Oh Boy!... A very vintage Conan page by Barry Windsor-Smith! Uh, ...and friends!
Well, looking at the credits and reading the letters pages in the consecutive issues of Conan from this period clearly shows that the massive success of the series since its inception was leading to a swift increase on demand, thus beginning to seriously take its toll on its star artist!
On top of increasing his output on Conan from a bi-monthly to a monthly schedule, he was also working simultaneously on Ka-Zar adventures (in Astonishing Tales), plus a few (key) issues on Avengers, Dr Strange (Marvel Premiere), Daredevil and Iron Man...
That is why things got a bit hectic after the first 15 issues of Conan, to the extent that Barry's leaving the strip was even officialy announced after the conclusion of the epic Conan/Elric crossover, probably with the idea for him to move on and explore new artistic endeavours.
Consequently, we first had to do with a reprint in issue 16 (a nice one, though!), followed by 2 issues by Gil Kane (then heralded as the new permanent artist on the book) before the almost unexpected return of BWS, back, no doubt, by popular demand, but for what turned out to be a short period only.
For, even if his Tarim Incarnate arc was a crowning glory (and a joy to behold!), it was a rather convoluted publishing affair (culminating in the last two issues being taken over for good by John Buscema). After a grandiose start in issue 19, we have a few pages in issue 20 that morph from comics to illustrated text, then a last-minute reprint in issue 22, leading to the absolute high-point of "The Song of Red Sonja", Barry's swansong on the title, not counting "Red Nails", soon to appear in Savage Tales (these last two, pure solo jobs: talk about a grand finale...).
Which brings us to issue 21. A team effort to say the least, since the credits name 3 pencillers (Barry, of course, plus P.Craig Russell and Val Mayerik) and 2 inkers (Sal Buscema and Dan Adkins). Notes in the letter's page in this issue indicate that Barry gave only rough layouts on most pages. These were then fully developed by the rest of the team. It's difficult to ascertain who did what, P.Craig Russell and Val Mayerik were working with Dan Adkins at the time (as well as, for a brief period, Mark Kersey, who is rumoured to have also worked some inks on this issue, although Dan Adkins reminisced Mark only ever worked on an Ant-Man/Marvel Feature issue with P.Craig Russell...).
Given all of that tortuous story, looking closely at this very page is an interesting exercise, as, depending on time, I see some hints of the 3 pencillers in there!
The overall composition, perfectly balanced, looks very BWS to me and I'm very taken by the panoramic landscape on Panel 1 and the Conan riding figures on Panel 5 (a favourite on mine that screams BWS!...) and Panel 8 (despite a little heavy-handed inking, but with the bonus of the bona fide original Conan necklace!). Note also, on Panel 4, that awkward frame on Yezdigerd's face, just to showcase the scar left as a parting gift by our favourite Cimmerian!
All in all, this may be a team effort, but there's enough team spirit in there to enhance whatever prime impulse was given by Barry Windsor-Smith.
