The Conan Portfolio - Plate 1
- THE CONAN PORTFOLIO: Plate 1 - A black ink and black color pencil drawing on an 11 x 14 size coquille board. It appears in the comic book, "The Savage Sword of Conan, No.9".
Occasionally someone would see a black and white drawing of mine in a fanzine, magazine, or book, and phone to ask if I would do a color painting of the picture for them. I did 30 such paintings and this is one of them.
This picture of Conan riding into the "valley of death," reminds me of Alfred
Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade". In 1854, during the Crimean war, a British regiment prepared for battle at one end of an open field. Russian troops and artillery were hidden behind trees and bushes that surrounded the field. In spite of warnings from his tactical officers that the area was a trap, the British officer in command ordered his men to charge the Russian troops at the opposite end of the field;
"Into the valley of death rode the six hundred.
Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thundered.
Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of hell,
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do or die."
It is this kind of tragic fate that so many courageous and loyal armies have suffered throughout history, and still suffer today; the leadership of commanders who are incompetent buffoons.
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