Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got nine new comics.

Hoax Hunters – 12

The Massive – 17

Mind MGMT – 17

Revival – 15

Saga – 16

Thief of Thieves – 18

The Walking Dead – 117

Pretty Deadly – 2

Black Science – 1

This week’s comic book cover to look at and examine is “Conan” #77 by Gil Kane and Ernie Chan from August 1977. This is another comic from my childhood hence it’s in pretty beaten up shape. This was the first issue of Conan I ever bought back right before the summer I turned eleven. I’m pretty sure it was the cover that made me buy it. I mean that’s a dramatic cover.

This cover is a variation on the classic “Between the Legs” composition. That’s when one character is framed between the legs of another character. Usually I see it in movie posters and it’s supposed to be sexy but not here. Here it’s menacing. It’s also only one leg and a door frame but you get the idea.

First off Conan is small on this cover and everything is done to make the monster look big. We have the “Ten Feet Tall” copy and the dramatic perspective. But Conan is not small and weak by a long shot. He’s drawn to be coiled and powerful. He’s got gritted teeth, his sword at the ready, and a strong wide stance. He won’t be go down easily. He’s even reaching out to the monster because he ain’t afraid!

The color on this cover works for me. The monster is knocked out in a blueish grey and sort of disappears into a monolithic mass. It sits there in the foreground being a threat from the shadows. Meanwhile Conan is in full sparking daylight awaiting his fate in the arena.

I read a lot online about people who aren’t fans of Ernie Chan’s work but I am. I like his inks. He tends to be more overpowering than most inkers but I like the solidity his ink bring. Things seem to be made out of stone when he inks them. Not all the same stone either. A variety of stones. Conan looks solid as a pillar but not like an actual pillar. Everything is heavy, grounded, and dramatic here.

And, of course, how cool is it that there are skulls in the foreground? Four of them by my count. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that the monster would keep skulls and bones in the doorway that he has to walk through but they sure are intimidating. Maybe they’re not there all the time and he puts them there to make an entrance. See that. There is a lot of story going on in this cover.