The Original Marvel Years Omnibus
Volume 1
by Roy Thomas
So, here's the deal: if you want the contents of the Marvel / Curtis Savage Sword of Conan (SSOC; 235 issues, August 1974 - July 1995) black-and-white comic magazine, as well as the first five issues of the black-and-white comic magazine Savage Tales (May 1971 - July 1974) that featured Conan and other REH characters, you can:
-try and buy more-or-less intact copies of the original magazines from dealers, often for very steep prices;
-purchase the 22 trade paperback compilations of SSOC issued by Dark Horse from 2008 - 2016;
-or purchase this new 'Omnibus' collection from Marvel, which apparently is going to compile all 235 issues of SSOC, and the first five issues of Savage Tales.
Well, I decided to spend some money on Omnibus Vol. 1.
The photo below should give you an idea of how it looks size-wise compared to the original magazine and a representative volume of the Dark Horse compilation:
At 1072 pages, Vol. 1 includes the contents of the first five issues of Savage Tales, as well as SSOC 1 - 12 and the cover art from a reprint package 'Super Special' from the Summer of 1975.
Along with the comics, you get the covers in full color; the letters pages; the advertisements; and the photoessays that were used to pad out each issue.
As with all the Marvel 'Omnibus' books, this one is well-made, with glossy paper, crisp reproductions, and a strong binding that is necessary for a book that weighs 6 pounds.
In his Introduction, Roy Thomas reminiscences about the creative and editorial chaos that accompanied the creation of Savage Tales and then SSOC, chaos occasioned by the sometimes capricious and arbitrary decision-making processes of editor Stan Lee.
But there's no denying that these early issues were the best in the series. Now that you can see the artwork reproduced on glossy paper, it's all the more impressive what talents like Barry Windsor-Smith, Alfredo Alcala, and John Buscema (among others) were able to bring to each issue.
Thomas states that Lee's major ambition with SSOC was to compete with the Warren magazines, and in this regard, Lee succeeded. Indeed, I would make the case that comics publishing as a whole has yet to match the caliber of the work presented in those early issues of SSOC.
The verdict ? Scrape your dollars together, eat nothing but Ramen for a week if you have to, and grab a copy of Savage Sword of Conan: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Volume 1.
Because the sad truth is that the speculators will buy up their copies, and a year from now, when the book is out of print, they will show up at amazon selling the book for several hundred dollars. It's best to act now, rather than later.............
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