I first read some of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories for the first time at the end of 2006. I’d already been exposed to the character via the Marvel comic series (which I never actually read but did skim the art whenever a new issue came out) and the Schwarzenegger films. By the time I read the stories the movies were fuzzy recollections. I’d enjoyed them but not enough to replay them in my mind and fix them in memory.
I did this sketch to see if I could find a Conan that was different than the one I knew from comics, especially John Buscema illustrated comics. I don’t think I did.
I’ve been reading some of the original Conan stories myself recently; whilst I much prefer Windsor-Smith as an artist it’s really hard not to imagine him as the Buscema version.
Most of the other pulp heroes have been depicted by a variety of artists so it’s easier to pick a version you like. With Conan it’s either Frazetta, Windsor-Smith or Buscema. And Buscema wins by having drawn hundreds more pictures than the other two.