Conan Red Nails Original Art Archives Volume 1

Script by Roy Thomas and art by Barry Windsor-Smith. All illustration are ©Conan Properties International LLC.

Published by Genesis West in September 2013 (ISBN: 978-1-4675-7215-6, 14 x 19.5 inches or 35 x 50 cm for the sleeve, 150$, 132 pages), this book is a limited print but I don't know how many copies have been produced. This edition comes with an additional fully illustrated slipcase (see above), and is printed on rather thick glossy paper.

Below is a picture of the sticker glued on the cardboard box used for the shipment.

Here are some pictures of the inner book:

back cover

Note that this edition marks the fortieth anniversary of this story as it was first published by Marvel Comics in 1973/1974 in Savage Tales #2 and #3 (in B&W form):

size comparison with Savage Tales #3

Then, it has been colored and reprinted in 1975 as a Treasury Edition format, which is still a lot smaller than this present edition (there have been other reprints since not cited here).

For French readers, the picture below allows us to compare this edition with the B&W Humanoïdes Associés and colored Artima versions:

Second and third of cover are simply black. After the presentation and credits pages, the book opens with a 2 pages introduction from Roy Thomas, and a 2 pages "appreciation" written by George Perez (dated May 2013).

All the original material (56 pages) is presented in colored scans, and always printed on the same side of each page. the other side displays an oversized excerpt of the associated page.

the colored scans permit to fully appreciate these kind of detail

The book finishes with more editorial content:

• a two pages comment on the art by José Villarrubia dated April 2013
• 4 pages dedicated to Robert E. Howard input on Red Nails written by Andrew Steven in April 2013
• a one page "Final Word" by Michael Thibodeaux dated May 2013
• 3 bio pages

In addition to this article, and for more detailed insight about the reproduction quality, don't hesitate to read this Comic Book Daily review by Scott VanderPloeg.