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First look:
CLASSIC CONAN REMASTERED
Update 031022 :
Interview with SCOTT ALLIE
Conan.com recently caught up with editor Scott Allie to discuss some of the production issues regarding the upcoming CHRONICLES OF CONAN series, which reprints the classic 24-issue run of Conan the Barbarian comics by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith (actually the series will reprint more than these twenty-four issues, but more about that later).
Though these early Conan issues have seen reprint many times in the past--from b&w paperback versions back in the ‘70s to a facsimile run by Marvel in ‘90s (remember their Classic Conan imprint?)--the Dark Horse Chronicles program marks the first time that digital coloring has been brought into the mix. “We wanted to apply what’s known as ‘The New Realism’ to the art, which means things like glows and colored line art effects, which used to be too difficult or time-consuming in the past. But that doesn’t mean we want the coloring to compete with the art, so you won’t be seeing technical tricks like lens flares, blurs, or reflections.”
Two different shops, Digital Chameleon and Udon, which were selected from a wide field, are doing the digital coloring. “We tried out several digital houses,” revealed Allie. “Based on their audition pieces we gave them feedback and worked out how to proceed.” Each volume of Chronicles of Conan be done by one color studio in order to preserve consistency across the line. “We do at least two passes on each page,” reports Allie, who credits his work with Mike Mignola and colorist Dave Stewart on the Hellboy books with being his greatest influences in color design (he also recently edited The Art of Mike Mignola).
The some 600 pages of artwork were acquired not from Marvel but rather a foreign publisher in northern Europe. “Obviously the original art has been scattered to the winds, and we didn’t want to have to scan printed sources or go through stacks of Marvel’s print film, which not have even been possible,” reports the Dark Horse editor. “Luckily we found an archive of high-quality [stats] of the line art for the entire series. Conan was a black-and-white book in that market and their archives were flawless; even the original [English language] lettering was intact, which was a real blessing.”
Digital masters were created from these archives and provided to the digital houses. The original comics were not used for reference or guides. “We wanted a fresh take, not a rehash,” states Allie. “There was a different attitude when [the comics] were originally produced. The priorities were different then; comics were just disposable entertainment.”
All of Barry Windsor-Smith’s interior artwork will be collected--including “Red Nails” from the Savage Sword of Conan magazine--but some covers remain lost, acknowledges Allie. “Barry did some fantastic cover paintings for Savage Sword and later Epic, but we haven’t been able to find textless masters of the se pieces. Apparently they only exist in printed form, and with so much clutter on the image, let alone the poor quality a printed source proves, it’s just not viable to go that route.” So for now those paintings will remain tantalizingly out of reach for fans of Windsor-Smith’s Conan art.
Originally planned as a three-volume series, in now appears that the Chronicles of Conan will expand to include a fourth volume. “When Barry left the title in the middle of a story arc, so we wanted to include the two additional issues, which feature art by Steve Buscema, that wrap up the storyline,” explains Allie. “If there’s the demand for it we’d be very happy to continue the Chronicles well into the Buscema era.”
These page samples are from the upcoming The Chronicles of Conan Volume One, which arrives in stores September 17, 2003. Collecting the first eight issues of the legendary 24-issue run by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith. These classics first debuted in 1970 from Marvel Comics, yet this marks the first time they’ve been “remastered” for today’s standards for quality. Digitally re-colored throughout, the Chronicles of Conan collections also feature corrected text and rare material not seen for some 30 years. This high-quality trade paperback ($15.95 list price) inaugurates Dark Horse’s ambitious Conan publishing program, which will see the Busiek/Nord version of Conan launching in early 2004.
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