounty_coder

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As a note, I don't want to imply that Frazetta has never drawn or painted from models, he certainly has. One doesn't get to be the master of expressive anatomy that he is, by forgoing drawing the human body as it exists. It's just that for the most part, the his paintings are the result of the convergence between his imagination and the masonite, not the result of posed models offering up a roadmap to the finished image (not that there's anything wrong with that- I'm a big Alex Ross fan after all...)

 

Well Rob thank you far that in depth analysis! So what do you make out of this situation...Very much resembles Arnolds Conan look, but way before that was even a thought for film. Even down to about how Arnolds Bicepts would have been (he had some honkers). Just very weird, that jaw line and mouth sets it off. Thoughts about this specifically?

 

-bounty

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bounty_coder

bounty_coder

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Very cool! Yes I can see a little bit of the Ahnold fade in the Color representation of the picture. Well it is great that this picture was able to make it onto a media format because it is a simply awesome Painting. I think that I like the B&W version a little better to tell you the truth. Creates more of an Eerie Mystic. Even though Fraz's skin tones were stellar.

 

Thanks for all of your legwork! I still wonder what this book may be worth. Is there a specific guide for fanzines? With a print run of only 1,000 you would think it would garner some serious interest.

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