Dan-Thing Archives: Conan the Barbarian #13

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Barry Smith, Barry Windsor Smith, Chronicles of Conan, Conan, Conan the Barbarian, giant spiders, Marvel Comics, Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, spider, web of the spider god

Up from the primordial muck slithers… the Dan-Thing! In his oozing fist, he clutches a time capsule: Marvel comic books from 1972! Our muck-stomping friend the Dan-Thing asked that we share these bronze age beauties with you for education and inspiration.

Dan-Thing’s archival copy of Web of the Spider-God came without a cover but is otherwise intact. In fact, it kicks major ass! We didn’t expect much from a beat up old copy of Conan. Fitting, because Conan gets beat up pretty badly at the opening of this story. But we were admittedly just as wrong as Conan’s foes who thought him defeated. This story rose up to rock and roll with the best of them, coming out on top as perhaps our favorite of the famous Roy Thomas / Barry Windsor-Smith classics.

Although we have seen Conan in the excessively awesome Marvel Treasury format, he seems just as much larger than life on these regular pages. We admit a preference for the first fifty issues of the Dark Horse Conan series, especially with the amazing Cary Nord painted look. But the more we discover the classic Marvel series, the more we find to like.

And now — into the pit of the giant spiders! YES!

Collector’s Guide: From Conan the Barbarian #13; Marvel, 1972. Reprinted in Chronicles of Conan #2; Dark Horse, 2003.

2000AD: Flesh 17!

Tags

2000AD, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Flesh, Flesh the Dino Files, giant spiders, Pat Mills, time travel

By the 23rd Century, most animals had been destroyed. Man survived on synthetic foods alone. But he still craved real meat. With the discovery of time travel, he was able to go in search of it — back 65 million years to the Age of the Great Dinosaurs!

Mars Will Send No More celebrates the original epic Flesh from 2000 AD magazine, by Pat Mills, and starring Old One Eye, the mother of Satanus! Now fire up your electric whip and get ready for major dinosaur mayhem!

Collector’s Guide: Collected in Flesh: The Dino Files TPB; Rebellion, 2011. Originally printed in 2000 AD #1-19; Fleetway, 1977.

I Grew Him Myself from a Single Cell!

Tags

Dark Horse Comics, Dark Horse Presents, dinosaur, giant spiders, Indie Comics, jungle

Dark Horse Presents is where Frank Miller’s Sin City and Paul Chadwick’s Concrete first appeared, among other things. DHP also featured licensed properties like Aliens and Predator. For an anthology title, it had some pretty great moments. Let’s take a look at one of our favorite short stories. It has a theme you know we love: giant spiders!

Collector’s Guide: From Dark Horse Presents.