First look at Conan 1 1

[Westy Steve]

Hey you pulp aficionados.  What did Conan look like before Smith put pen to paper? I have the following but I’m sure that’s not his first appearance. For that matter I’m not even sure it’s him! Where was the first rendering of him? And what did he look like in the early pulps?

[Pat Calhoun]

Is Conan and is a scene from 'Queen of the Black Coast', one of the greatest stories in the series.

[lpsunburst]

He only appeared on 3 Weird Tales covers in the first printings, here is one of them.

[Pat Calhoun]

[N e r V]

I love the “Roman” version on the Ace copy. I think a lot of fans might pick the Frazetta version as their best but outside of this Weird Tales cover which I never get tired of looking at Conan will always be to me those early Barry Smith issues...

 

[N e r V]

Early material...

 

[circumstances]

Westy, that Queen of the Black Coast cover from May, 1934 is his first cover appearance ever.

The Hour of the Dragon was second, this is his third and last:

 

[Westy Steve]

39 minutes ago, circumstances said:

Westy, that Queen of the Black Coast cover from May, 1934 is his first cover appearance ever.

The Hour of the Dragon was second, this is his third and last:

 

Thanks!   This is so fascinating to me. His early appearances make him look more civilized and almost Roman.  Then he seemed to take on a more British Nobleman/Carl from Accounting appearance.  Seems like Smith was influenced by Frazetta and the de Camp covers.  Thanks to all who shared.  

[KirbyJack]

So, what’s the answer? Is the cover image on “Queen of the Black Coast” the first published picture of Conan? Or is there an interior drawing in an earlier story?

[lpsunburst]

Here you go, first illustration from the first story.

[RedFury]

The November 1932 Weird Tales issue has a teaser excerpt from The Phoenix on the Sword, which I think is the first mention of Conan anywhere in print.  No picture though, just a few paragraphs of the story.

[RedFury]

There are 26 Conan appearances in Weird Tales, 9 of which have the Conan story as the cover story, and 3 of which actually have Conan on the cover.

1st cover appearance, May 1934

2nd cover appearance, Aug 1934

3rd cover appearance, Dec 1935

Edited December 4, 2019 by RedFury

[RedFury]

Here are the other 6 Conan story covers, but without Conan on the cover.

[lpsunburst]

I have always admired how 40 years after the first illustration, my favorite renderings of the stories by Buscema/Alcala use the same cross hatch technique for the backgrounds to give them an ancient feel. Look at the stone wall in the original Wilcox drawing and this one from SSOC.

[OtherEric]

And the other Conan cover from Avon Fantasy Reader.

[N e r V]

I’m guessing few (if any) of the early artists actually read the REH stories. 
 

If I had never seen a Conan drawing in my life and picked up one of REH’s stories to read for the first time I would not imagine him as the above in early depictions. 
 

I think that’s at least part of the reason I was drawn to the Barry Smith version vs others. The character was a brute and wild at times but not a dumb brute which is how I saw the Animal like Frazetta drawings. The character in his time period was a tough, wild, badass but he was appealing enough to get the girls at times. He also had a good degree of smarts to get himself out of some really tight spots. A lot of the “puffed up” drawings of the character make him look just dumb and smelly...

Edited December 4, 2019 by N e r V

[Pat Calhoun]

[Westy Steve]

Wow, I always thought Schwarzenegger was too big for his role.  This picture gives me pause.   IMHO Conan is not muscle-bound but more like a strong gymnast  (picture the rings exercise). Or maybe like Tarzan.   Speed and power., not just power 

[N e r V]

2 hours ago, Pat Calhoun said:

 

46 minutes ago, Westy Steve said:

Wow, I always thought Schwarzenegger was too big for his role.  This picture gives me pause.   IMHO Conan is not muscle-bound but more like a strong gymnast  (picture the rings exercise). Or maybe like Tarzan.   Speed and power., not just power 

I actually love all the Frazetta Conan covers. They are classic and finally got us closer to what the character might look like vs the old “movie star” or “Roman” appearance he had prior in many cases. I just always felt the Frazetta look was more “muscle bound”. I did appreciate the wild flare he gave to his covers. I just imagined/thought the character seemed a bit more nimble in the stories. Maybe if REH had lived longer he could have given us a better picture of how he saw Conan in pictures.

Arnold too, though not how I pictured Conan exactly was good in the first picture at least.

Its probably unrealistic to ever expect any future Conan movie to capture the look or the lyrical nature of some of the stories...

[KirbyJack]

I also love the Frazetta imagery, not just Conan, but settings, clothing and especially weaponry. I’m ok with a huge Conan; as I remember, Howard emphasizes that Conan is bigger and usually a head taller than most of the people around him.