Monday, March 03, 2014

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Conan the Barbarian #25

Gil Kane excelled at drawing swords. He also excelled at drawing serpents. These were two of the key reasons he was an excellent choice for Conan the Barbarian covers. In fact, if you scan the cover gallery for any Marvel sword and sorcery series from the 70s, you're likely to spot at least one Kane cover.This is a particularly good one, as I have always been a fan of covers that use a 'Through the Looking Glass' gimmick. This one is actually a collaboration between Gil Kane and Ralph Reese. Reese provided the layout and inks, while the finished pencils were provided by Kane. I like their work as a team quite a bit, and my only real complaint about this cover is the choice of colours for the background, as contrast between the grey and the yellow does not help the image jump off the page. I also question the colour choice for evil sorcerer figure, as he fades a bit too much into the background. Overall, it is a decent final product but not top tier as far as Bronze Age Kane covers go.

4 comments:

Benoît Leblanc said...

Kane drew many memorable Conan covers. We're fortunate that he saw a good opportunity to make more money by handling so many covers in the '70s! Conan is usually associated with Frazetta, Smith and Buscema... but Kane drew many iconic Conan pictures over the years!

Adam said...

Please keep doing this stuff, Scott. I hate it when you're away. This is my favourite blog.

Scott M said...

Benoit - you are so right. He was all over the Marvel cover landscape during that decade. Some great, great pieces. I'll be sure to feature more of them

Adam - thanks for the kind works. I truly appreciate them.

Unknown said...

Very nice art and blog