Marvel Conan stories not written by Roy Thomas worth reading

[norseman]

Hi,

I have a question which I am sure has come up before, but I haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer, so I would really appreciate it if someone could help me out.

The Marvel Conan stories nosedived in quality once Roy Thomas left the title, but there are apparantly some gems here and there. I do want to read those, but haven't got the time nor inclinination to sift through volumes of SSoC phonebooks and chronicles to get to them, so I'm open to recommendations.

I know Roy Thomas referenced the Jim Owsley run, so that makes it a must read, and while the geography is off, Chuck Dixon's Conan is apparantly Conan, so that is on the list too.
Doug Moench did an apparantly great "Tower of the Elephant" prequel in SSoC, and so I hear that Gerry Conway did for a few King Conan stories, also in SSoC.

What else should I check out? Are there any other stories that Roy Thomas references in his later writing?

[themirrorthief]

interesting thread...I hope you get some good response...btw sometimes good writing is marred by weak art but it can also work the other way...I guess im saying its a team product

[deuce]

Sept 19, 2018 8:44:40 GMT -5 norseman said:

Hi,

I have a question which I am sure has come up before, but I haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer, so I would really appreciate it if someone could help me out.

The Marvel Conan stories nosedived in quality once Roy Thomas left the title, but there are apparantly some gems here and there. I do want to read those, but haven't got the time nor inclinination to sift through volumes of SSoC phonebooks and chronicles to get to them, so I'm open to recommendations.

I know Roy Thomas referenced the Jim Owsley run, so that makes it a must read, and while the geography is off, Chuck Dixon's Conan is apparantly Conan, so that is on the list too.
Doug Moench did an apparantly great "Tower of the Elephant" prequel in SSoC, and so I hear that Gerry Conway did for a few King Conan stories, also in SSoC.

What else should I check out? Are there any other stories that Roy Thomas references in his later writing?

A good question that I'm not all that qualified to answer. I've read some of the tales you reference, but I can't say I agree with RT in every instance. The Owsley stories were decent "Barbarian S&S", but not Conan, IMO. I'll be interested to see if more references from Roy can be found.

Welcome to the forum, BTW.  

[Char-Vell]

Savage Sword #110: "The Army of the Dead." Script by Bill Mantlo, art by Gary Kwapisz


Savage Sword #118:"Valley of Howling Shadows." Script by Larry Yakata, art by Gary Kwapisz.

Good stuff!

[Deleted]

I've been reading through the stories by Kraar and Dixon recently with art by Gary Kwapisz. There's some good stuff there, but, I don't recognize them by their covers like I do with the early Roy Thomas run. So it usually takes me around half an hour to find the story I was looking for.

There's some great info at Roquefort Raider's Annotated Savage Sword of Conan thread at the Classiccomicsforum:
www.classiccomics.org/thread/19/annotated-savage-sword-conan