Today in Comics History, May 25: Happy birthday, Barry Windsor-Smith!

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published May 25, 2022.

Happy birthday to comics writer, illustrator and painter Barry Windsor-Smith today! You may remember him from such films comics as Conan the Barbarian, Avengers, Weapon X, Machine Man, Uncanny X-Men, Solar: Man of the Atom, Archer and Armstrong, Rune, Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller, Monster, and lots more indeed! He's the co-creator of Red Sonja (comics version), Lady Deathstrike, Archer and Armstrong, Starr the Slayer, and others.


from Savage Tales #3 (Marvel, February 1974)



Note above how Barry says he's influenced by Jack Kirby. Here's how Jack responded:


from Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics (Ten Speed, July 2020), script and art by Tom Scioli
Barry was heralded from day one at Marvel! Good catch, Stan 'n' Company!


from "Bullpen Bulletins" in Marvel Comics cover-dated February 1969
The biggest and greatest Barry project was yet to come. Can you guess the hinted-at "mildly sensational" book he was to be working on?


from "Bullpen Bulletins" in Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1970
Yep, it was Conan the Barbarian, definitely more than just "mildly" sensational. Conan brought in a new generation of fans and readers and spurred on a re-interest in Robert E. Howard's works and in barbarian/savage warrior comics over the next decade and a half.


cover of Conan the Barbarian (1970 series) #1 (Marvel, October 1970), pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith, inks by John Verpoorten, letters by Sam Rosen
"Bashful" Barry raps with the readers on the splash page of this horror story. Hey, no talking in the theater!



from "The Demon That Devoured Hollywood" in Tower of Shadows #5 (Marvel, May 1970), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith, inks by Dan Adkins, letters by Sam Rosen
Here's a look at two BWS Marvel projects that never quite got off the ground for various reason, from the overdesigned pages of Marvel's 1990s fan mag Marvel Vision. Never published, Barry eventually posted the pages from his Thing story on his Facebook (gere's a look at them on Sena Kleefeld's blog), and he reworked the Hulk story considerably to eventually become the intense and immediate graphic novel Monsters.

from Marvel Vision #30 (Marvel, June 1998)
(Click picture to monster-size)
Happy birthday, Barry!



from (top) Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller #1 (Dark Horse, October 1996), by Storm Photo, and
(bottom) FOOM #15 (Marvel, September 1976)