SAVAGE TALES NO. 1 (PART 2)

SAVAGE TALES NO. 1 (PART 1)

SAVAGE TALES

Vol. 1 No. 1

May 1971

Magazine Management Co. Inc. (Marvel Comics)

Editor: Stan Lee

Associate Editor: Roy Thomas

Cover: John Buscema

Pages: 68

Cover price: 50 cents

CONTENTS

"The Frost Giant's Daughter" (reprinted from Conan the Barbarian #16 (July 1972; pages 2-12 revised)

Script: Robert E. Howard (original short story); Roy Thomas (adaptation)

Pencils: Barry Smith

Inks: Barry Smith

Letters: Artie Simek

"The Fury of the Femizons"

Script: Stan Lee

Pencils: John Romita

Inks: John Romita

Letters: Sam Rosen

"Man-Thing"

Script: Roy Thomas (plot); Gerry Conway (dialogue)

Pencils: Gray Morrow

Inks: Gray Morrow

Letters: Gray Morrow

"Black Brother!"

Script: Sergius O'Shaughnessy (Denny O'Neil)

Pencils: Gene Colan; Bill Everett

Inks: Tom Palmer; Bill Everett

Letters: Artie Simek; Morrie Kuramoto

"The Night of the Looter!"

Script: Stan Lee

Pencils: John Buscema

Inks: John Buscema

Letters: Sam Rosen

Stan Lee did a good job of luring readers to his new full-size comic magazine by using the ultra-popular Conan as the headliner. Ostensibly a sword and sorcery-themed mag, it also features the first appearance of the muck monster, Man-Thing, as well as a black main character who fights crime in the inner-city scripted by Denny O'Neil. In ALTER EGO #81 , Roy Thomas explained:

"...there were several things that led to Savage Tales being cancelled after that first issue. Martin Goodman had never really wanted to do a non-Code comic, probably because he didn't want any trouble with the over it. Nor did he really want to get into magazine-format comics; and Stan really did. So Goodman looked for an excuse to cancel it."

Lee was after a share of Warren's comic magazines, but publisher Martin Goodman didn't want to hassle with the potential problem of its mature content (remember, it was the 70's). ST disappeared off the stands after this first issue, but a re-launch years later reinvigorated interest and it became a long-running 'zine with Conan at the helm.