Blood, Bêlit, more in King-Size Conan #1 preview from Marvel

King-Size Conan #1
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Conan made his comic book debut 50 years ago, and now Marvel Comics is celebrating that anniversary with an over-sized one-shot anthology called King-Size Conan #1.

"By Crom, you've never seen a celebration like this - marking 50 years of Conan the Barbarian in comics!" Marvel's solicitation for this anthology boldly claims. "Now get ready to celebrate 50 years of Conan with an oversize special spanning the breadth of Conan's life and times by the most dazzling array of creative talent ever assembled in one book to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth!"

Former Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight will make his comic book debut with this anthology, and calls it "a dream come true."

“My love affair with Marvel Comics began before I could read. I used to look at the incredible art and make up my own stories," DeKnight says. "Now, quite a few lifetimes later, I have the honor of actually writing my own story for the House of Ideas. And not just any story! Conan! Barbarian! Destroyer! King! To say this is a dream come true would be a criminal understatement. I couldn’t think of a more satisfying character to make my debut with between the pages of Marvel Comics. I hope you enjoy this adventure as much as I did!”

King-Size Conan #1 will include five stories by the following authors:

  • DeKnight and artist Jesús Saiz
  • Writer Roy Thomas and artist Steve McNiven
  • Writer Kurt Busiek and artist Pete Woods
  • Writer Chris Claremont and artist Robert de la Torre
  • Writer/artist Kevin Eastman

King-Size Conan #1's primary cover is painted by Andrew Robinson, with variant covers by Saiz, Jen Bartel, Joe Jusko, Carlos Pacheco, Todd Nauck, John Buscema (a 'Hidden gem'), and Eastman. Here they are:

King-Size Conan #1 goes on sale on December 23.

This issue will be available simultaneously in print and digitally. Check out our recommendations for the best comic readers for Android and iOS devices.

Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)

Latest in Marvel Comics
Ms. Marvel alongside the mutants of Age of Apocalypse
30 years after the original Age of Apocalypse, Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan will travel to the alt-reality to save X-Men history
The Punisher holding two machine guns in the rain
Daredevil: Born Again - Learn the bullet-riddled comic book history of the Punisher before he officially joins the MCU
Close up on Emma Frost's face as she sits on a throne on the cover of Emma Frost: White Queen #1
"Bow down to the White Queen" as Emma Frost gets her own X-Men solo comic that flashes back to her time as a villain
Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #12
Gwen Stacy and Loki team-up for a cosmic adventure in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #12
An alien attacks.
Xenomorphs have taken the island as Alien: Paradiso nears its endgame
Doombot and the Runaways.
4 years after Marvel's Runaways ended, the gang is back – and Doctor Doom is coming for them
Latest in News
inZOI Character Studio screenshot showing a young woman with short black/pink hair, black cat-like ears, and a black blouse with a bowtie
The creator of upcoming life sim Inzoi says he was "recklessly brave to even think about creating a game of this scale"
Rise of the Ronin
A year after its PS5 launch, Rise of the Ronin debuts on PC to "Mixed" reviews and performance complaints: "Stuttering on a 4090 is just... no"
Rise of the Ronin's photo mode offers some wonderful shots
On the heels of Rise of the Ronin's PC launch, its director says there's a "significant" amount of Japanese Switch gamers: "I am closely watching how this will change with the release of Switch 2"
Stardew Valley Castle Village mod
Stardew Valley Expanded creator is building an "even more ambitious" mod with a whole new city and "dungeons inspired by The Legend of Zelda"
Dino Crisis 2 art showing a young woman and man back-to-back amid tall green grass, both with their weapons drawn
Dino Crisis gets a fresh trademark filing by Capcom, but it might not mean the 26-year-old survival horror franchise will get a new installment like fans expect
Cujo
Netflix is making a brand new adaptation of Cujo, the infamous Stephen King book about a killer dog