J
ust that line, taken from Robert E
Howard’s very first Conan story,
“The Phoenix on the Sword,” is
enough to set the heart of a comic
or fantasy artist racing. And, since the
character first appeared in the pulp
magazine Weird Tales in 1932, dozens
of artists have drawn or painted him –
including many of the greats.
The latest to render the great barbarian is
Spanish artist Sergio Davila. He’s on board
with Dark Horse to draw its
brand new series. The artist is
relishing the freedom he has
to visualise the Hyborian age.
“I’m having great fun working
in this fantasy world. It allows me to invent
things, overdo some characters, and take
some of the action to the limit in a way you
wouldn’t be able to in real life. And all in
my very own style,” he says.
Sergio’s Conan has a meaty, muscular
look to him, reminiscent of Marvel’s Conan
of the 1970s and ’80s. In titles back then- like Conan the Barbarian and The Savage
Sword of Conan – the pencil artists Barry
Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Gil Kane
and Pablo Marcos experienced a similar
kind of exuberance. The world that Robert
E Howard imagined was full of warfare,
sorcerers, monsters and villains, and
Marvel gave its artists lots of scope.
Like Sergio, but with 45 years of
experience drawing Conan, the Peruvian
artist Pablo Marcos revelled in the same
sense of possibility. “He’s a fictitious hero,
and that gave me all the
freedom to create a lot of
action,” says Pablo. “Exotic
girls are always around him.
I like Conan’s surroundings,
and it’s easy to create scenery, monsters,
animals and fighters. There are no limits.
I really enjoy doing it.”SAVAGE SWORD
Pablo still paints Conan commissions, but
back in the ’70s he drew the comic strips
that Marvel syndicated to newspapers all
over the US. His work appeared in Savage
Sword of Conan for many years, and he
also inked the pencils of another Conan
great, John Buscema.
“The story I enjoyed drawing most
was ‘The White Tiger of Vendhya’,” says
Pablo. “It had two fantastic elements: anBERSERK!
Cover artwork for issue 2
of Conan the Slayer, by
Sergio Davila. A little
exaggeration never goes
amiss mid-battle, says
the new Conan penciller.“HITHER CAME CONAN,
THE CIMMERIAN, BLACK-
HAIRED, SULLEN-EYED, SWORD
IN HAND, A THIEF, A REAVER,
A SLAYER, WITH GIGANTIC
MELANCHOLIES AND
GIGANTIC MIRTH, TO TREAD
THE JEWELLED THRONES OF
THE EARTH UNDER HIS
SANDALLED FEET”
Snake head © iStock.com/duncan1890
Legends | The Art of Conan