THE MARVEL CREATOR COLLECTION Volume 1 Back to the Savage Land

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. Windsor-Smith was a creative force to be reckoned with when Marvel brought him to the U.S. in 1969. A passionate devotee of Jack Kirby, Windsor-Smith’s earliest drawing at the House of Ideas reflected that influence, but he quickly developed his own unique style, combining intricately detailed realism with the dreamlike lushness of art nouveau and late-1960s psychedelia. This volume focuses on the earliest of his Marvel works, culminating in what may be the highlight of this period: his 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. Like many of us, Barry Windsor-Smith loved the art of Jack Kirby. So much so, that his early work often emulated the King's style (much like Keith Giffen did early in his career at Marvel and DC). This first volume in Fantagraphics' Marvel Creator Collection focuses on the earliest Marvel works by this UK artist... one destined for later greatness with his beautiful illustrative work developed within the art collective known as "The Studio," established alongside fellow artists Michael Kaluta, Bernie Wrightson and Jeff Jones (The Studio is an out-of-print book that needs to return!). ~Marty