Marvel Comics published 55 issues of a King Conan series from 1980-1989 (retitled Conan the King from #20-onward)
King Conan (1980)
Category: Marvel Bronze Age
Creatures on the Loose V1 (1971)
Tower of Shadows was re titled Creatures on the Loose with issue #10 (March 1971), this version led off with a seven-page King Kull story by Thomas and artist Bernie Wrightson. The book then became all-reprint until issue #16 (March 1972), when writer Thomas and the art team of Gil Kane and Bill Everett introduced the series “Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars”, starring an interplanetary Earthman created by author Edwin L. Arnold in his 1905 book Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation. Following another issue by Thomas and one by Gerry Conway, science fiction novelist George Alec Effinger wrote the final three installments.
Effinger continued as writer for the series that immediately followed, in issue #22 (March 1973): “Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria!”, adapting asword-and-sorcery barbarian character created by author Lin Carter. Following writers Tony Isabella and Gardner Fox, Carter himself co-wrote (with Steve Gerber) the final two installments.
Thomas, Marvel’s associate editor at the time, recalled in 2007 that Thongor had been the company’s first choice when Marvel decided to published a licensed fantasy character, rather than the eventual hit Conan the Barbarian. Publisher Martin Goodman “authorized us to go after a character. I first went after Lin Carter’s Thongor, who was a quasi-Conan with elements of John Carter of Mars, partly became editor-in-chiefStan Lee liked that name the most … I soon got stalled by Lin Carter’s agent on Thongor (he was hoping I’d offer more than the $150 per issue I was authorized to offer), and I got a sudden impulse to go after Conan”.
Silver Surfer V2 (1982)
The galactic herald returns in this jam-packed one-shot! Silver Surfer recalls happier times with the Fantastic Four. With Norrin Radd becoming a distant memory with each passing day, will Surfer ever recover the man he once was? Surfer returns to his homeland Zenn-La to find absolute devastation. A new quest begins for Silver Surfer — one that involves finding his soulmate, Shalla Bal!
Werewolf by Night (1972)
The Werewolf by Night character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2 (Feb. 1972) and was based on an idea by Roy Thomas. The series name was suggested by Stan Lee and the debut story was crafted by Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog. The character made additional appearances in Marvel Spotlight #3 and #4 and then graduated to his own eponymous series in September 1972. Werewolf by Night was published for 43 issues and ran through March 1977. Issue #32 contains the first appearance of Moon Knight. Jack Russell co-starred with Tigra in Giant Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), which was the first appearance of Greer Grant as Tigra instead of the Cat. That series was retitled Giant-Size Werewolf with its second issue.
Moon Knight V1 (1980)
Moon Knight received his first ongoing series in 1980, with Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz as its main creative team. The character received an expanded origin story in issue #1, which also introduced several recurring characters as well as recurring enemy Bushman. The series depicted several characters who doubted the moon god Khonshu was real and believed Marc Spector only experienced a hallucination while near death. It was never explained why other characters, such as Spector’s lover Marlene, concluded this when there was no other explanation for Marc’s spontaneous recovery from his wounds and a death-like state and when it was well known by this time that many gods of myth in the Marvel Universe (such as Thor and Zeus) were real, living entities from other dimensions and planets.
After early sales were good, Marvel made the Moon Knight series a flagship title available in comic shops starting with issue #15. The companion mini-series Moon Knight: Special Edition reprinted the Hulk and Marvel Preview Moon Knight stories in color and standard comic format, as opposed to their original magazine format. Sienkiewicz left the series after issue #30, though he continued to contribute covers until the series ended with issue #38.
Giant Size Creatures/Werewolf (1974)
The Werewolf by Night character (birth name Jacob Russoff, legal name Jacob Russell, nicknamed Jack) first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2 (Feb. 1972) and was based on an idea by Roy Thomas. The series name was suggested by Stan Lee and the debut story was crafted by Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog. The character made additional appearances in Marvel Spotlight #3 and #4 and then graduated to his own eponymous series in September 1972. Jack Russell co-starred with Tigra in Giant Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), which was the first appearance of Greer Grant as Tigra instead of the Cat. That series was retitled Giant-Size Werewolf with its second issue.
Doctor Strange V2 (1980’s)
Strange met his allies Topaz in #75 (Feb, 1986) and Rintrah in #80 (December 1986). The series ended with a cliffhanger as his home, the Sanctum Sanctorum, was heavily damaged during a battle. Among the losses was Doctor Strange’s entire collection of mystic books and other important artifacts. As a consequence, Strange was now considerably weaker and several spells designed to protect humanity from vampires and the evil serpent god Set expired.
The title was discontinued so that the character’s adventures could be transferred to another split book format series. Strange Tales vol. 2, #1-19 (April 1987 – Oct. 1988) was shared with street heroes Cloak and Dagger. This new Doctor Strange series resolved Strange’s quest to reclaim his power and missing artifacts, as well as resurrecting the Defenders, who had died in the last issue of that team’s title.
Adventure into Fear (1974)
Morbius, the Living Vampire, introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Oct. 1971), became the starring feature with Adventure into Fear #20 (Feb. 1974), and continued through the rest of the run. After a single issue by writer Mike Friedrich and penciler Paul Gulacy, Steve Gerber wrote several issues in which Morbius went on a picaresque interdimensional journey and fought the Caretakers of Arcturus and was advised by the eyeball-headed character I. Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo followed, successively, as the feature’s writers. Its round-robin of artists included Gil Kane, P. Craig Russell, Frank Robbins, George Evans, and Don Heck. Back up reprints shortly resumed in issue #20. Morbius would receive his own short-lived comic-book series in the 1990s.
Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner is a comic book adaptation of the film Blade Runner, published by Marvel Comics in 1982. It was written by Archie Goodwin with art by Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon with Dan Green and Ralph Reese.
This film adaptation includes one possible explanation of the title’s significance in story context: the narrative line, “Blade runner. You’re always movin’ on the edge.”
This was a reprint of issue 22 of the Marvel Comics Super Special series of titles, which by this time only printed Marvel’s movie adaptations, but without the feature content contained in the special.
Astonishing Tales V1 (1970)
The final feature in Astonishing Tales starred and introduced Deathlok, a conflicted cyborg who predated the popular movie character RoboCop by several years and has become one of the most enduring Marvel characters among those introduced in the 1970s; at least two major iterations of the character, featuring different individuals, starred in series in the 1990s and 2000s. Created by artist Rich Buckler, who devised the initial concept, and writer Doug Moench, the feature ran from #25-28 and 30-36 (Aug. 1974 – Feb. 1975 and June 1975 – July 1976), the final issue. Bill Mantlo scripted issues #32-35, with Buckler himself scripting the finale. Buckler described Deathlok as “an extension of a paranoid fantasy. He was a representation of part of my outlook and world view. He was a culmination of many of the messages in some of the music of the time. He was part of some of the things going wrong in our country at the time. Maybe he was the science that was going wrong.Artist George Pérez made his professional comics debut with a two-page backup feature in issue #25.
EHT Comics 