Conan the Barbarian #3
Conan the Barbarian #3 marks the earliest instance in the Marvel series where writer Roy Thomas reached beyond Conan's own canon to adapt a non-Conan Robert E. Howard tale — "The Grey God Passes" — transplanting Howard's ancient Irish battlefield myth directly into the Hyborian Age, a creative practice that would define the series' broader storytelling ambition throughout the 1970s. The issue delivers the first appearances of Borri the Grey God and the Choosers of the Slain in comics, introducing a mythological register — brooding, elegiac, haunted by divine spectators — that elevated the book well above genre convention. Coming during the tense early period when Marvel's sales were declining issue-by-issue and Stan Lee was weighing cancellation, this issue was part of the Thomas-and-Windsor-Smith run that ultimately proved compelling enough for Thomas to argue the series' survival; the book would go on to spark a sword-and-sorcery vogue across the entire industry. It also represents a notable step in Barry Windsor-Smith's artistic development: though published third, the story was actually the fifth drawn by Windsor-Smith, and contemporary observers noted a visible leap in craft from the issues that preceded it in print.
In "The Twilight of the Grim Grey God!", Conan encounters the enigmatic Grey God Borri before joining the Brythunian army in a brutal, sweeping battle. As the clash unfolds, Conan confronts a traitor named Malachi and bears witness to the eerie, otherworldly Choosers of the Slain claiming the souls of the fallen. Written by Roy Thomas and Robert E. Howard, with dynamic art by Barry Smith and inks by Sal Buscema, this 1971 Marvel classic features a striking cover by Barry Windsor-Smith.
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The creative team of writer Roy Thomas and penciler Barry Windsor-Smith — with inks by Sal Buscema and colors by Mimi Gold, under editor Stan Lee — produced the issue, which was released on newsstands on November 24, 1970 with a cover date of February 1971. Thomas adapted Howard's "The Grey God Passes," a non-Conan story set around a mythologized version of the 1014 Battle of Clontarf, recasting its Irish slave-warrior protagonist as Conan, still in chains from Hyperborean captivity, caught up in a war between Hyperborea and Brythunia. A cover sketch by Marie Severin served as the layout from which Windsor-Smith built his finished cover art, as documented in the 1994 Conan Classic reprint. The issue is also frequently misattributed to "Spears of Clontarf" as its source, but that story was a non-fantasy rewrite of "The Grey God Passes" that was not published until 1978.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First comic appearance of Borri (the Grey God) and the Choosers of the Slain, along with the first appearances of Dunlang, King Brian, Eevin, King Tomar, and Malachi — most of whom die within the issue.
- Adapted from "The Grey God Passes," a non-Conan Robert E. Howard story originally set in ancient Ireland, not the Hyborian Age — one of the first times Thomas repurposed Howard's non-Conan fiction for the series.
- Though published as issue #3, the story was actually the fifth drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith in his run, after issues #1, #2, #5, and #4 in drawn order — a publication-sequence shuffle documented by Thomas.
- Creative credits: script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith, inks by Sal Buscema, colors by Mimi Gold, letters by Sam Rosen, edited by Stan Lee.
- The issue experienced documented lower distribution in some geographic areas, contributing to its relative scarcity in high grade.
- The letters page reprints the Hyborian Age map that first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #1.
- The story was reprinted in Giant-Size Conan #1 (September 1974), Conan Classic #3 (August 1994), Essential Conan #1 (2000), The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 1 (Dark Horse, 2003), The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Vol. 1 (Dark Horse, 2010), and the Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1 (Marvel, 2018/Titan, 2024).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Peptoe #[11] (1974), Giant-Size Conan #1 (1974), Eclipso #46 (1974), Savage Sword of Conan #3 (1975), Mundo de Aventuras #136 (1976), Conan the Barbarian #1 (1977), Conan #1 (11692) (1978), Conan #1 (1979), Conan de barbaar #1 (1979), Conan Pocket Book #1 (1980), Conan Pocket Book #2 (1980), Conan el Bárbaro #41 (1980), Conan de barbaar #2 (1981), Conan el Bárbaro #68 (1985), Conan Saga #1 (1987), Magnum Spesial #2/1990 (1990), Conan Le Barbare #28 (1992), Conan Saga #1 (1993), Conan: Roy Thomas y Barry Windsor-Smith #1 (1994), Conan Classic #3 (1994), Conan el bárbaro #3 (1998), Essential Conan #1 (2000), The Chronicles of Conan #1 (2003), The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives #1 (2010) + 12 more
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