MY FAVORITE COMICS - Kull the Conqueror

   

To some, Kull the Conqueror might be remembered as a second rate version of Conan the Barbarian. Fair enough, I can understand that point of view, even if I disagree. You see, I had the privilege of being introduced to Kull through the art and craft of Ross Andru teamed up with Wallace Wood, followed by subsequent stories drawn by Marie and John Severin. To a nine year old kid, that artwork was transcendent and seemed like something retrieved from an ancient time and place, very much in tune with the story contents. John Severin's inking gave weight to the figures and a degree of ruggedness and texture to the backgrounds that echoed Hal Foster's work on Prince Valiant, creating a unique world, as beautiful and frightening as our own, at least to a child's sensibility. 

Unlike the cimmerian barbarian, which I found stupid and brutal, there was a tragic nobility to King Kull's character, a sort of romantic dimension, that I found incredibly captivating as a kid and which I could not find on Conan. Still, that might not have charmed me if it were not for the artwork. Sure, John Buscema was "the artist" on post-Kirby marvel comics and as far as I'm concerned his Conan is the ultimate version of the character, but Andru/Wood and the Severin sister/brother team brought an eye to detail and setting which grounded the artwork and made Kull and, most importantly, his world, every bit as visually appealing as the cimmerian's (if not more imho).

Personal favorite after the "origin" tale : The King And The Oak, which, ironically, wasn't published on Kull's own mag but on Conan the Barbarian #10. Check it out! 

MY FAVORITE COMICS - Marvel Treasury Edition The Astonishing Spider-Man #18

This one was my gateway into the Marvel universe way back in the late 1970s and I must say I was scared. I still couldn't read but I was smart enough to follow the story though the drawings and they generated strong emotions in me. Nowadays I'd probably list this as horror fiction and like the best horror it made me feel simultaneously repulsed and attracted to this strange world. I already knew Spider-man from the animation tv series with the catchy intro song (Spider-man, Spider-man, does whatever a spider can ...) and all the related merchandise but seeing him on print felt different: I found him scary! The guest-heroes on this book (the original X-Men, the Werewolf, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist) seemed like monsters and the villains... well, if the heroes were scary, then the villains were the stuff of nightmares. To this day I can still remember the unmasking of The Orb, villain on the Ghost Rider adventure, and the strange fate of Drom, the Backwards Man, villain on the Iron Fist segment. There are so many images from this comic that I still find haunting like the covers by Bob Budiansky and Ernie Chan or the initial splash page of the X-Men crossover, pencilled by Gil Kane and featuring Peter Parker having a nightmare with Morbius the Living Vampire. Imagination unbound!