Conan The Barbarian #1 pg 10

A friend once described Castellini's work to me as "John Buscema on crack". It's an apt description, and Buscema's influence on Claudio couldn't be more clear than in his depiction of Conan.

I remember picking up this story in high school after falling for Claudio's super-stylized art in the DC versus Marvel crossover. It's a shame we've only seen periodic work from Claudio here in the U.S. I am a HUGE fan of the two-part Darth Vader story he drew in Star Wars Tales issue 1 & 2.

As an aside, one of the cool things about owning original art is finding hidden gems on the sides or the back of the bristol. In this case, inker Matt Ryan added a fun little signature to the back you can see in the additional image below.