Explore the early Marvel works from one of the all-time comic greats in The Marvel Creator Collection No. 1: Barry Windsor-Smith. One of the earliest British creators to work for Marvel, Windsor-Smith was part of the classic line-up of creators during the silver age of comics at the company. Whilst best known for his defining run on Conan The Barbarian (which shaped how the character was depicted for years to come), he spent time working on several of Marvel’s most iconic characters including Daredevil, The Avengers and Iron Man.
This collection brings Fantagraphics premium production values together with Windsor-Smith’s earliest work to present a terrific showcase of his beginnings as a comic artist. Windsor-Smith would obviously become a much more polished artist in the years to come with his last work for Marvel – Weapon X – and his recent graphic novel Monsters being highly regarded as seminal works in the medium. Nevertheless, there is a lot of skill on display in these early works, and it will be easy for readers to see how he became such a well-rounded artist.
Before he established his own style on Conan, Windsor-Smith was heavily influenced by Jack Kirby – who set the Marvel House style at the time. When he arrived at Marvel, the brief for the majority of artists (Steve Ditko and Gene Colan being notable exceptions) was very much to emulate Kirby’s style as much as possible. Windsor-Smith’s earliest works on the X-Men and The Avengers exemplifies this with his depictions of the classic line-ups of both teams.
But as the collection progresses, his style starts to develop into the more detailed style that readers will be more familiar with. His work on Ka-Zar, Nick Fury and Doctor Strange in particular shows the level of detail and rendering that his later work would be famous for. His characters would become far more realistic looking whist he channelled 60s psychedelia and fine art into his pages which would set him apart from a lot of his contemporaries.
This is a must-have for old-school Marvel fans and anyone who appreciates the history of modern comic art. There is a reason why Barry Windsor-Smith is your favourite comic book artist’s favourite comic book artist.
The Marvel Creator Collection No. 1: “Back to the Savage Land” Barry Windsor-Smith at Marvel Vol. 1 is out 28 April from Fantagraphics (9798875001529, h/b, £44.99)
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