Who's this clean cut dude? Looks like he just stepped out of a Biblical epic of the 50s. Yes, that's our man from Cimmeria, on this cover from 1949. Interesting what artists could get away with in those days before Frank Frazetta and Barry Smith got ahold of him.
CORRECTION: After I wrote the above, Fred Blosser advised me in a comment that this is not Conan after all, but another character in the tale. Thanks, Fred. Pretty sad when Conan doesn't even merit the cover on his own story.
What a pretty boy. Hmm. Regardless of what he looked like on the cover, tho, I bet this issue is pretty valuable considering everything.
ReplyDeleteI have read it theorized that Conan and other warriors like him would not have worn their hair long enough for an enemy to grab hold of it in a close fight. Seems logical.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what picture of Conan I had when I first read the stories, they were in a hardcover with no dust cover.
Evan, it's actually an accurate illo because the character isn't Conan. He's Valerius, a secondary character in the story, the captive queen's loyal captain of the guard who carries her to safety while the monster lumbers out behind them. Conan rides in from the wings with an outlaw army. There have been many questionable and baffling renderings of Conan, but in fairness to the AVR artist, this wasn't one of them.
ReplyDeleteGood catch, Fred!
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