View source for Savage Tales


{{Infobox comic book title
<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->

| image               = SavageTales1.jpg
| image_size          = <!-- default 250 -->
| alt                 = 
| caption             = ''Savage Tales'' #1 (May 1971), cover art by [[John Buscema]].
| schedule            = Bi-monthly
| format              = 
| limited             =  
| ongoing             = Y
| 1shot               =  
| genre               =  
| publisher           =  [[Marvel Comics]]
| date                = May [[1971 in comics|1971]] – July [[1975 in comics|1975]]
| startmo             = 
| startyr             = 
| endmo               = 
| endyr               = 
| issues              = 11 and one annual
| main_char_team      = {{collapsible list|[[Conan (Marvel Comics)|Conan]] <br> [[Ka-Zar (Kevin Plunder)|Ka-Zar]]}}
| issn                = 
| writers             = {{collapsible list|[[Roy Thomas]]<br>[[Gerry Conway]]<br>[[Doug Moench]] }}
| artists             = 
| pencillers          = {{collapsible list|
[[Barry Windsor-Smith|Barry Smith]]<br>[[John Romita Sr]]<br>[[Gray Morrow]]<br>[[Bernie Wrightson]]<br>[[Gil Kane]]<br>[[Neal Adams]]<br>[[Jim Starlin]]<br>[[John Buscema]]<br>[[Steve Gan]]}}
| inkers              = {{collapsible list|[[Pablo Marcos]]<br>[[Al Milgrom]]<br>[[Tony DeZuniga]]}}
| letterers           = 
| colorists           = 
| editors             = 
| creative_team_month = 
| creative_team_year  = 
| creators            = 
| CEheader            = 
| TPB                 = 
| ISBN                = 
| subcat              = 
| altcat              = 
| sort                = 
| addpubcat#          = 
| nonUS               = 
}}

'''''Savage Tales''''' is the title of three [[American comic book|American comics]] series. Two were black-and-white comics-[[magazine]] [[anthologies]] published by [[Marvel Comics]], and the other a color [[comic book]] anthology published by [[Dynamite Entertainment]].

==Publication history==
===Marvel===
The first of the two volumes of ''Savage Tales'' ran 11 issues, with a nearly 2{{frac|1|2}}-year hiatus after the premiere issue (May 1971, then Oct. 1973 - July 1975).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sacks |first1=Jason |last2=Dallas |first2=Keith |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s |date=2014 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490564 |page=105}}</ref>  It marked Marvel's second attempt at entering the comics-magazine field dominated by [[Warren Publishing]] (''[[Creepy (magazine)|Creepy]]'', ''[[Eerie (magazine)|Eerie]]'', ''[[Vampirella]]''), following the two-issue [[superhero]] entry ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' in 1968. Starring in the first issue were:
* [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[sword and sorcery]] [[Pulp magazine|pulp-fiction]] character [[Conan the Barbarian]], adapted by writer [[Roy Thomas]] and artist [[Barry Windsor-Smith]] (as Barry Smith)
* the futuristic, [[Amazons|Amazon]]-like Femizons, by writer-editor [[Stan Lee]] and artist [[John Romita Sr.|John Romita]]
* the first-ever appearance of the swamp creature [[Man-Thing]], plotted by Lee and Thomas, scripted by [[Gerry Conway]] and drawn by [[Gray Morrow]]<ref>{{cite book|last = Sanderson|first = Peter|authorlink = Peter Sanderson|editor-last= Gilbert|editor-first= Laura|chapter= 1970s|title = Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History|publisher = [[Dorling Kindersley]]|date= 2008|location= London, United Kingdom|page = 149|isbn =978-0756641238|quote= ''Savage Tales'' ... was more notable for the debut of Marvel's mindless swamp monster, the Man-Thing, in an origin story written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Gray Morrow.}}</ref>
* the [[Africa|African]] inner-city defender Joshua, in the feature "Black Brother" by [[Dennis O'Neil]] (under the [[pseudonym]] Sergius O'Shaughnessy) and [[penciler]] [[Gene Colan]]
*  the jungle lord [[Ka-Zar (Kevin Plunder)|Ka-Zar]], by Lee and artist [[John Buscema]].<ref>[http://www.comics.org/issue/24237/ ''Savage Tales'' #1] at the [[Grand Comics Database]]</ref>

Thomas, who would shortly thereafter become Marvel editor-in-chief, recalled in 2008 that:
{{bquote|...there were several things that led to ''Savage Tales'' being cancelled after that first issue. [Publisher] [[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]] had never really wanted to do a non-[Comics] Code comic [i.e., not bearing the [[Comics Code Authority]]'s parental seal of approval, essentially required on mainstream color comics of the time], probably because he didn't want any trouble with the [Code administrator, the Comics Magazine Association of America] over it. Nor did he really want to get into magazine-format comics; and [Marvel editor-in-chief] Stan [Lee] really did. So Goodman looked for an excuse to cancel it.<ref>Roy Thomas interview, ''[[Alter Ego (magazine)|Alter Ego]]'' #81 October 2008, p. 21</ref>}}

When the magazine eventually began publishing again years later (after Goodman had left the company) in the wake of a Conan-inspired sword-and-sorcery trend in comics, it starred the likes of Conan; fellow Robert E. Howard hero [[Kull of Atlantis]]; and [[John Jakes]]' barbarian creation, Brak. As of issue #6, the magazine cover-featured Ka-Zar.

The series featured painted covers by artists  [[John Buscema]] (#1–2), [[Pablo Marcos]] & [[John Romita Sr.|John Romita]] (#3), [[Neal Adams]] (#4–6), [[Boris Vallejo]] (#7, #10), [[Stephen Fabian]] (#8), [[Michael Kaluta]] (#9), and [[Michael Whelan]] (#11). A 1975 [[annual publications|annual]], consisting entirely of reprints, mostly from Ka-Zar's color-comics series, sported a new cover by [[Ken Barr]].

Volume 2 ran eight issues (Oct 1985 – Dec. 1986), edited by Larry Hama. It featured adventure and action stories with a [[military fiction]] slant. Stories in the first and fourth issues, a feature called "5th to the 1st" by writer [[Doug Murray (comics)|Doug Murray]] and artist [[Michael Golden (comics)|Michael Golden]], were the forerunners of the duo's color-comics series ''[[The 'Nam]]''.<ref name= "jacks">{{cite news | last = Jacks | first = Brian | title = Interview: Doug Murray | work = Slushfactory | pages =  | language =  | publisher =  | date = May 25, 2002 | url = http://www.slushfactory.com/features/articles/052502-murray.php | accessdate = 2009-11-28 | archive-date = 2009-05-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090515012230/http://www.slushfactory.com/features/articles/052502-murray.php | url-status = dead }}</ref> A third installment of "5th to the 1st", initially unused due to the cancellation of ''Savage Tales'', was published in ''The 'Nam'' #8.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Arndt |first=Richard |title=The 'Nam Revisited|magazine=[[Back Issue!]]|issue=127|pages=50, 54|publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]] |date=June 2021|location=Raleigh, North Carolina}}</ref>

===Dynamite Entertainment===
In 2007, American publisher [[Dynamite Entertainment]]  started a new ''Savage Tales'', a color comic book [[sword and sorcery]] anthology starring the character [[Red Sonja]].<ref>[[Cliff Biggers|Biggers, Cliff]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070121041303/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=96769 "Exploring Dynamite's ''Savage Tales''"], ''[[Comic Shop News]]'' via ''[[Newsarama]]'', January 8, 2007. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070127003732/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=96769 WebCitation archive].</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{gcdb|type=title|search=savage+tales|title=''Savage Tales''}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=6520|title=''Savage Tales'' (Marvel, 1971)}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=6521|title=''Savage Tales'' (Marvel, 1985)}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=13020|title=''Savage Tales'' (Dynamite)}}


{{Conan}}
{{Man-Thing}}

[[Category:1971 comics debuts]]
[[Category:1985 comics debuts]]
[[Category:2007 comics debuts]]
[[Category:Comics anthologies]]
[[Category:Comics magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Comics by Archie Goodwin (comics)]]
[[Category:Comics by Dennis O'Neil]]
[[Category:Comics by Doug Moench]]
[[Category:Comics by Gerry Conway]]
[[Category:Comics by Roy Thomas]]
[[Category:Comics by Stan Lee]]
[[Category:Defunct American comics]]
[[Category:Dynamite Entertainment titles]]
[[Category:Fantasy comics]]
[[Category:Horror comics]]
[[Category:Marvel Comics titles]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Savage Tales|access_date=2026-03-05}}