| Savage Tales | |
|---|---|
 Savage Tales #1 (May 1971), cover art byJohn Buscema. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Bi-monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | May1971 – July1975 |
| No. of issues | 11 and one annual |
| Main character | |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | |
| Penciller | |
| Inker | |
Savage Tales is the title of threeAmerican comics series. Two were black-and-white comics-magazineanthologies published byMarvel Comics, and the other a colorcomic book anthology published byDynamite Entertainment.
The first of the two volumes ofSavage Tales ran 11 issues, with a nearly 21⁄2-year hiatus after the premiere issue (May 1971, then Oct. 1973 - July 1975).[1] It marked Marvel's second attempt at entering the comics-magazine field dominated byWarren Publishing (Creepy,Eerie,Vampirella), following the two-issuesuperhero entryThe Spectacular Spider-Man in 1968. Starring in the first issue were:
Thomas, who would shortly thereafter become Marvel editor-in-chief, recalled in 2008 that:
...there were several things that led toSavage Tales being cancelled after that first issue. [Publisher]Martin Goodman had never really wanted to do a non-[Comics] Code comic [i.e., not bearing theComics Code Authority's parental seal of approval, essentially required on mainstream color comics of the time], probably because he didn't want any trouble with the [Code administrator, the Comics Magazine Association of America] over it. Nor did he really want to get into magazine-format comics; and [Marvel editor-in-chief] Stan [Lee] really did. So Goodman looked for an excuse to cancel it.[4]
When the magazine eventually began publishing again years later (after Goodman had left the company) in the wake of a Conan-inspired sword-and-sorcery trend in comics, it starred the likes of Conan; fellow Robert E. Howard heroKull of Atlantis; andJohn Jakes' barbarian creation, Brak. As of issue #6, the magazine cover-featured Ka-Zar.
The series featured painted covers by artistsJohn Buscema (#1–2),Pablo Marcos &John Romita (#3),Neal Adams (#4–6),Boris Vallejo (#7, #10),Stephen Fabian (#8),Michael Kaluta (#9), andMichael Whelan (#11). A 1975annual, consisting entirely of reprints, mostly from Ka-Zar's color-comics series, sported a new cover byKen Barr.
Volume 2 ran eight issues (Oct 1985 – Dec. 1986), edited by Larry Hama. It featured adventure and action stories with amilitary fiction slant. Stories in the first and fourth issues, a feature called "5th to the 1st" by writerDoug Murray and artistMichael Golden, were the forerunners of the duo's color-comics seriesThe 'Nam.[5] A third installment of "5th to the 1st", initially unused due to the cancellation ofSavage Tales, was published inThe 'Nam #8.[6]
In 2007, American publisherDynamite Entertainment started a newSavage Tales, a color comic booksword and sorcery anthology starring the characterRed Sonja.[7]
Savage Tales ... was more notable for the debut of Marvel's mindless swamp monster, the Man-Thing, in an origin story written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Gray Morrow.