Episode 15: Savage Sword of Comics! (Or, Conan vs. Sequential Art)

This week we take a look at the history of Conan comics, in particular The Savage Sword of Conan from Marvel Comics. With some help from our good friend Justin Stewart we discuss Roy Thomas as an adapter and as a creator, the artistic differences between Barry Windsor-Smith and John Buscema, and finally talk about comic book inking and comparing Alfredo Alcala and Tony Dezuniga!

The stories for the week are...

The Frost Giants Daughter, The Citadel at the Center of Time, and The Flame Knife!



Here is some original art by Buscema and Alcala from The Citadel at the Center of Time:

If you are interested in reading any of the articles we discuss, check out the following links:

Tom Scioli article on Barry Windsor Smith

Roy Thomas interviews John Buscema

Great moments in Savage Sword of Conan!

If you want some digital Conan goodness, here is the Dark Horse Comics digital app!

Thanks again to Justin for agreeing to do a show with us!

Pretty great sketch, huh? That's from his "Inktober" Project that we discuss on the episode. Check out this project and his larger body of work at his website. Or just pester him on the Twitter (@justin3000). He'd love that.

Our next story is The People of the Black Circle (read it on Project Gutenberg Australia).

Beginning theme: "Sudden Defeat" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
The ending theme was pulled from the Youtube and used without permission.

Thanks for listening!

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Follow us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes!

Comic Episode Primer

Hey everyone! This is Jon. Up next on the show will be our episode dedicated to the Savage Sword of Conan, a comic series published by Marvel for over twenty years. Now, we understand that not everyone is as into comics as we are. Due to that I am hoping that by providing this primer on the cast of creators involved everyone can listen to and enjoy episode fifteen!

The Company

Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman (more on him in a bit) as Timely Publications. The company first found success in WWII by publishing comics with heroes like Namor the Submariner, The Human Torch, and Captain America. After the war the company became more widely known as Atlas Comics and produced a wide variety of knock off horror, western, crime, and romance comics. The comic book industry as a whole slumped with the introduction of The Comics Code Authority, a government sponsored program to ensure comics didn't corrupt children. By the 60's superhero comics were coming back into the style and Goodman told his nephew and editor in chief, Stan Lee, to create him a super hero line. Lee along with Jack Kirby introduced the Fantastic Four in November 1961. Of course today they publish the world's most famous comics and are a multimedia presence with TV shows, cartoons, and obviously movies. At the time we meet them in our story about Conan comics, the company has recently overtaken DC as the top selling company. 

Episode 14: Conan vs. Heavy Metal

Hey all, here we are, back for another episode of THE CROMCAST!

Are you ready for some music? Are you ready for some metal?

If you answered "yes," then this is the episode for you!

(If not.... Then just hang loose until the next episode)

Here's the setlist and links to purchase this music on Amazon:

1. Domine - "Aquilonia Suite I," from Emperor of the Black Runes
2. The Sword - "The Frost Giant's Daughter," from Gods of the Earth
3. Manilla Road - "Queen of the Black Coast," from Metal
4. Elder - "Riddle of Steel I," from their eponymous full-length album
5. Electric Wizard - "Barbarian," from Dopethrone
6. Runic - "Last Days of Aghrapur I (Ambush)," from Liar Kings
7. Ironsword - "The Pyre of Kings," from Overlords of Chaos

And don't forget to listen to that live set from Elder at the Roadburn Festival this past year.
You can get it on a pay-what-you-will basis from Bandcamp! But seriously, throw a few bucks towards ALL of these artists... They need and deserve our support!

A special thank you to Mark Finn for the awesome Sailor Steve opener! Check out Mark's blog at:
http://marktheaginghipster.blogspot.com/

Want to know more about the timeline of Howard's influence in metal music? Here's the article we discuss in the episode!

Our next episode will be a discussion of Conan in comics! Interested in some of the stories we'll be discussing? Check out this brief summary in a previous art party post! After that, we'll get back on The Road of Kings! Our next story will be People of the Black Circle. Read it on Project Gutenberg!

The music included in this episode's discussion is used without the permission of the creators. All music was obtained legally. We hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase this art! Support the artists!

This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Thanks for listening!

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Follow us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes!

Art Party Friday: January 10th 2014

Hello Cromrades! Luke here, standing in for Sir Jon. We want to show off some cool Howard inspired art out there on the interwubz. If you have any art you wish to share, be you the creator or just an admirer, please email us at thecromcrast@gmail.com with the image and source and we will try to feature it here on the blog! Also, please visit one or all of the sites for these talented folks. You can always find art for purchase, prints, or even coffee mugs to buy!

Since we're prepping for an upcoming episode focusing on Conan in comics, let's focus on some of the artwork from Marvel's Savage Sword of Conan magazine! It's crazy how long that magazine ran... 235 issues! Seriously, if you have 15 minutes to kill, just take a trip over to Comic Vine and look over all the great stories and articles that ran in that series.

First off, here's Tim Conrad's Conan in "The Forever Phial" in Savage Sword of Conan #8...

And here's the killer Red Sonja by Frank Thorne found in "Wizards of the Black Sun" from Savage Sword of Conan #23...

Finally, here's the great opener from Baron Yoshimoto's "In the Desert of Dreams," found in Savage Sword of Conan #67...

Varied art styles, same great series!

If you're interested in reading any of the comics we'll be specifically discussing in our upcoming comics episode, check out the Barry Windsor Smith art for "The Frost Giant's Daughter" (reprinted in Savage Sword of Conan #1), as well as the Buscema / Alcala art on "The Citadel at the Center of Time" (Savage Sword of Conan #7), and the Buscema / DeZuniga art team-up on "The Flame Knife" (Savage Sword of Conan #31). All penned by Roy Thomas, we hope to delve into his strengths when adapting material versus developing original content. The first couple stories are in the first Dark Horse volume and "The Flame Knife" is in the third Dark Horse volume.

That's it for this week!!! 

Look for some sweet jams early next week when the new episode drops!

Art Party Friday: January 3rd 2014

Hello Cromrades! It is I, Jon! I am here to show off some cool Howard inspired art I have found in my wanderings on the internet. If you have any art you wish to share, be you the creator or just an admirer, please do email us at thecromcrast@gmail.com with the image and source and we will try to feature it here on the blog! Also, please visit one or all of the sites for these talented folks. You can always find art for purchase, prints, or even coffee mugs to buy!

Today we will be all Conan, all the time!

Cover to Conan the Cimmerian #20 by Cary Nord

http://carynord.deviantart.com/ or @carynord

Conan in the Snow by Benito Gallego

http://www.benitogallego.com/index.php

@Benito_Gallego

Cover to Conan Saga #4 by Barry Windsor Smith 

http://barrywindsor-smith.com/

Conan the Barbarian by Darren Goodacre

Conan the Barbarian movie poster redesign by We Buy Your Kids

http://wbyk.com.au/

@WEBUYYOURKIDS

Cover to Giant Size Conan the Barbarian by Jack Kirby

http://kirbymuseum.org/

That's all for this week everyone! Check out the newest episode:

But also steel yourselves for our next ear smashing and vertigo inducing episode:

Episode 13: The Devil in Iron (or, Khosatral Khel's Big Day Out!)

"Suddenly the man rose and towered above him, menace in his every aspect. There was no room in the fisherman's dull brain for fear, at least for such fear as might grip a man who has just seen the fundamental laws of nature defied. As the great hands fell to his shoulders, he drew his saw-edged knife and struck upward with the same motion. The blade splintered against the stranger's corded belly as against a steel column, and then the fisherman's thick neck broke like a rotten twig in the giant hands."

Weird Tales cover by Margaret Brundage

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope your 2014 is off to a great start! We have a new episode to share with you. Journey back with us to the ancient Hyborean world, to an age undreamed of. Hear of a time in Conan the Cimmerian's life when he led the Vilayet kozaks in raiding the roads and villages of coastal Khawarizm. Witness the revival of the ancient and deadly Khosatral Khel. Our story this week is The Devil in Iron, originally published in the August 1934 issue of Weird Tales (download mp3 here). This is another "Conan on an island" adventure, in the vein of Iron Shadows and Pool of the Black One. You can read it on WikiSource!

Check out The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast's discussion on Lovecraft's short story Dagon. If you haven't read that story, check it out here. It's short and pretty excellent!

You know we love comic art! Here's a couple cool pieces. First, Conan's struggle against the giant snake by John Buscema and inked by Alfredo Ancala. 

Second, check out the cover of Savage Sword of Conan #15 featuring Khosatral Khel! 

We mention that we'll be doing the comics episode soon, with our friend Justin Stewart as a guest host. Justin is an excellent artist and inker, and we look forward to hearing about his insight into the sequential art creative process and talking about our favorite Conan comics! Check out his website and his profile on L.O.I. Studios to get a sense of his style! 

Justin also co-hosts a podcast! If you're looking for a show that covers comics, games, movies, and general geeky topics, check out our friends Justin and Tressa and the rest of the Beaucoup Pop crew! 

Our next tale will be The People of the Black Circle (read it on WikiSource or get an e-book copy on Project Gutenberg - but we suggest reading it in The Bloody Crown of Conan from Del Rey, and while you're at it, treat yourself to The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian and The Conquering Sword of Conan, also from Del Rey).

But before then, get ready for the metal! For next time, Luke is putting together a short playlist of Conan-inspired heavy metal that will rock your faces off! If you're a fan of the metal genre, maybe this will introduce you to some new bands to check out! If you're not a metal fan, maybe this episode will change your mind! 

Thanks everyone! Happy listening, and Happy New Year! 

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Follow us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes!

Beginning theme: "Sudden Defeat" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ending theme: "Anvil of Crom" arranged by YouTube user Xavier Renou and found here. Arrangement of  "Anvil of Crom" by Basil Poledouris, from the Conan the Barbarian: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Original Score: (c) 1982 Basil Poledouris; Original Album: (c) 2010 Prometheus Records. Used without permission.