Back to the Savage Land Barry Windsor-Smith at Marvel: Vol. 1 — Barry Windsor-Smith

This first of a three-volume series collecting the legendary Barry Windsor-Smith’s work at Marvel features his early pre-Conan work on X-Men, The Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man, as well as his amazing run on Ka-Zar in Astonishing Tales, and much more. From the moment Marvel brought him to the U.S. in 1969, Windsor-Smith was a creative force to be reckoned with. A passionate devotee of Jack Kirby, Windsor-Smith’s earliest drawing at Marvel reflected that influence, but he quickly developed his own unique, eye-opening style, combining intricately detailed realism with the dreamlike lushness of art nouveau and late-1960s psychedelia. This volume focuses on the earliest of his work, including memorable storylines on The Avengers, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and individual stories for Chamber of Darkness, Tower of Shadows, and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. All new benchmarks of comics art, culminating in what may be the highlight of this period: Windsor-Smith’s collaboration with writer Gerry Conway on an epic, Conan-esque tale of civil war in Ka-Zar’s Savage Land. Future volumes will trace Windsor-Smith’s career through such milestones as Machine Man and Weapon X.