| Slot: |
Savage Tales #1 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 1 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1012304001
|
Owner Comments
My favorite book - a second copy came around and I could not help myself, but to buy another copy of this amazing book (especially since the colors of this copy are amazing and deep - and white really shines bright and unfaded). The camera flash caused some reflections in the lower right quadrant of the front cover, but the quality still shines through.
Furthermore this book is quite special and was published in May 1971 together with Conan the Barbarian #5. Especially the story "The Frost Giant's Daugher" in this book was drawn by Barry Smith showing a topless girl, but when this story was reprinted in Conan the Barbarian #16 the breasts were covered. So this is the pure original and uncensored adult version. Also the first ever story about the Man-Thing is utterly fantastic - the story is well-written and the art of the drawings continue to amaze. I guess there was some strong magic in the 1970'ties that we have somehow forgotten - maybe due to atmosphere in that decade influenced by the Vietnam War, anxiety for World War 3 that maybe did create an urge for strong-spirited, but not always good-looking, male figures like Conan and the Man-Thing.
Wikipedia provides this introduction to the Man-Thing:
"The Man-Thing is a fictional character, a monster in publications from Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character first appeared in Savage Tales #1 (May 1971), and went on to be featured in various titles and in his own series, including Adventure into Fear, which introduced the character Howard the Duck.
Steve Gerber's 39-issue run on the series[1] is a cult classic that was influential on such writers as Neil Gaiman,[2] who would later write for Swamp Thing.
Man-Thing is a large, slow-moving, empathic, humanoid creature living in the Florida Everglades near the Seminole reservation".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-Thing
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #2 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 2 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1022514006
|
Owner Comments
After finishing Conan the Barbarian issue 24, Barry Windsor-Smith delivered what many fans consider to be his best Conan work in the "Red Nails" story published in this magazine. Thus, this book contains the prime of Barry Windsor-Smith Conan stories, also including a special poem, it simply does not get any better! In Marts 2012 none of the CGC graded Savage Tales #2 books had been graded higher than 9.8 and only 3 books made this grade. Due to the great amount of Barry Smith art in this magazine, it is hard to understand, why this book at 9.8 achieves four times fewer points than Savage Tales 1 at 9.8. Also note that this book has near-perfect cover centering and orientation.
In an interview performed May 1998 by Jon B. Cooke at Comic Book Artist (CBA) Barry Windsor-Smith (Barry) offered these amusing answers:
"CBA: "Red Nails" is, in my opinion, your best work from that era. How long did it take you to complete that incredibly detailed work? Were you satisfied with the final production?
Barry: Oh, God—! "Red Nails"! How many time can I use the term "nightmare" in one interview? I should grab a thesaurus right now, right? How long did it take? Oh, only forever. Detail—? What detail—? There was detail in that thing? Where're my pills—? Somebody get me a doctor.
No, I'm fine. It's okay—I just need to breathe. S'okay. What was the question?
CBA: The second chapter of "Red Nails" showed a departure in your inking style from the delicate, finely rendered line to a more spotted, bold approach? Was this experimentation or the demands of the deadline?
Barry: Deadline—? There was a deadline? What do you mean "spotted'? Am I alright? Where's my medicine?"
Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2.
Furthermore this book is a good example of Roy Thomas' and Barry Windsor-Smith's approach to the fantasy genre. Barry Windsor-Smith wrote in his book Opus 2:
"Although they were not unknown to us, Roy Thomas and I tried to avoid the excesses and clichés of the sword and sorcery/adventure genre. We mostly avoided monsters; instead I'd draw actual animals on a grand scale, like a giant dog or a reptile. The Red Nails story called for a real dragon, so I created a hybrid Stegosaurus. If we used sorcery, I'd try to keep the principles credible to some extend".
So the Stegosaurus in this book illustrates the more restricted fantasy approach (one dare not write "realistic approach", so I will not do that :-) which I believe was indeed a wise choice.
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #3 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 3 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0905386003
|
Owner Comments
An extremely beautiful book with pure white pages. A lot of cover gloss - the led flash on my cell phone was reflected a bit in the front CGC plastic, but I guess the quality of this book still shines through. In December 2010 only two books are graded higher...
In an interview performed May 1998 by Jon B. Cooke at Comic Book Artist (CBA) Barry Windsor-Smith (Barry) offered these amusing answers in relation to the Red Nails story in this book:
"CBA: "Red Nails" is, in my opinion, your best work from that era. How long did it take you to complete that incredibly detailed work? Were you satisfied with the final production?
Barry: Oh, God—! "Red Nails"! How many time can I use the term "nightmare" in one interview? I should grab a thesaurus right now, right? How long did it take? Oh, only forever. Detail—? What detail—? There was detail in that thing? Where're my pills—? Somebody get me a doctor.
No, I'm fine. It's okay—I just need to breathe. S'okay. What was the question?
CBA: The second chapter of "Red Nails" showed a departure in your inking style from the delicate, finely rendered line to a more spotted, bold approach? Was this experimentation or the demands of the deadline?
Barry: Deadline—? There was a deadline? What do you mean "spotted'? Am I alright? Where's my medicine?"
Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2.
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #4 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 4 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0767839011
|
Owner Comments
A problem with CGC graded magazines is that you only can see the front and the back, and maybe with time this will limit our memory of the great stories that these books contain. Take for example Savage Tales 4 which contains a 22-pages story "Night of the Dark God" with great art by Neal Adams and this book also contains a reprint of Barry Windsor-Smith's "The dweller in the dark" (from Conan the Barbarian #12). But for the first time in Savage Tales 4 this Barry Windsor-Smith story is displayed in black and white and on a large page format. So these two stories from the greatest Conan artists ever make Savage Tales 4 quite special. The picture of one of the magazine's inner pages provided here is for illustration only (the page displayed is not taken from the CGC graded book, but from a Savage Tales 4 magazine of much lesser grade).
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #5 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 5 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0080973013
|
Owner Comments
An extremely beautiful copy of the last part of Savage Tales that featured Conan the Barbarian. Due to the huge success of the Conan stories in these books, Conan in magazine size from now on continued as "The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian" (see the picture below showing the original text from Savage Tales #5). So the first 5 issues of Savages Tales featuring Conan primarily served a as bridge between "Conan the Barbarian" and the "The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian", and the latter magazine continued Savage Tales' orientation toward the more mature audience. Since my only interest in the Savage Tales magazines are the Conan stories, Savage Tales 5 concludes my collection of these amazing books.
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #6 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 6 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0761883018
|
Owner Comments
Hope to replace this book with a 9.8 WP one day, but they are very hard to find. The great cover art was done by Neal Adams.
In June 2014 there were 2 books in 9.8, none better, and 7 in 9.6.
In detail, in this book Ka-Zar stars in "The Damnation Plague" (script by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Tony DeZuniga). Marok the Merciless stars in "Dragonseed" (script by Len Wein, art by Steve Gan).
Text feature about Brak.
Reprints: "The Night of the Looter" (script by Stan Lee, art by Buscema; from Savage Tales 1) and "Jann of the Jungle" (art by Al Williamson). Cover price $0.75.
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #7 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 7 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0080612008
|
Owner Comments
In detail, in this mag Ka-Zar stars in "Stalker in a Savage Land" (script by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Tony DeZuniga).
Brak the Barbarian stars in "The Unspeakable Shrine" (script by John Jakes and Doug Moench, art by Steve Gan; adapted from the story by Jakes; continues in next issue).
Ka-Zar stars in "The Dream Temple of Kandu Ra" (script by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Neal Adams and others as "The Crusty Bunkers").
Article by Lin Carter.
Boris Vallejo cover painting.
Cover price $0.75.
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #10 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 10 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0954683008
|
Owner Comments
A great magazine with near-perfect centering and pure white pages.
In the magazine, Ka-Zar stars in "Requiem for a Haunted Man" (script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Russ Heath, inks by Neal Adams and others as "The Crusty Bunkers"). Shanna the She-Devil stars in "Blood Purge" (script by Carla Conway, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Vince Colletta). Text story, "The Running of Ladyhound" by John Jakes (with illustrations by Michael Whelan and Rick Bryant). Boris Vallejo cover painting. Cover price $0.75.
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales #11 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales 11 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0954683010
|
Owner Comments
Only 4 in 9.6 and none better (Census June 2017) - and at least 3 out of 4 have pure white pages.
This mag contains the final issue of the series (although some collectors consider Annual #1 for the last issue). Ka-Zar stars in "Marauder in a Cage of Time" (script by Doug Moench, pencils by Steve Gan, inks by Rico Rival). Also in this issue, a story of the Savage Land, "Intruder" (script by Archie Goodwin, art by Russ Heath). Michael Whelan cover painting. Cover price $0.75.
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| Slot: |
Savage Tales Annual #1 |
| Item: |
Savage Tales Annual 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0720635012
|
Owner Comments
This magazine was previously owned by Rosland, and I'm happy to add it to my collection - I'm a great fan of pedigree books.
I also own the original Ken Barr cover painting, you can see it here in better quality:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1252534
This magazine contains all reprints: "A Day of Tigers" (art by Gil Kane; from Astonishing Tales 11), "Dragonseed" (script by Len Wein, art by Steve Gan; from Savage Tales 6), "Back to the Savage Land" (art by Barry Windsor-Smith; from Astonishing Tales 3), "The Sun God" (art by Windsor-Smith; from Astonishing Tales 4), "Rampage" (art by Windsor-Smith; from Astonighing Tales 5), and "Dark Tomorrow" (script by Gerry Conway, art by Gray Morrow; from Savage Tales 2). Ken Barr cover painting. Cover price $1.25.
The story Back to the Savage Land illustrated by Barry Smith is my favorite Ka-Zar story of all time, and for the first time in this magazine it was printed in full length - and in black & white. Ken Barr's cover is a tribute to this Barry Smith story - Barry Smith never made a cover to the Back to the Savage Land story.
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