Conan (comics)

Conan
Cover to Conan the Savage #6 (Jan. 1996). Art by The Brothers Hildebrandt.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics Dark Horse Comics
First appearance	Conan the Barbarian #1 (October 1970)
Created by	Robert E. Howard Roy Thomas Barry Smith
In-story information
Notable aliases	Amra the Lion
Abilities	Peak human physical condition, Melee weapons master, Knowledge and experience of fighting the supernatural

Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard was first adapted into comics in 1952 in Mexico. Marvel Comics began publishing Conan comics with the series Conan the Barbarian in 1970. Since 2003, Conan has been published by Dark Horse Comics.

The first comic book adaptation of a Howard Conan story was the feature La reina de la Costa Negra (taken from the original Conan story, "Queen of the Black Coast") in the miniature-size Mexican anthology title Cuentos de Abuelito #8 (1952) published by Corporacion Editorial Mexicana, SA. The series features the main characters, Conan and Bêlit, though Conan is depicted as blond rather than black-haired. Issues 8 through 12 adapted the original Howard story, while subsequent issues featured original material. The feature ran in nearly every issue of Cuentos de Abuelito up through number 61. " A digest-sized standalone La reina de la Costa Negra series was published by Ediciones Mexicanas Asocidas in 1958-1959 which lasted for at least eleven issues. In 1965-66 Ediciones Joma published a standard-size La reina de la Costa Negra comic that ran for at least 53 issues.

Marvel Comics introduced a fairly faithful version of Conan in 1970 with Conan the Barbarian, written by Roy Thomas with art initially by Barry Windsor-Smith, then John Buscema and Ernie Chan (aka Ernie Chua). The highly successful Conan the Barbarian series spawned the more adult, black-and-white Savage Sword of Conan in 1974, by Thomas, Buscema, and Alfredo Alcala. Savage Sword of Conan soon became one of the most popular comic series in the 1970s and is now considered a cult classic.