Conan is returning to Marvel in January 2019. That’s so, so, so very close. I’m excited! Are you excited? There’s only one right answer, so choose your next words wisely.
Marvel began publishing Conan the Barbarian in 1970. I’ve heard Roy Thomas tell the story numerous times at HeroesCon of how they landed the rights to the property (and he has great stories, including one about an ocelot eating fried chicken). Essentially, the story boils down to this: Marvel wanted a licensed fantasy comic book! After talks fell through to get Lin Carter’s Thongor (who it is said that Stan Lee wanted because he thought it was a super-cool name), Roy Thomas made a bid to Conan’s literary agent, who accepted… and the rest is comic book history.
The original series lasted an astounding 275 issues with 12 annuals to boot. That’s a pretty hefty run for any title. I can almost guarantee the new Marvel title will never get to such lofty numerals due to their favored trend of renumbering every couple of years.
Personally, I only need around 20 issues to finish my collection of the original Conan the Barbarian from Marvel! I obtained a copy of the first issue back in January. I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally get a very nice copy of that first issue! Getting that issue was the defining moment of my comic book collecting hobby, which I have done for over thirty years now.
Though the main series would be cancelled in 1993, Marvel would publish Conan books through 2000, with Conan: Flame and the Fiend being the last miniseries published. Many of those hampered attempts at starting ongoing books and miniseries were awesome, but today I want to focus on the core Conan the Barbarian series.
With Conan returning to the House of Ideas, I wanted to offer up some Conan the Barbarian suggestions for curious readers or Conan fans wanting to take a trip down memory lane. I could give a blanket recommendation to read them all, but that’s lame. Most of these stories can be found in the Chronicles of Conan collections from Dark Horse, though some of the early volumes can be harder to find these days at affordable prices. Marvel also plans to collect the comics in omnibuses as well. Plus, Conan back issues are actually very affordable. Outside of those first few issues and a couple of others in between (specifically issues 1, 23, and 275), most Conan books can be found for around $1 Hit those back issues bins and make Crom proud!