Dating Newton Comics' Conan the Barbarian #1

When I was indexing Newton Comics series such as Planet of the Apes and The Amazing Spider-Man a few months ago there was one issue which kept intruding into my schema and messing up my orderly data. It has happened again as I attempted to attribute publication dates to The Avengers in August and September 1975, but I think I may have finally resolved the conflicting information.

Conan the Barbarian #1 was advertised in various Newton comics as On Sale 30 August 1975:

However, I believe it was published earlier on 16 August 1975.

The advertisement above is scanned from The Avengers #3 which was published 9 August 1975. 

Conan the Barbarian #1 was advertised as On Sale Now in The Avengers #4:

The Avengers #4 was published 23 August 1975 -  a week before 30 August 1975. This is the contradictory information which needs to be reconciled.

The Avengers #4 was the first issue in the series to be issued fortnightly - the first three issues were published every three weeks - and this was announced in John Corneille's letter column in this issue. 

The new fortnightly schedule is reinforced by the contest expiry dates in The Avengers #3 and #4 - 22 September and 6 October respectively.

Given the scheduling was changed, it is reasonable to presume that The Avengers #4 was originally scheduled for publication 30 August and, having brought the date forward by a week, the discrepancy in the advertisement was overlooked by Newton, or it was too late to change. 

However, there is mounting evidence that the advertisement in The Avengers #4 is accurate.

For example, the Conan series is listed on the subscription page in The Avengers #4. In itself, this is not conclusive evidence that Conan was published before 30 August, as it could be symptomatic of the earlier than expected release of The Avengers #4.

However, consider the expiry date for the contest in Conan the Barbarian #1 is 29 September 1975 - a week after the contest expiry date in The Avengers #3, and a week before The Avengers #4 contest.

Consider also that Conan is listed on the subscription page in The Fantastic Four #4 and The Amazing Spider-Man #5, which were both published on 16 August, and have the same contest expiry date as Conan the Barbarian #1. 

These three issues also share the same letters page

Indeed, the subsequent issues in these series - The Fantastic Four #5, The Avengers #4, The Amazing Spider-Man #6 and Conan the Barbarian #2 - all share the next letters page, and are all published after 16 August 1975.

In fact, the only evidence pointing to a 30 August 1975 publication date for Conan the Barbarian #1 is the advertisement above. All of the other evidence suggests otherwise. And when I balance the merits of crosschecked data against a single outlier, I know which way I land. 

Having said all that there is still a small thread I have yet to fully untangle. 

Planet of the Apes #6 also carries the Out Now advertisement for Conan the Barbarian #1. I have previously provisionally dated this to 16 August 1975. The contest expiry date in this issue is 6 October 1975, as per The Avengers #4, which would suggest this pair were published simultaneously. - except that I date The Avengers #4 to 23 August, and the letters pages do not match. I need to investigate this a bit further but wilI have to wait until further information (ie: missing posters in my collection) comes to hand. I do not yet know how this may impact my conclusions.

It should also be noted that the contest expiry dates, whilst generally useful, are not an infallible guide. Certainly in early 1976 many contest dates were manifestly incorrect, as I have previously noted. But even some June and July 1975 issues have anomalies, which makes it difficult to assess when to heed them and when to dismiss them.

Four one-shot Conan digests

Apart from the numbered digest-sized issues in the regular run of the Conan the Barbarian series, to the best of my knowledge, there were only four other digest-sized one-shot editions of Conan comics published by Yaffa/Page Publications:

King Conan #1 (cover price $0.70);

King Conan NN (cover price $0.75) - a reprint of King Conan #1;

Untamed World of Conan (cover price $0.75) - a retitled reprint of Conan the Barbarian #2;

The Legend of Conan NN (cover price $0.75) - a retitled reprint of Conan the Barbarian #3;

I confess I haven't physically crosschecked the contents of the last two digests with their respective parent issues, but given the covers and the track record of  Yaffa/Page inhouse reprints it's a safe assumption that the digests are direct reprints of the larger format issues of the original series.

Given that #2 and #3 of Conan the Barbarian earned retitled unnumbered digest editions one might assume that a similar reprint Conan the Barbarian #1 exists. However, Conan the Barbarian #1 was reprinted as Conan the Barbarian #11 of that series. In fact, the publication of Conan the Barbarian #11 as a regular-sized issue ended the run of digest-sized instalments of the Conan the Barbarian series. This is a pattern I've noticed in quite a few other Yaffa/Page series. There are exceptions, but it is nevertheless a quite well-established pattern, which I intend to return to in future blog posts.

The King Conan #1 issue listed above may be numbered but I don't believe there was a second issue, even thought it appears it was projected as a series.

Having said all that, there may indeed be more Conan digests, but I haven't come across any others to date.

Hulk King Size Annual #1: The Newton edition

Newton Comics' Hulk King Size Annual #1 was published 20 September 1975:

The story contents are as follows:

A Refuge Divided!, originally published in The Incredible Hulk Special #1, October 1968

The Keepers of the Crypt!, originally published in Conan the Barbarian #8, August 1971

A Marvel Masterwork Pin-Up The Incredible Hulk, originally published in The Incredible Hulk Special #1, October 1968

A Refuge Divided! and The Incredible Hulk pinup appear to be reprinted intact. 

The Keepers of the Crypt has the cover image from Conan the Barbarian #8 in lieu of the original splash page. Here's a photo of the two-page spread:

The Yaffa printing of this story in Conan the Barbarian #3 goes one better by reproducing both the cover and the splash page:

It's odd that this issue should contain a Conan the Barbarian story given Conan had his own ongoing series at the time. However, this was not unprecedented by Newton Comics - we recall the Fantastic Four features in Planet of the Apes #1. Note also this is the story from which the Conan poster was drawn in Planet of the Apes #5. 

This issue was published during the Newton Swap Card promotional period. My copy includes Spiderman (sic) Series A (1 of 15) No. 3:

This issue did not contain a regular poster. However, as the cover and the  letter column above informs readers, one could send in for a "FREE glossy giant-size Hulk poster". This offer was prominently advertised alongside the contest:

This Hulk poster was still being offered as an enticement in December 1975:

This issue contains a number of in-house advertisements for other Newton comics:

Planet of the Apes #8

The Fantastic Four #6 

The Avengers #6

Conan the Barbarian #3 

Doctor Strange #2 

The Silver Surfer #1 

Dracula #4 

The Annual was advertised in-house:

The Planet of the Apes Annual #1 was published in July 1975. The Hulk Annual was the first of a projected 'series' of Annuals to be published monthly henceforth, according to the letter column. Sure enough, over the next three months readers were treated to Annuals featuring Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four  and The Avengers. (The Spider-Man Annual was in fact a Team-Up Annual, which begat a second Team-Up Annual, and indeed a series of such issues, but this is a rather convoluted episode in Newton's program which I'll address in a separate post).

This issue includes The Swap Cards Cometh advertisement and a T-shirt offer.

Planet of the Apes #5: The Newton edition

The cover to Newton Comics' Planet of the Apes #5 originally appeared on Marvel Comics' Planet of the Apes #5.

The contents are as follows:

[Terror on the Planet of the Apes] Malaguena Beyond a Zone Forbidden, originally published in Planet of the Apes #6, March 1975.

This chapter follows Evolution's Nightmare! from Planet of the Apes #5 which was published in Planet of the Apes Annual #1.

Planet of the Apes [Chapter Two: World of Captive Humans], originally published in Planet of the Apes #2, October 1974

These five pages complete the reprinting of this chapter. 

There is no rehearsal of the summary blurb included in previous instalments, and no reference to the chapter title I Can Write! from Planet of the Apes #4:

The bottom tier is cropped to accommodate the inclusion of the rather rudimentary title panel

Planet of the Apes Chapter Three: Manhunt!, originally published in Planet of the Apes #3, December 1974.

Only the first 9 pages of this chapter are reprinted. There is no proxy title for the continuation of the chapter in the next issue, and all of the pages of this chapter are non-paginated, except for a crudely designated page 35 by hand. 

Page 38 is a mess - it has been printed in reverse:

The poster in this issue advertises the forthcoming Conan the Barbarian series:

The image is cribbed from the final panel in the story The Keepers of the Crypt which originally appeared in Conan the Barbarian #8, August 1971. This story was reprinted by Newton in Hulk King Size Annual #1 page 81:

This issue includes in-house advertisements for Conan the Barbarian #1, advertised as On Sale 30 August 1975, and Planet of the Apes Annual #1 as Out Now!

The contest expires 22 September 1975. As discussed in my post on Planet of the Apes Annual #1, I believe Planet of the Apes #4, Planet of the Apes Annual #1 and Planet of the Apes #5 were published over a period of three weeks. Accordingly I date this issue as being published on 2 August 1975. I note it's possible all three issues were published one week earlier than my schema, but I favour the dates as I've laid them out.

Update 9/12/2018: A further consideration of the publication dates in discussion of Planet of the Apes #7.

Daredevil #1: The Yaffa Edition

It's hard to tell whether the Yaffa/Page sub-editors intentionally - that is, with deliberation - altered the colour scheme on this cover, or whether they just inadvertently stumbled onto a red Daredevil costume, given the original cover of Daredevil #2 featured the yellow Daredevil costume. Either way, the Electro costume is wrong... unless there's a golden Electro in Marveldom that I'm blissfully unaware of...

Regardless of intent, this issue is a beauty for Daredevil fans, reprinting the first three issues of Daredevil in glorious black and white. The first issue is reprinted sans the splash page, but apart from that, and some editing of the next issue boxes (and the covers to #'s 1 and 3) I believe the reprints are complete.

I wouldn't be shocked to find this issue is reprinted later in this series, just as the Yaffa Avengers #1 is reprinted as #10 in the series.

The rear cover advertises The Fantastic Four series at a cover price of 35c. Curious, as the Daredevil issue has a 50c cover price. The same advertisement appears on the rear of Yaffa's Conan the Barbarian #1, which is also a 50c cover. The Avengers #1 also has the 35c Fantastic Four advertisement on the rear cover, the only difference the blue and red ad text components are reversed, which suggests to me The Avengers #1 was released slightly earlier or later than Daredevil #1 and Conan #1.

The Avengers Giant Size 84 Page Annual: The Newton edition

This is the cover to Newton Comics' The Avengers Giant Size 84 Page Annual #1:

The cover originally appeared on Marvel Comics' The Avengers Annual #1:

The story contents are as follows:

The Monstrous Master Plan of the Mandarin! [Part 1], originally published in The Avengers Annual #1, September 1967

[The Monstrous Master Plan of the Mandarin!] Part 2: To Perish by the Sword, originally published in The Avengers Annual #1, September 1967

[The Monstrous Master Plan of the Mandarin!] Part 3: Struggle...in a Strange Land!, originally published in The Avengers Annual #1, September 1967

[The Monstrous Master Plan of the Mandarin!] Part 4: ...And a Monster Shall Stalk The Land!, originally published in The Avengers Annual #1, September 1967

[The Monstrous Master Plan of the Mandarin!] Part 5: Showdown in Space!, originally published in The Avengers Annual #1, September 1967

The Strength of the Sumo!, originally published in Tales of Suspense #61, January 1965

Among Us, Wreckers Dwell!, originally published in Tales of Suspense #64, April 1965

The splash page to The Monstrous Master Plan of the Mandarin! [Part 1] does not include the Stan Lee Presents introduction to the feature title:

Comparing it to the reprint in The Essential Avengers Vol. 2, the Newton print is unaffected by the Originally Presented in Avengers Annual #1 editorial note on the bottom left hand corner, but presumably this is native to the Essential edition:

The poster in this issue is a black and white enlarged print of a portion of the cover of Man-Thing #1:

This issue was prominently advertised in the Sunday Observer, 30 November 1975:

This would suggest a late-November 1975 publication date. However, it is cover-dated December 1975, and the letter column in this issue advises it is "out 13/12/75". Furthermore the following advertisement appears in this issue:

The Amazing Spider-Man #15 is advertised as Out Next Week. It has already been established that The Amazing Spider-Man #15 was published 20 December 1975. This corroborates the evidence that this issue was published 13 December 1975.

Note also that this advertisement for The Amazing Spider-Man #15 includes the statement at the top NEW, GIANT SPIDERMAN(sic) SPECIAL-50c. This ad is virtually identical to the ad for the same issue in Planet of the Apes #14, apart from the issues advertised in the Bulletin portion of the ad, and the absence of the statement at the top of this ad. This suggests to me that the ad above is the second draft of the two, and further suggests that it might have been added after the initial publication was delayed.

There are other in-house advertisements in this issue. They are: The X-Men with The Avengers #3; Captain America #1; Dracula #9; The Silver Surfer #4; Conan the Barbarian #9; and Doctor Strange #9. All of these issues are cover-dated either November or December, except for The Silver Surfer #4. This issue was cover-dated December 1975 upon publication, but like the ad for The Amazing Spider-Man #15, this ad uses a pre-production image sans the NEW GIANT SIZE MONNTHLY EDITION banner and is Out Next Week:

The late adjustments to the advertisements for the new Giant editions of ongoing series is symptomatic of the changes in the Newton Comics line in late 1975. This issue includes the Free Comic offer, instituted by Newton even before the Heritage Series program took effect, to deal with the overstock of returns; the Captain America Bulletin page announcing the MOST EXCITING NEW PLANS; and the editorial pages listing the new titles - but does not include the subscription page with the new titles as per other December 1975 cover-dated issues.

The indicia title is The Avengers. The GCD lists this issue as The Avengers Annual #1. AusReprints lists it as The Avengers Giant Size 84 Page Annual #1, which is the title I favour. However I do not object to the 'shorthand' The Avengers Annual, especially considering this is one of the Newton issues officially dubbed a Newton Comics Annual in the top left hand corner. On a side note, consider that Marvel refers to the issue as Avengers King-Size Special #1 in the Essentials edition, whereas the GCD lists it as The Avengers Annual, presumably in accordance with the indicia.

Interestingly this issue was advertised in Newton comics as late as March 1976.

Planet of the Apes #7: The Newton edition

The cover to Newton Comics' Planet of the Apes #7 originally appeared on Marvel Comics' Planet of the Apes #6.

The contents are as follows:

Planet of the Apes: Trial [Chapter Three: Manhunt!], originally published in Planet of the Apes #3, December 1974

Planet of the Apes [Part 4: The Trial], originally published in Planet of the Apes #4, January 1975

Planet of the Apes: Into the Forbidden Zone, originally published in Planet of the Apes #5, February 1975

After the completion of the Terror on the Planet of the Apes serial in the previous issue, this issue was dedicated to the Planet of the Apes serial. This is the first page:

This continues where Manhunt! left off, but is retitled Trial, and includes the blurb seen in some previous issues. The title panel and blurb are included at the expense of the top tier of panels on page 71 of Marvel's Planet of the Apes #3. It's a shame as the title panel is misleading - The Trial is actually the title of the next chapter, which begins in this issue a mere two pages later:

Having been pulled into duty on page 3, the title of this chapter is omitted from the page as it appears in Marvel's Planet of the Apes #4. This chapter is otherwise reprinted in full, apart from the note at the bottom of the last panel which advises that the next chapter follows rather than appearing in the next issue.

Only the first 9 pages of The Planet of the Apes: Into the Forbidden Zone chapter are included in this issue.

The poster in this issue featured the cover to Doctor Strange #4:

Dating this issue, as per the last couple of issues, is a bit tricky.

The contest in this issue ends 20 October 1975, and this issue includes in-house ads for a number of issues advertised as On Sale Now, including Conan the Barbarian #2 and Dracula #2. I've already discussed the fact that Conan the Barbarian #1 had previously been advertised as published on 30 August 1975, which problematised the release date for Planet of the Apes #6 to the point that I found myself second guessing the date and positing that it may have been released earlier. Conan the Barbarian #2 is advertised in Dracula #3, which advertises the pending release of the Swap Cards "From next weekend September 13". This dates Dracula #3 to 6 September 1975. The conclusion from this data is that Dracula #2 was published in August 1975 - probably 23 August 1975 - which further suggests Planet of the Apes #7 was published on or around this date. If so, then the publication date for Planet of the Apes #6 would have been closer to 9 August 1975 than 30 August 1975. All things considered, the sticking point appears to be 30 August 1975 date for Conan the Barbarian #1, so treating this as an outlier and assuming a fortnightly schedule, I would pencil in the following publication dates:

Planet of the Apes #5: 2 August 1975
Planet of the Apes #6: 16 August 1975
Planet of the Apes: #7 30 August 1975

I also note that the letters column in this issue forecasts the pending release of the Swap Cards, without advising a date.

As further data comes to hand I hope to finetune the timeline, but I think this is a good provisional guide.

If you follow the link above to Doctor Strange #4 you'll see that ten years ago I was a nostalgic rather than a committed Newton Comics collector. Around two years ago I found myself becoming more interested in the Newtons - as evidenced in my posts - and I am now only a few issues short of a complete run.

Update 8 December 2023: This issue was advertised as On Sale Now in Dracula #3, 6 September 1975:

This aligns with the 30 August 1975 publication date.

The Amazing Spider-Man #6: The Newton edition

Newton Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man #6 was published 16 August 1975:

The cover is from Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man #7:

The story contents are as follows:

The Return of The Vulture, originally published in The Amazing Spider-Man #7, December 1963

The Thunder-God and the Thug!, originally published in Journey into Mystery #89, February 1963

This issue includes a Dracula poster:

This image was to be published later in the year by Newton as the cover to Dracula #5.

Whilst The Amazing Spider-Man #5 realigned the series with its US counterpart in terms of issue number, cover and lead feature, this issue skipped the contents of the US The Amazing Spider-Man #6 and presented the main contents of The Amazing Spider-Man #7. The Mighty Thor backup series was reinstated after a hiatus, but it was not advertised on the cover. 

The reproduction of the two stories in this issue do not appear to have suffered from excess tampering. The splash page to The Return of The Vulture has been cropped on the bottom to accommodate the indicia:

This issue as advertised inhouse:

This advertisement is scanned from The Fantastic Four #4.

The expiry date for the contest is 29 September 1975.

The Amazing Spider-Man #4 added Dracula to its list of subscription titles. The subscription advertisement in this issue includes Conan and Dr. Strange. Conan the Barbarian #1 also earns an in-house advertisement stating On Sale Now. However, it was advertised in other Newton comics as on sale 30 August 1975. This suggests Conan the Barbarian #1 was delayed. Dr. Strange may have been similarly affected - TBC. 

Planet of the Apes #6: The Newton edition

The front cover to Newton Comics' Planet of the Apes #6 originally appeared on the front cover of Marvel Comics' Planet of the Apes #9. It was the first time the in this series that the front covers did not align with the respective US editions. 

The contents are as follows:

[Terror on the Planet of the Apes] Planet Inheritors!, originally published in Planet of the Apes #8, May 1975

Planet of the Apes [Chapter Three: Manhunt!], originally published in Planet of the Apes #3, December 1974

This portion of the chapter is 9 pages only, continuing from the previous issue:

As per Planet of the Apes #5 this chapter is non-paginated. It includes a generic title panel at the top of the page but not a specific chapter title. The insertion of the title panel results in the unfortunate cropping of the bottom tier. Taylor is barely visible in the sixth panel whereas in the original page there is a full head shot:

The poster is of Captain Marvel with Newton's own colour scheme:

The contest in this issue expires 6 October 1975.

There are a number of in-house advertisements, all of which are advertised as being current ie: August 1975 issues. One of these is Conan the Barbarian #1. This had previously been advertised as being released 30 August 1975. If this schedule was adhered to it would suggest this issue was published very late in August 1975. This would mean that after a rash of issues in quick succession in July and early August 1975, there was a longer than expected wait for this issue. However, it is also possible Conan the Barbarian #1 was published a bit earlier than initially announced. There is a regular two week gap in the contest dates between this issue and the previous issue, which would suggest a publication date for Planet of the Apes #6 closer to 16 August 1975 rather than 30 August 1975. That's as close as I can get to a publication date at this stage.

Update 9/12/2018: A further consideration of the publication dates in discussion of Planet of the Apes #7.

The Silver Surfer #1: The Newton edition

Newton Comics' The Silver Surfer #1 was published 27 September 1975:

The cover is from Marvel Comics' The Silver Surfer #1:

The story contents are as follows:

The Origin of the Silver Surfer!, originally published in The Silver Surfer #1, August 1968 

Call Her... Medusa!, originally published in Journey into Mystery #96, September 1963 

These stories appear to be reprinted complete and intact.

This issue included a Swap Card:

The card is Hulk Series A (1 of 15) No. 1 featuring the cover of The Incredible Hulk #1.

This issue contains in-house advertisements for the following Newton comics:

Doctor Strange #4 

Conan the Barbarian #4 

Hulk King Size Annual #1

The Silver Surfer #1 was advertised as Out Next Week in Hulk King Size Annual #1:

It was also announced as "from this month onwards" in letter columns appearing in other September 1975 issues.

This issue also includes a two-page Marvel Mailbag spread, an advertisement for Origins of Marvel Comics, a t-shirt offer and a competition with the expiry date 10 November 1975.