Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Barry Smith Conan the Barbarian in Marvel Slurpee Cup

I'm going to give this Slurpee cup parade a bit of a rest, but before I do, here's one of the grandest cups, featuring Marvel's version of Conan the Barbarian!

Conan 1975 Marvel Slurpee Cup front by Barry Smith

This grand image of Conan by Barry Smith adorns this Slurpee cup.  God, I love the logo too, the classic one used on Conan's regular color comic.  From the Back Issue #34 article about the making of the Slurpee cups, I think it was Paty Cockrum who said they avoided using Barry Smith's artwork because it was too detailed.  I think it looks smashing, but when you compare it to the source of the artwork below, you will see what Paty meant.

Barry Smith King Size Conan Annual 1

Where did the image come from?  One of my favorite all-time Conan covers, from King Size Annual #1, see this article for more about this fantastic King-Size extravaganza!  It is one of Smith's highly detailed pen and ink drawings that blew me away when I first saw it and made me get into the world of Conan.

Conan 1975 Marvel Slurpee Cup back

The back of the cup is very interesting.  Rather recapping an origin tale, Conan instead uses this avenue to spout his unique outlook on life:
Men call me a Barbarian, but I saw that Barbarism is the natural state of mankind!  I've been everything from a slave to a king, but I've always been a man...always Conan!
Pretty cool, eh, that Conan, besides fighting, drinking and bedding wenches he is a philosopher to boot!  The headshot of Conan there, I am sure I could place that too if I had time.  Makes me think Conan #24 with Red Sonja or perhaps the Tower of the Elephant.  What do you think?  Nuff Said!


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