Conan in Black & White 5: Various One-Shots

The Conan in Black & White series has been single artists up to now. Men like Nino, Alcatena, Kayanan and Mayerik can hold their own for a post. But I also found some very promising artists who only got one chance to draw the Cimmerian and I wish they had had long runs. All have proven to be professionals, going on to draw superheroes and other kinds of comics and media. We might call them “mightabeens” if they had come along at a different time. The late 1990s was not kind to Sword & Sorcery, or to Marvel comics. By the 2000s, Dark Horse was the home of the Hyborian continent, but that’s another story (much of it told in color).

So let’s step back just for a moment and see what these three gentlemen did with Conan the Barbarian in black & white.

Geoff Isherwood

Geoff Isherwood brought a style we haven’t seen since Neal Adams worked on Savage Tales in the early 1970s. Geoff’s Adams-like figures exist in an inked world reminiscent of Alfred Alcala. This is classic Savage Sword for old fans like me. His other S&S work includes Swords of the Swashbucklers, Conan the King and Conan the Barbarian.

Conan the Savage #5 & 6

Colin MacNeil

Colin MacNeil is a British artist best known for UK comics like Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog. His heavy black shadow style work nicely for Conan too. Other S&S material by MacNeil include Magic the Gathering cards.

Savage Sword of Conan #219-220

Jorge Zaffino (1959-20020

Jorge Zaffino was an Argentine artist who got his start with Ricardo Villagran on Nippur de Lagash. He worked for Eclipse Comics then both Marvel and DC. His style is clearly of the lush Spanish school. He reminds me a little of Frank Thorne but equally Alex Toth.

Savage Sword of Conan #162

Conclusion

Black & white hasn’t proven to be the most popular medium for comics. We usually see them in color, which I understand. Our vision is oriented that way. But there is a joy to great b&w work that thrills me in a way even good color can’t. Joseph Clement Coll, the old magazine illustrator, Frank Frazetta sketching in the 1970s, the best of the Warren magazines, all of these draw me in immediately. The line work, the deftly placed shadows, the feel of ancient or exotic places.