For a moment in the late 70's Ken Kelly captured the field of fantasy cover illustration with his covers to a large number of Robert E. Howard's vintage heroes. His Conan covers for the Berkley editions remain some of my favorite images of the brawny barbarian. I have both the paperback and hardback versions of these, and they were the one source for raw REH until the relatively recent Ballantine editions.
Here is the art with the logos intact.
I think this is the first time I have seen these. As wonderful as they look on the actual books , the full paintings are just stunning. Thanks for showing these.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome. There were very handsome back in the day and the fold-outs are fantastic.
DeleteThe amount of fiction written by R.E.H. is truly amazing - not just sword & sorcery but also Westerns, sports stories, historical adventures and so on. And he'd written it all by the time he was 30 when many authors are just getting started!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. He wrote westerns and fight stories and all kinds of things as well as some pretty decent poetry.
DeleteInspired work by Mr. Kelly and it's too bad we lost him last year. He was Ellie Frazetta's nephew and studied under Frank for a time. The influence is recognizable -- who better to have as a tutor?
ReplyDeleteIn that field it's like studying under Babe Ruth -- the best of the best.
DeleteAll great covers, though the one for SKULL FACE is the best IMO.
ReplyDeleteCan't argue with that.
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