Sunday 8 January 2017

Swords Of Cerebus Vol 1: Cerebus #2

Swords Of Cerebus Vol 1
(2nd Edition, March 1982)

PAUL SLADE:
Published between 1981 and 1984, Dave's six Swords Of Cerebus volumes were his first attempt to collect the book in a more permanent form. He gave each story included in these volumes a prose introduction, explaining where the book stood when he’d been working on that particular issue and how he was thinking of its prospects at the time. This example's taken from Swords volume 1. Also check out the full 'Swords Of Cerebus' Introductions Index.

Barry Smith (or Barry Windsor-Smith as he soon became) was the first artist on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian comic, which debuted in October 1970. The book, written by Roy Thomas, became a surprising hit for Marvel, spawning several spin-off titles such as Savage Sword of Conan (presumably Dave's inspiration for the titling of these volumes) and Red Sonja. Thomas and Smith's The Frost Giant's Daughter, which Dave mentions here, appeared in Conan #16, published in July 1972.

Swords Of Cerebus Vol 1 (1981)
Cerebus #2:
"The name of the game at this time was 'Look as much like Barry Smith as possible'," says Dave.

Next week: The generous wizardry of Frank Thorne. 

1 comment:

Jeff Seiler said...

That second panel, showing Cerebus marching between the two hulking soldiers, reminds me of my cat. He's all grey, too, and even though he stands just less than a foot off the ground, he's never met a person (or another animal) that he was afraid of.

Well, except for my former landlady's four-year-old son. My cat was terrified of and by that boy.

"Kitty!"