SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN 45 PIN UP BY JOHN BUSCEMA AND KERRY GAMMILL

Agreed - the washes are great. I love the pose, the lighting and the stone technique. Great background to the piece in the write-up, too. Great pin-up!

Nice to see and hear the history that goes with it from Kerry.  Cheers!

Conan looks pissed.  It's not going to end up well for whoever put them in there.  

There's an art team up I don't recall seeing. Awesome!

I'm sure Kerry did plenty of justice to big John, but not surprised to hear self deprication from an artist when critiquing their earlier work! Great pin-up and awesome intel/background knowledge on the piece. congrats and HBD pt. 2!

Based on what I can make out from the top of the page, this looks to be an intended title splash for Conan #106.  But the published splash for that issue features Conan on horseback.  The basic figurework here looks like all Buscema to me, especially in those legs and arms.  The problem is interpreting Roy's instructions.  "Do this figure as Conan."  Did that mean just chaning the face, or the entire figure?  In terms of the inking, it looks like early Chan to me.  Just what John and Ernie looked like early in their legendary run before they really started to blend.  Anyway, being so early in his career, I would hesitate to give Kerry any credit for establishing his own artistic indentity here (at least not yet).  It's not like I can look at this piece and say, hey, it's inked by Gammill.  If you had not indentified him, I certinly would have never come up with him as the inker.  But as Kerry said, it would have been nice to have a copy of the original pencils to see where the illustration started. 

Great piece with an interesting story! Thanks for sharing

As a lifelong Gammill fan, I've loved this since I first saw it. I can only surmise that Eric DLS has never been nearly the hardcore followers and fans of Gammill's work that you and I have always been, because from the moment I first laid eyes on it as a 12-13 year old, I still remember my reaction vividly: "Oh wow, a Conan frontispiece by Gammill?!?!". It is Gammill's anatomy and facial structure I saw immediately, and only a couple of seconds later after noticing Buscema's name did I realize he had likely done his typical, loose pencils for the figure, for which the pose did then look familiar to me as Buscema's. But there is undoubtedly a LOT more of Gammill's work here than of Big John's. Splendid!

I can see Gammill's inking taking this to places different than the other rotation of JB's inkers would do.  Certainly a very hungry artist at the time willing to do so much to bring this piece to realization.

A rare combination of talents. Reminds me a bit of Chan's inks over Big John but a bit more subtle!

What a super cool piece!  Love the extended/additional depth and texture that the (fantastic) washes subtly wring out of the bold shadows and heavyweight image.  A powerhouse offering, F M; your birthday should be a CAF national holiday, as we all excitedly await the next and newest treasures you post... :)  What a day two!!  Huge congrats on this special piece, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, F M!