Barry Windsor Smith is most famous for his amazing work on Conan the barbarian though fewer people know of his equally amazing work on the other barbarian, Ka-Zar Lord of the jungle!
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Stunning splash page of Astonishing Tales #6, June 1971 |
In the early 70's Barry Windsor Smith was breaking all kinds of new ground and Marvel-ites were treated to a new anthology on the news stands called Astonishing Tales featuring superstar super-villain, Dr. Doom by the legendary EC comics alumnus Wally Wood on art duties and a Ka-Zar strip by the brilliant newcomer, Barry Windsor Smith.
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cover of Astonishing Tales #6, June 1971by big John Buscema |
Up until this time
Barry had appeared in a number of
Marvel comics like
The Avengers and
X-Men though his previous appearances were done in a crude
Kirby-esque style.
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The Uncanny X-Men #53, Feb, 1969, Barry's first professional work at Marvel. |
For
Astonishing Tales Smith employed a much more original and lyrical style. It's amazing to think that while drawing these 10 pages he was also drawing 20 pages of
Conan #6. That's 30 pages in one month and at such a high level.
By Issue 6 of
Astonishing tales,
Barry's artistic powers and attention to detail had grown to an incredible
extent. The fact that
it was inked by the Golden Age great,
Bill
Everett didn’t hurt none either. Bill has this delicate quality that perfectly enhances Smith's finely detailed art.
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Bill Everett's subtle and lyrical work on Sub-Mariner #50 |
And while I’m not 100% sure, it looks as if this
issue may have also been colored by
Smith
as well. With this issue I can see some of what he took
on into his mature 80’s style when he drew and colored mostly
covers for Marvel like the Conan Saga reprint book though he would occasionally come out with an issue of
X-men or
Iron Man.
And for an added bonus here are a few pages of inks for your viewing pleasure.
Barry Smith's talent seemed to shine much more brightly in these sort of fantasy stories than in typical super-hero tales. I wonder how we would have fared on a series like Thor that often included elements of both. His work on Ka-Zar was exquisite.
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