#steve gan

[the-gershomite]

Conan the Barbarian #58 -January 1976- Marvel Comics

"Queen of the Black Coast!"

adapted from the story by Robert E. Howard

writer & editor: Roy Thomas

artist: John Buscema

embellisher: Steve Gan

colors: Michele Wolfman

letters: Joe Rosen & John Costanza

[masterblazkowicz95]

Star-Lord vs Cayde-6 (Marvel vs Destiny)

Connections:

Gunslinging space guardian leaders of their respective sci-fi verses.

Both hail from Earth and are part human, part something else in some way (Star-Lord is a half-human, half-alien hybrid while Cayde-6 is an Exo, former humans turned into robots while still acting mostly human).

Skilled with their shots as they primarily wield an exotic firearms as their main weapons of choice (Element Guns and Ace of Spades).

Can manipulate a solar cosmic energy that they received from extraterrestrial beings (Star-Lord's Master of the Sun powers being unlocked by Ragnar and Cayde-6's Solar Light being granted to him by the Traveller).

They can use this solar cosmic energy and channel it through their guns for powerful and devastating blasts (Star-Lord utilizing his Master of the Sun powers through his Element Guns and Cayde-6 using his Light to enhance his Ace of Spades revolver by creating the Golden Gun).

Both are members of a heroic space-fairing team dedicated into fighting off cosmic threats and protecting lives (the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Guardians).

They also serving as leading figures of their respective guardian teams (Star-Lord being the group's leader and Cayde-6 serving as the Hunter Vanguard).

Both fought many challenging battles facing off dangerous cosmic threats and as they experienced many hardships and horrors, it has taken on a toll on their psyches and weighed them down.

Snarky, gruff, roughish, and charming heroes with a humorous edge to their tongues but when the situation calls for it, both can get rather serious and determined, willing to lay down their lives necessary at a moment's notice and fight great evils beyond the stars to the best of their abilities for the sake of keeping their cosmic neighborhoods safe.

[smashedpages]

On this day in 1975, Star-Lord, aka Peter Quill, made his first appearance in Marvel Preview #4 in a story by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan!

[downthetubes]

Gray Morrow’s gorgeous cover art for Marvel Preview #4, the first Starlord strip. The strip itself in that issue was drawn by Steve Gan

[marvelousmrm]

Marvel Preview #4 (Englehart/Gan, Jan 1976). The first appearance of Peter Jason Quill, Star-Lord! His origin is pretty shocking for how much the movie retained — Quill is a dick, alienated from others by his mother’s death. Instead of being abducted by aliens, he spends his life training to be an astronaut. He commits murder to ensure he’s chosen for making first contact, and is rewarded with flight, an elemental gun, and a cool helmet. It’s a wild tale informed by Englehart’s interest in astrology. Not sure when Quill links up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, who still have a largely unfamiliar roster.

[rocket-prose]

Original art (pencils) by John Buscema, with inks by Tony DeZuñiga, along with members of “The Tribe,” including Steve Gan, Rudy Mesina, and Freddie Fernandez.

This is from The Savage Sword of Conan #5 (Marvel, 1975)... adapting the “A Witch Shall Be Born” story by Robert E. Howard. 

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

[thisiscomics]

“Behold the love dance of Bêlit!” is an unusual opening gambit before taking the floor, but I guess the Queen of the Black Coast isn’t going to get too many people mocking her for having an unusual approach to relationships. Not if they want to live, at least. You can see why Conan is taken in, any exotic Hyborian Age lovely drawn by John Buscema is going to hold some appeal to a man of his simple tastes.

It’s great that Marvel are celebrating Conan’s return with a few True Believers reprints, as it’s a cheap way to see some classic Conan with great art- Barry Windsor Smith and John Buscema in the ones I picked up this week- in remastered colour. I’m sure the massive omnibuses will be great (there’s a Conan The Barbarian one out now and The Savage Sword of Conan one is scheduled for March), but I don’t have $100 plus lying around for each of them, so I will happily make do with these reprints (and whatever volumes of Dark Horse’s Chronicles of Conan I have on the bookshelf) before picking up the new Conan books that Marvel has coming up- including a Bêlit series.

It is not currently known if her love dance will feature.....

From True Believers: Conan - Queen Of The Black Coast! 1 (reprint of Conan The Barbarian 58), by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Steve Gan, Michele Wolfman, John Costanza & Joe Rosen