This week, Titan Comics announced the creative team for their new “Conan the Barbarian” series, Jim Zub and Roberto De La Torre. This marks the second time that the license to the character has left Marvel, and the first time that Titan has published titles focused on the Robert E. Howard character. While Dark Horse published a number of Conan comics between Marvel’s first and second licensing periods, Marvel is considered the publisher of Conan comics. The early issues by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith are considered among the best Marvel books of the era, and the character was published for nearly 25 consecutive years under the Marvel banner.
With its second license, Marvel was integrating Conan into its mainstream books more than before, with “Savage Avengers” being a team book focused around the character. It appeared that Marvel was going as close to all-in on a licensed character as possible, but that may not have been enough for the Howard estate. Seeing the license go to Titan was surprising, and will likely include the production of additional media, like novels and potentially films, which were not happening when Marvel held the note.
And so, we are asking if you will miss Conan as part of Marvel in this week’s Reader Poll. Vote now, and check back on Monday for the results!
