A Marvel Legend Receives an Official Tribute, and We Have an Exclusive Excerpt

One of the most iconic comic book creators in the history of Marvel Comics is Barry Windsor-Smith, who is one of the small handful of living artists who was working at Marvel Comics in the 1960s. Barry Winsdsor-Smith became a household name in 1970 when he and Roy Thomas launched Conan the Barbarian (ironically, Smith was only the artist on the project because he was LESS well-known at the time, so his page rate was lower than Marvel's star artists at the time, and thus was affordable for Marvel even after the company paid the licensing fees for the Conan character).

However, Smith's work was exemplary even before he made his Conan debut, and Fantagraphics is going to celebrate Windsor-Smith's iconic Marvel career with a three-book collection of Windsor-Smith's Marvel comic book work, The Marvel Creator Collection: Barry Windsor-Smith, beginning with Volume 1, The Marvel Creator Collection No. 1: “Back to the Savage Land”, which is on sale right now!

CBR is lucky enough to share with you all an exclusive story from the collection, a little-known Chamber of Darkness story by Windsor-Smith and the late, great Gerry Conway!

How does Fantagraphics describe this collection?

In its press release for the project, Fantagraphics described it thusly:

From the moment Marvel brought him to the U.S. in 1969, Windsor-Smith was a creative force to be reckoned with. A passionate devotee of Jack Kirby, Windsor-Smith’s earliest drawing at Marvel reflected that influence, but he quickly developed his own unique, eye-opening style,combining intricately detailed realism with the dreamlike lushness of art nouveau to the classicism of the Pre-Raphaelites.

This volume focuses on the earliest of his work, including memorable storylines on The Avengers, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and individual stories for Chamber of Darkness, Tower of Shadows, and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. All new benchmarks of comics art, culminating in what may be the highlight of this period: Windsor-Smith’s creatively fecund, Conan-esque epic tale of civil war in Ka-Zar’s Savage Land.. Future volumes will trace Windsor-Smith’s career through such milestones as Machine Man and Weapon X.

Fantagraphics Publisher and Co-Founder Gary Groth added this about Barry Windsor-Smith, “I have literally been following Barry Windsor-Smith’s career since 1969 when he debuted at Marvel Comics and immediately became my 2nd favorite artist (after Jack Kirby). So, it is a distinct pleasure to have the privilege of finally presenting all the work he did for Marvel (with the exception of Conan) in a gorgeously produced 3-volume hardcover series.”

What occurs in the sample Barry Windsor-Smith story?

In this stunning short story by Conway and Smith (along with inks by Syd Shores, and letters from Sam Rosen), a young British woman tells her newly engaged American fiancee that the tree they are standing on was cursed by a warlock after being fatally pinned to the tree by a knight.

Dave, the American, tries to carve the names of him and his British fiance, Jane, into the tree to show that the curse is nonsense, but he is interrupted after only carving Jane's name. Later that night, Jane is called to the tree, and the warlock tries to get her to pull the sword from the tree, while Dave tries to get her to stop using the power of their love for each other.

Luckily, the tree is then struck by lightning, and destroyed. Jane, though, explains that she was never going to actually remove the sword, as Dave's love overpowered the curse.

The Marvel Creator Collection: Barry Windsor-Smith No. 1: “Back to the Savage Land” is on sale now.