I'm thrilled to own a Mark Schultz original from a book that immediately became a treasured keeper for me upon purchase, the first of a three-volume set which collected the original and unedited versions of only those Conan stories written by Howard. Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932–1933) was originally published in 2002 in the United Kingdom in an expensive collectors' hardbound edition by Wandering Star Books, and the following year in the United States by Ballantine/Del Rey as a mass-market paperback under the title, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian.

For this first volume, Mark conceived and rendered something close to eighty beautiful illustrations and paintings. The vast majority of these disappeared long ago into private collections, to surface only spottily here at ComicArtFans. (Volumes two and three were illustrated by Gary Gianni and Gregory Manchess, respectively.)

This drawing was done as a chapter header for the very first Conan story written and published, The Phoenix on the Sword. In this tale, Robert E. Howard's immortal character is middle-aged. He's previously slain the tyrant King Numedides, and seated himself on the throne of Aquilonia, the greatest kingdom of Howard's mythical Hyborian Age.

Unfortunately, Conan finds the crown to have been easier to win than to hold, and he's beset by intrigues from some of his reluctant subjects and by the mystical interference of the Stygian wizard Thoth-amon, making his only on-camera appearance here in any story by Howard.

Thoth conjures a nightmare entity to take vengeance on someone who enslaved him, and the Cimmerian happens merely to have the misfortune of being in the way. The appearance of this demon on the scene is described thusly: "Upon him crouched a great black thing which he knew was born in no sane or human world. Its slavering black fangs were near his throat and the glare of its yellow eyes shrivelled his limbs as a killing wind shrivels young corn." And:

"The hideousness of its face transcended mere bestiality. It might have been the face of an ancient, evil mummy, quickened with demoniac life. In those abhorrent features the outlaw's dilated eyes seemed to see, like a shadow in the madness that enveloped him, a faint and terrible resemblance to the slave Thoth-amon."

I think this drawing is pretty nifty. Would I have preferred an image with Conan? Sure. But subject matter aside, from interviews I've read with Mark over the years, I understand that the artists that influenced him have been some of my life-long favorites too.

So I can certainly see Frazetta here, and I can definitely spot Wally Wood in those bizarrely protruding eyes (see: Weird Fantasy #8's Mokos, from The Enemies of the Colony). And I think I can even detect some prime-period Wrightson in the looseness and lushness of the brush technique, and maybe some Reed Crandall from EC Picto-Fiction, to boot.

I'm looking forward to collecting more wonderful art by Mark Schultz in the near future.

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