Conan the Barbarian #14
Conan the Barbarian #14 (March 1972) is the first comic-book appearance of Elric of Melniboné — Michael Moorcock's albino sorcerer-emperor, a character widely regarded as the philosophical antithesis of Robert E. Howard's Conan — making it one of the most consequential cross-publisher character introductions of the Bronze Age. The issue also marks the debut appearance of several characters drawn from Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythology, including Prince Gaynor the Damned, Xiombarg Queen of the Chaos Swords, and the Hyborian sorcerer Kulan Gath (in cameo), the last of whom went on to become a recurring Marvel villain who clashed with the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Avengers decades later. As the opening chapter of the series' first true two-part story arc, it demonstrated that Roy Thomas's licensed sword-and-sorcery title could sustain extended, cross-mythology narratives involving living authors — a creative ambition that distinguished it from most mainstream superhero fare of the period. The story also marks an inflection point in Barry Windsor-Smith's artistic development on the title, representing an early step in his visible evolution away from Kirby-influenced dynamism toward the more Romantic, detail-rich style that would define his mature work.
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Writer Roy Thomas contacted Michael Moorcock directly — reportedly obtaining Moorcock's address through mutual connections — and invited him to plot a Conan/Elric crossover, responding in part to reader letters requesting a Marvel Elric series. Moorcock, pressed for time, enlisted his longtime friend and collaborator James Cawthorn to do the bulk of the plotting work; Cawthorn had been associated with the Elric character virtually since its conception in the late 1950s, having illustrated early Elric prose stories and co-written at least one of them. The resulting plot synopsis was dense enough that Thomas split it across two issues (#14 and #15), and the issue arrived just as the title had been stepped back to a bimonthly schedule — a schedule change that, while driven by Stan Lee's concerns over sales, inadvertently gave Windsor-Smith and inker Sal Buscema extra production time to execute the unusually ambitious story.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First comic-book appearance of Elric of Melniboné (Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné), a character created by Michael Moorcock who first appeared in prose in Science Fantasy #47 (1961) — approximately 11 years before this issue.
- First appearance of Prince Gaynor the Damned, Xiombarg (Queen of the Chaos Swords), and other characters drawn from Moorcock's Eternal Champion multiverse.
- First (cameo) appearance of Kulan Gath, a Hyborian-era sorcerer who was later fully integrated into the broader Marvel Universe, appearing prominently in Uncanny X-Men (1984), Marvel Team-Up, and Savage Avengers (2019).
- Story titled 'A Sword Called Stormbringer!'; plotted by Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn, scripted by Roy Thomas, penciled by Barry Windsor-Smith, inked by Sal Buscema, colored by Barry Windsor-Smith, lettered by John Costanza; edited by Stan Lee.
- The cover was penciled and inked by Barry Windsor-Smith; the interior story runs 21 pages.
- This issue marks the series' first multi-part story arc, continued directly in Conan the Barbarian #15 ('The Green Empress of Melniboné'), with the full appearance of Kulan Gath and the story's resolution in that issue.
- The story was reprinted in Giant-Size Conan #5 (1975), introducing the Elric crossover to a new generation of readers via that larger-format reprint vehicle.
- The issue was published under a bimonthly schedule that had just been reinstated with this issue (#14), following a near-cancellation of the title after early sales dipped — the title returned to monthly publication by approximately issue #20 as sales recovered.
Cast · 9 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Savage Tales #3 (1973), Giant-Size Conan #5 (1975), L'Inattendu #9 (1977), Conan #4 (1979), Conan de barbaar #2 (1979), Conan #6 (11697) (1979), Superaventuras Marvel #3 (1982), Conan el Bárbaro #75 (1985), Conan Saga #5 (1987), Espada Selvagem de Conan em Cores #3 (1988), Conan #3/1991 (1991), Conan Le Barbare #33 (1992), Conan Saga #3 (1994), Conan el bárbaro #14 (1998), Essential Conan #1 (2000), The Chronicles of Conan #3 (2003), Conan Maxi #3 (2003), The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives #2 (2010), Conan el Bárbaro. Edición 35 Aniversario #[nn] (2017), Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus #1 (2018), Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Epic Collection #2 (2021), Conan The Barbarian: The Original Comics Omnibus #1 (2024), Conan #2, Conan #2/1974 + 1 more
Key issues in Conan the Barbarian
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