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Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane The Original Marvel Years review






Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane the dour English Puritan Swashbuckler gets a complete collection of his classic Marvel adventures. Sadly no Dark Horse Comics Guy Davis monster creations inside at all.

You get All the pin-ups, adverts, text pieces + All the Kane stories from The Sword of Solomon Kane limited series, Savage Sword of Conan, Conan Saga, Kull and the Barbarians, Marvel Premiere, Marvel Preview, Monsters Unleashed and Dracula Lives.

My favourite stories are:

A Marvel Team-Up featuring the ectomorph: Kane in his twilight years and the mesomorph: Conan the Barbarian in his prime (The Moon of Skulls II: Death's Dark Riders by Roy Thomas and Colin MacNeil).

Kane versus a ghost that kills (Skulls in the Stars by Ralph Reese).

Kane versus a Lovecraftian cloud of blood (The Footfalls Within by Don Glut, Will Meugniot and Steve Gan).

Kane versus the bat-people (Wings in the Night by Don Glut and David Wenzel).

Kane versus vampires/zombies/the walking dead men (The Hills of the Dead by Alan Weiss, Neal Adams and Pablo Marcos).

Kane versus the Devil (The Castle of the Devil by Don Glut, Alan Kupperberg and Sonny Trinidad).  

Kane versus coming back home (Solomon Kane's Homecoming by Steve Carr and Al Williamson).

The only thing missing would be The Skull of Silence by Bernie Wrightson, a Kull the Conqueror story that gives us another take on "The Footfalls Within" and Kane's cat-headed ju-ju stave aka the Staff of Solomon.

The standard edition features a fantastic new cover by Patrick Zircher and Edgar Delgado. You will be able to catch more Solomon Kane action from Patch Zircher in the upcoming "The Savage Sword of Conan" magazine from Titan Comics in February 2024!

The direct market edition of the omnibus comes with a recoloured classic cover by Howard Chaykin and Veronica Gandini.

Fanatics of late sixteenth-early seventeenth century chivalry and tall, pale, buckled capotain hat wearing adventurers wandering the earth, seeking justice, vanquishing evil and righting wrongs will be pleased with this omnibus. Very, very pleased.

If you are into W. C. Tuttle's Sir Piegan Passes, the movies Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) and Van Helsing (2004), Ryre from Ramsey Campbell's Far Away and Never, John Pocsik's Isaac Grail, Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Andrew Cain the Avenger from the Zagor comics of Italy, or even Alan Moore's Deliverance Drue, you need to get this collection!

There is also a treat for Transformers fans, an illustration of swordsman Solomon Kane by Bob Budiansky and Duffy Vohland can be found at the beginning of the book.

I give it a 10/10. Now all we need is a Pilgrim Punisher 1602 ongoing series in 2024! Do it, Marvel! Do it!



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