Originally, CONAN was a character I had no interest in. Somehow, Roy Thomas' work on the character MADE it work for me. The Buscema-Chan art was also generally nice, although the Buscema-Alcala work in SAVAGE SWORD could be downright breathtaking. Also, there were a few issues by Chaykin-Chan that were more inspired & exciting than a lot of the Buscema issues, as John seemed to lose his interest and regain it from time to time.

I believe RED SONJA got me into the genre before I even really got that far into CONAN. And my first exposure was RED SONJA #1-- which I had Frank Thorne sign for me 2 years ago. I feel the Bruce Jones episodes in MARVEL FEATURE (WHY didn't they just start her series in RS #1?) were better-written, but looking back over them, Frank's work DEFINITELY improved over the course of the series.

"His later GHITA series (a somewhat more sexually graphic ceator-owned version of Red Sonja that Thorne later did) is one I sampled but never got around to collecting."

I only picked up 1984 / 1994 sporadically-- which meant Thorne's serialized GHITA was near-incomprehensible, apart from some of the really hot sex scenes. There was so much utter TRASH in those magazines, unfortunately, that Frank's work was often, by a WIDE margin, the best thing there (along with occasional pieces by Esteban Maroto & Peter Hsu). GHITA has been reprinted at LEAST 3 times now-- the most recent time in a SINGLE book!!! This certainly saves any work with "collecting" it. I was finaly able to read the whole thing in its entirety, and it makes SO much more sense taken this way. It's really like sitting through 2 full-length movies back-to-back. Check it out... Ghita Of Alizarr

JOHN CARTER always seemed too dark & depressing for me-- plus the art was never as consistent as it should have been. Dave Cockrum inked Gil Kane in one issue, which looked amazing. Later, Rudy nebres inked Dave Cockrum in a one-issue story was was STUNNING. But most of it I never cared much for.

That SHANNA story in RAMPAGING HULK proved to me that Tony DeZuniga was an artist to be reckoned with, and was WASTING HIS TALENTS by inking (and often mutilating) other's pencils all the time. (INFINITY INC. was merely the WORST example I can think of; on the other hand, SPIDER-WOMAN was a surprisingly GOOD collaboration-- with Tony inking Carmine Infantino!)

Ever notice for a Puritan, SOLOMON KANE kept running into half-naked wenches with even BIGGER bosoms than CONAN kept running into?

I'm currently re-reading my entire VAMPIRELLA series. I'm only missing 5 issues of the Warren run, and because of reprints here and there, I'm only missing ONE episode of her own series-- but it's one with art by Leopold Sanchez, so it's not exactly a high priority. The Archie Goodwin run remains the BEST in the series' history, was collected in one book (FINALLY!!!!!) in 1991, and is being reprinted AGAIN sometime this year. I just WISH those idiots at Harris would reprint the old stories in MAGAZINE-size format, because last night I re-read "Carnival Of The Damned" (the ONLY original episode I don't have in the old mags) and believe me, the story & art really suffers when the art is SHRUNK down to comic-book size.

It was always a toss-up between the 2 mainstays on the art-- Jose Gonzalez, and Gonzalo Mayo. Mayo was less "realistic", but his art was often more spectacular and sexier-- plus he seemed to be able to knock out pages a lot faster, despite all the detail. But you know what?? Time & again I'm reminded-- the guy whose art made me fall in love with Vampi was Tom Sutton-- particularly from VAMPI #8, "Who Serves The Cause Of Chaos?" (the 1st of the "serious" stories) where he really drew her as a very sympathetic character. Warren NEVER reprinted any of Tom's VAMPI episodes!!! At least I have that to thank Harris for...