The days of a single neat and tidy solicitation for all publishers are gone. Individual publishers’ listings will be posted on a monthly basis as I discover them, either from their websites or catalogues. As well crowdfunding provides an opportunity for smaller publishers.
Conan The Barbarian – Colossal Edition
Return to an age undreamed of — witness kingdoms shining like never before, and voyage with a black-haired, sullen-eyed reaver with mirths and melancholies that have literally never been this big! Pulled from throughout the original legendary run of CONAN comics and magazines, gathered into one place for the first time ever, timeless works by the greatest chroniclers of the Hyborian Age are assembled in CONAN THE BARBARIAN – COLOSSAL EDITION!
Boasting more than 190 pages of original art reproduced at their original size, allowing every detail to sing — every muscle, every sword, every drop of blood and bead of sweat — the book presents glorious full-color reproductions of the original art, from inked lineart to beautiful gray washes, and even vivid paintings from the Cimmerian’s comic book adventures.
Art this good needs a worthy presentation — and master designer IAN CHALGREN (as seen on Cartoonist Kayfabe) pulled out all the stops, with brand-new text pieces by writer, editor, and comics historian CHRIS RYALL (Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History), and an original introduction by ROY THOMAS, unparalleled scribe of these timeless tales of the world’s most popular barbarian.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN – COLOSSAL EDITION is divided into three sections; the first three each shine a torchlight on the work of one of the greatest sword-and-sorcery artists of all time: JOHN BUSCEMA, GIL KANE, and BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH. Each section pulls pages from the decades of incomparable artistry that filled the pages of CONAN THE BARBARIAN, KING CONAN, THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN, GIANT-SIZE CONAN, SAVAGE TALES, WHAT IF, CONAN THE BARBARIAN MOVIE SPECIAL, and more!
Each artist’s section is presented in chronological order, so you can see how their individual approaches changed over the course of decades, all bracketing the centerpiece of this collection — the complete story “DEVIL-WINGS OVER SHADIZAR” from CONAN THE BARBARIAN #6 by ROY THOMAS, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, and SAL BUSCEMA, with every page presented in full incredible detail.
Finally, the book concludes with an extended section of key pages by other incredible artists — some regularly associated with CONAN and some thrilling surprises, including: ART ADAMS, NEAL ADAMS, ALFREDO ALCALA, ENRIQUE ALCATENA, ERNIE CHAN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, JOE CHOIDO, TIM CONRAD, GEOF ISHERWOOD, GARY KWAPISZ, JIM LEE, ESTEBAN MAROTO, JOHN MCCREA, RUDY NEBRES, ALEX NINO, KEVIN NOWLAN, TONY SALMONS, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, ALEX TOTH, and JORGE ZAFFINO.
In collaboration with Zoop, we present two special covers of CONAN THE BARBARIAN – COLOSSAL EDITION, neither of which will be available in stores: the Zoop-Exclusive JIM LEE cover and the JOHN BUSCEMA wraparound cover, with a limited amount signed by the legendary ROY THOMAS!
Conan the Barbarian – Colossal Edition is being published by PAN-UNIVERSAL GALACTIC WORLDWIDE, a Southern California-based creative production company specializing in custom publishing, talent consulting, and creating the best comics, games, prose, art books, RPGs and more. PUG-W’s leadership includes CEO John Nee, a highly experienced transmedia executive and entrepreneur with 30 years of experience in comics, video games, tabletop games, and collectibles at DC, Image, Marvel and Cryptozoic, and Editor-In-Chief John Barber, former writer and editor at IDW and Marvel.
- Pan-Universal Galactic Worldwide, Spring 2024
- ISBN TBA
- 12″ x 17″, 190+ pages, hardcover
- $150 USD, $200 USD Signed Edition
- Order online: Zoop (Campaign ends December 2, 2023)
This is an exciting project, but raises some questions. Based on the text it sounds like the book will be released via retail (we present two special covers of CONAN THE BARBARIAN – COLOSSAL EDITION, neither of which will be available in stores). This is widely open to interpretation at this point, as that possibility may well rest on the success of this campaign. If you want this book, and most of us do, then order via Zoop to guarantee you get a copy. I do plan to get extras for this site like I did with the previous Zoop AE campaign.
The second is the publisher, Pan-Universal Galactic Worldwide. They have no website and no social media accounts. First mentions on the company on comics sites appeared the day this campaign launched. Thankfully Zoop is a known company with a successful track record for this format with John Paul Leon’s The Winter Men Artist’s Edition.
