I have to file La Reina De La Costa Negra under stuff I likely knew but had forgotten, though much apparently about this situation has come to light in recent years. It seems that several years before Marvel's blockbuster launch of Conan into its comic universe, the creations of Robert E. Howard had already had a relatively successful introduction into the Mexican comic book world.
It's not quite the true-blue Howard (but then neither is the Marvel or Dark Horse versions and many argue neither are the iconic Lancer books given the controversial editorial involvement of L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter), but it seems the Conan's paramour from the exciting Howard story "Queen of the Black Coast" had her own comic which did feature Conan (sort of) as a sidekick. Look here for some more details.
Based on the covers I've seen these seem to be some competent comics (for the era) and I'd love to get hold of one just to see what it's like. As the typically hyberbolic ad says Conan was indeed the "The Comic-Mag Event of the 70's!!", but what we didn't know then was that it had also been the same in the 60's just south of the border.
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Wow…Thanks for the enlightening article Rip. I thought I had a good grasp on Conan’s comic book history – until I read your feature and the linked article. Maybe “5-10 copies in existence” of some of these Belit/Conan comics? Crazy….I have (literal) dreams about going through attics and basements and finding old caches of comics like this. The author of the linked article cites the internet for helping to bring these 50-60- year old Mexican comic books to light…Jimminy…Who knew….Great stuff…
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome. These are exceedingly peculiar and look like what Marvel did in the 70's (to some extent) but with a different twist entirely.
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I dig how this Belit has a strong Jane Russell vibe. Very '50s!
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it...yeah!
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I have 15 of the Joma issues of La Reina de la Costa negra and 2 of the Cuentos del Abulito issues. It's taken me a year to just get these 15 issues out of 53. I only know of 1 complete set of the Cuentos del Abulito series early 1950's in the USA which would be the first appearance of La Reina de la Costa Negra and maybe a half dozen complete sets of the Joma issues of La Reina de la Costa Negra from 1965. The first stand alone La Reina de la Costa Negra would have been probably mid 50's. From what I've been able to find out is that there are assumed to be possibly around 100 of any certain number left in the world because of where they were printed between Spain and South America.
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