Are there SSOC variants?

[tay666]

Just curious if Savage Sword of Conan mags have any variants like the regular comics.

You know, price variants, whitman's and other stuff like that.

 

I've collected comics for about 20 years now. As time has gone by, I have narrowed my field little by little. Now I am down to semi-actively finishing my Conan runs. I pick things up as I have the cash and they become available.

 

I have recently discovered all the variants for the regular comics, and was curious if I should be keeping my eyes open for anything on the magazine end.

 

Any information would be appreciated.

[the blob]

I'd love to sit down and read my savage swords from start to finish. i'm missing some of the later issues, but am pretty good for under #100.

 

just good stuff. i wish the regular comic had not suffered such a downward spiral after the low 100s, the savage swords were fairly decent up until cancellation, or at least what i have was fairly readable.

 

i really feel like there's a bias against magazines among comic collectors, probably because of the size, B&W and not fitting in a regular box. what a silly reason not to have an interest in somthing!

 

too bad comic magazines are a somewhat limited genre. what are we talking about, maybe 50-75 total titles from the 60s - 80s?

[tay666]

I always loved SSOC from begining to end.

I think the one-shot approach it took kept thing lively and interesting.

You never know from issue to issue what age Conan you were going to get, or where he would be.

The b&w format led to some wonderful artwork for those that could appreciate the detail it lent itself too. That and the larger size gave even more of it to look at.

 

I don't think the regular series had such a bad drop off after the early 100's.

I like a lot of the stuff in there.

I do remember to laughs I would get from reading the letters pages though.

All those people writting in asking them to please have Conan change that blue shirt

[the blob]

I dunno, there was some mediocre stuff once they hit 60 cent cover prices, whenever that was, and then it kindah picked up in the last couple of years before cancellation, although the style of the stories was pretty different than the early years --- conan was more often involved with other peple, part of a group (even if a hired gun), rather than being the quintessential "outsider"

[precodekeith]

I think the main reason SSOC worked was because it was outside the Comics Code Authority and was able to adapt the grittier REH Conan tales much more true to form compared to the CTB comic.

 

I'm with the Blob, as I feel CTB dropped off big time after Roy Thomas left. Which is somewhat ironic, considering my first Conan exposure was in the 120's or 130's and they are the ones that initially got me hooked. Once I tracked down the back issues and got a taste of early Conan though, I felt "current" issues of the day (mid - late 80's) were complete dreck by comparison.

 

As for SSOC "variants", I'm not aware of any..... but I'm sure they exist in some form....

[tay666]

I didn't realize they were outside the comics code.

But that does make sense, they did do a lot grittier stuff.

 

After going back and looking at some of the comics in question.

You are right. There isn't really anything memorable through most of the 100's.

Nothing horrid either, Just kinda blah, until they started doing the Devourer of Souls arc.

I think I forgot too because I read all that before I got some of the good older books.

[precodekeith]

BTW Tay - welcome to the boards!

 

Yeah, thanks to Bill Gaines at EC, who started putting out Mad in mag format to avoid the CCA in the 50's, the entire comic world was lucky to be blessed with gritty, more "adult" oriented subject matter in non-CCA magazines from there on.

 

SSOC benefited in the early days mostly due to Thomas adapting the REH material for it. The original REH stuff was way more geared to SSOC w/o the code, because it was so violent and "adult" themed.

[tay666]

The original REH stuff was way more geared to SSOC w/o the code, because it was so violent and "adult" themed.

 

Agreed.

That is another great thing about SSOC.

Being gritier and more adult I think is what drew a lot of the artist to the comic. They could open up and show off a little.

I just love the feel of some of those mags. All the skulls and other creepy stuff.

 

 

And thanks for the welcome.