Archives - "The Visionary Life of Barry Windsor-Smith"

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Barry Windsor-Smith Intro

1:00Hello, your friendly neighborhood host, J.T. Wheatley, back for another episode of the History of Comic Books podcast. This time on the visionary life of Barry Windsor-Smith. Comic books have had many independent artists throughout the years, but to whose very nature still makes great contributions. A notable one is Barry Windsor-Smith, a British artist who's run on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian in the 1970s, helped revive the classic character along with being one of the best comic books of the decade. However, Windsor-Smith's independent nature also led to numerous classes of the industry, resulting in him not providing consistent work for most of his career.

1:35What he did produce, though, still helped him become one of the greatest comic book artists in recent decades. Barry Windsor-Smith was born Barry Smith on May 25, 1949, in Forest Gate, London, England, a working-class area of East London. He demonstrated his artistic skills at an early age, and his parents encouraged his education in the arts to expand his talents. Windsor-Smith would later attend the East Ham Technical College for three years, earning degrees in industrial design and illustration. Barry Windsor-Smith's first published work was in 1967 and 1968 in Marvel Comics' Terrific and Fantastic Comics as a single-page powerhouse pickups.

2:13These were under Odom's Press, a British publishing company with licenses to reprint Marvel Comics in the UK. With this, Windsor-Smith sent material to Marvel, which caught the eye of Stanley's assistant, Linda Fett, who arranged a meeting, thus Windsor-Smith flew out to the United States in 1968 with fellow artist Steve Parkhouse, known for his work in 2000 AD in the Doctors at Who magazine. The two would meet at the Marvel at the New York offices. Stanley liked Windsor-Smith's style, which he compared to Jack Kirby's, and gave him the job of penciling X-Man No. 53 on February 1969, where he is credited as Barry Smith.

2:49Windsor-Smith next drew Daredevil with No. 50 to 52 from March of May of 1969, a Western short story known as Half-Breed or Outcast in the Western Gunfighters No. 4 in February of 1971, and Nick Fury, Agent of the Shield No. 12 on May of 1968. The latter two were scripted by his friend, Steve Parkhouse. At the time, Windsor-Smith considered his art klutzy and a pale annotation of Jack Kirby, but Stanley liked it so much he kept giving him more work. After Windsor-Smith returned to the UK, Marvel editor Roy Thomas' sign of Avengers No. 66 to 67, July-August of 1969,

3:25would introduce a fictional metal adamantium that would later align the skeleton of a future Marvel character, Wolverine, a story Windsor-Smith would also have a large hand in. Still working from the UK, Windsor-Smith produced work for horror titles Chamber of Secrets and Tower of Shadows

Conan the Barbarian

3:41before he got the job that would change his career, Conan the Barbarian. Roy Thomas was a huge fan of the 1930s fantasy pulp character created by Robert E. Howard, and when Marvel Comics acquired the license to produce the first comic book adaptation of him, Thomas got the job writing while offering pencil duties to Barry Windsor-Smith. The first comic, Conan the Barbarian, appeared on October of 1970, and during his run, Windsor-Smith's art style evolved leaps and bounds, leading to the success of not only the series for Marvel, but his place as one of the best new artists in comic books.

4:13When drawing Conan, he found him sexist and depicted him as younger and more naive at first. He used New York City for inspiration for Conan's ancient world with the skyscrapers and so forth and liked to portray the monsters like Medusa as beautiful. He classitized Conan in Conan's saga number one cover, and for his art, Windsor-Smith used black and blue pencils for his comics work. Windsor-Smith would also help with the writing, and with Roy Thomas, they adapted many of Robert E. Howard's classic Conan stories, such as The Frost Giant's Daughter and The Tower of the Elephant,

4:44while Windsor-Smith provided covers for much of the series. They also produced original stories, many focusing on Red Sonja, the red-head warrior woman for the Robert E. Howard's non-Conan stories, which they incorporated into the series. Windsor-Smith would ultimately leave Conan the Barbarian with issue number 24 on March of 1973, due to the deadline issues and his dissatisfaction with the comic book industry. But the legacy he and Roy Thomas created remains one of the highlights on Conan the Barbarian, along with being what many consider one of the best comic book runs in the 1970s.

5:15It was this comic, along with the reprints of the original Robert E. Howard book, featuring the brilliant cover of Frank Frazetta, who helped define the look of the character, that revived Conan the Barbarian as one of the fantasy's great anti-heroes, leading to the 1982 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which of course lost his career. So in a crazy roundabout way, you could thank Barry Windsor-Smith for the Terminator. During his run on Conan the Barbarian, Barry Windsor-Smith immigrated to the United States on March of 1971. To do so, he had to confirm he was a genius in his field, that being comic books, to the U.S. Immigration Office to get his green card,

5:48as the standards were very strict at the time, being under the Nixon administration. Windsor-Smith was given that status of registered genius by the U.S. court, and he joked, to this day, his art he submitted is in a file in the U.S. Immigration Office, along with his registration as a registered genius of a comic artist. Moving to New York City at 22, Barry Windsor-Smith originally lived on 57th Street before moving to Montague Street, where he drew three issues of Conan, despite its sloped floors that gradually sent any furniture that wasn't nailed down to one side of the building.

6:18According to his landlord, he said the building was just settling after recent reservations. As a result of these conditions, he crafted what he called his long-drawn-out style, as the slope-forwards forced him to elongate his figure work. Finally, Windsor-Smith gave up and returned to England after three months. He worked on Conan the Barbet in issue number 24, as mentioned earlier, with the song of Red Sonja, having previously introduced the character with Roy Thomas in issue number 23 in February of 1973. Red Sonja was partially based on the Robert E. Howard character, Red Sonja,

6:50which is spelled S-O-N-Y-A, whereas the character in the comic was spelled S-O-N-J-A, and Red Sonja was of Roy Gagnanti, which first appeared in the Magic Carpet magazine in January of 1934, and it also took inspiration from Dark Agnes of Degasistelion, a female adventurer during the 16th century France. For note, Dark Agnes has since appeared in Marvel as well. For better or for worse, Red Sonja was adapted to a 1985 film starring Bridget Nielsen

7:23as the title character and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Lord Kalidor, a vague Conan ripoff. The film was a financial and critical failure, and Schwarzenegger jokes to this day that Red Sonja is the worst film he has ever made, stating he would punish his children by forcing them to watch it. While there has been attempts to make another film adaptation, most recently with X-Men director Bryan Singer at the helm, nothing has been produced so far. In 1973, Barry Wintersmith returned to the United States but was frustrated with corporate work. He lived with his friend Michael Dorrit and was convinced to do the Savage Tales for Marvel,

7:55its black-and-white magazine by Roy Thomas. In the series, Roy Thomas and Wintersmith did an adaptation of the story Red Nails, the last Conan story Robert E. Howard wrote, finding the barbarian in the decaying city where residents are resigned to its fate. Due to its dark themes of death and decay, it is considered one of the best of Howard's Conan stories. Appearing in Savage Tales number two and three, it will be considered an instant classic in its own right and has been reprinted several times by Marvel and Dark Horse ever since. Wintersmith next adapted Robert E. Howard's Germanarian poem

8:28about a fictional country and once again starring Conan, appearing in Savage Tales number two in 1973. He would adapt Conan's look to match himself with his long hair and skinnier frame and found the staging of Red Nails less stressful at first as he didn't have a set page count for the story. Besides Conan barrier, Winsor Smith provided art for numerous other Marvel books such as K-Zar Stories and Astonishing Tales number three through six on December 1970 to June of 1971 and number 10 on February 1971 as well. Winsor Smith also did three more issues of Avengers

9:00with number 98 to 100 April to June of 1972 which he would later call a nightmare having to draw so many characters along with Iron Man number 47 on June of 1972. And then he did Marvel period number three to four of July to September of 1972 which featured Doctor Strange as it was scripted by Stan Lee. Soon Wintersmith was becoming disillusioned with the comic industry in general, particularly how they treated writers and artists and would leave for the first time not producing a comic book until 1983.

9:31He did leave some inventory items from Marvel which were naturally Robert E. Howard stories, Exile and Atlantis starring Cole and appeared in Savage Sword of Conan number three in December of 1974 and The Worms of the Earth starring Bron Mock Warren, another Robert E. Howard character which appeared in issue number 16 on November of 1975. He also inked 10 pages of Jack Kirby's pencils for Captain America's Bicentennial Battles in 1976 for an oversized Marvel Treasury edition. During this time, Barry Wintersmith stated

10:02he had a spiritual awakening viewing the world in ways that were, quite frankly, near unimaginable. He wrote about these experiences for the first time in Time Rise in October of 1998 which he best describes in this and his books Opus Values 1 and 2. I won't even begin to try to detail it as I cannot do Winters' experiences justice. It's best just to read them for yourself if you're interested. Wintersmith expanded on his visions on this after the reading The Candle in the Vision in 1988

10:33by George William Russell on the advice of a friend. However, these visions and experiences distracted him on his first chapter of Red Nails with the final pages of 20 to 21 having to be finished and inked by someone else. During this time, he changed his art style going from delicate fine inks to more spotted and baked. Ultimately, despite being delayed, Red Nails was finished in 1973. With his spiritual visions, Barry Wintersmith states that he never does drugs and he even alcohol doses vision.

11:03He even jokes that unless American beer is served ice cold, it tastes horrible. Strangely, he has no interest in astrology but he does like using their symbols admitting he's a Gemini. He is interested in philosophy and cosmology as well. Outside of Marvel, Winsor Smith worked in advertising with Charlie White and even credits the discipline of working in commercial art with helping expand his creativity along with putting his use of his advertising, design, typography, and other skills he learned in college. While working with White,

11:34he fell in love with his assistant, Carol, and helped create Levi's ad for a full-page Rolling Stone ad drawing Cedarian bazaars sitting crowded with various figures including a Conan lookalike, all wearing jeans. During this period, Barry added his mother's surname to his last name, becoming Winsor Smith, and when his partner, Linda Lessman, created the Gold Blimey Press from which he published some limited edition fantasy projects that proved popular, Winsor Smith published the Gold Blimey Press Catalog in 1976,

12:05a high-quality index of these works. In 1975, he joined Barry Wrightson, Jeff Jones, and Michael Kolude to form the Manhattan Artist Commune, the studio, with the aim of producing work outside the constraints of mainstream comic book industry. This would lead to the art book aptly named the studio, which was published by Dragon's Dream in 1979, though they would later broke up to pursue their own independent projects. In 1981, Barry Winsor Smith designed the comic strip Mandro for the Oliver Stone horror film

12:36The Hand about a comic book artist who loses his hand only for it to take on an evil life of its own. In the film, the strip is produced by the lead character John Lansdale, played by Michael Caine. Oliver Stone was a fan of Barry Winsor Smith's run on the Conan the Barbarian, stating he read the comics before reading the original Robert E. Howard stories, and would later help him write the screenplay for the 1982 Conan film. As for The Hand, despite its pedigree, the film was a financial and critical failure.

13:03In 1983, Barry Winsor Smith returned to comic books with short stories The Beguiling and The Path to the Stars, both which appeared in the Epic Illustrated No. 16 on February of 1983. The magazine also featured a page-and-a-half spread by Barry Winsor Smith with text by Archie Goodwin called The Horde, which depicts Conan and Valier, the pirates from Red Nails, in battle. Winsor Smith later provided the short piece Swords for Dave Sim Cerebus No. 5, appropriate since that comic was originally

13:34made as a satire to Conan the Barbarian that same year. In 1984, Winsor Smith provided a number of stories for Marvel, such as The Thing as That Night for the April Fools in Marvel Fanfare No. 15, July of 1984, and Life Death, a double-sized storm story in Uncanny X-Men No. 186 on October of 1984. Next, he did the four-issue Machine Man miniseries from October of 1984 to January of 1985. The first three issues, penciling and coloring over Herb Trippi's layouts, were the final issue by himself.

14:06Written by Tom DeFalco, this was a revival of the character created by Jack Kirby from his fabled 2001 A Space Odyssey comic book adaptation of 1977, first appearing in issue number 8 on July of 1977. Today, Tom DeFalco and Barry Wintersmith's miniseries is considered one of the best stories starring the character, who has consistently appeared in Marvel ever since, notably starring in the Earth-X and Next Wave series. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Barry Wintersmith's comic book work slowed down with the occasional issue of Uncanny X-Man, Iron Man,

14:36and even providing covers for the Conan Saga in 1987, which reprinted his original run from the 1970s. Wintersmith also provided pieces for A1 Anthology for Atomica Press. The 1990s would see Barry Wintersmith provide his last works for Marvel with Excalibur number 27 on September of 1990, but also one of his best in Marvel Comics Presents number 72 to 84 in March to September of 1991, which detailed how Wolverine was entered into the Weapon X program, gaining his adamantium skeleton

15:06while also having his mind erased. Smith wrote, penciled, ink, colored, and co-lettered the story and is considered a modern masterpiece along with essential reading for Wolverine fans. The image of Wolverine the wired mind-control get-up has been replicated ever since, from X-Men cartoons to his cameo in X-Men Apocalypse in 2016. This would be his last major work for Marvel as Barry Wintersmith soon got a chance to help launch a new comic book company, Valiant. Valiant Comics were formed in 1991

15:37by former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and Steve Mazzarkey with the intention of creating a universe with a tight continuity featuring a mix of old series from Gold Key such as Magnus Robot Fighter and Torak Dinosaur Hunter along with new ones like Bloodshot and Archer and Armstrong. Barry Wintersmith was hired to design their first major crossover with Unity in 1992 and then was the writer and artist in the first dozen issues of Archer and Armstrong which he co-created with Bob Layden and Jim Shooter about Archer, a young assassin who finds himself

16:07teaming up with the immortal Armstrong he was trained to kill. Thanks to this mix of talent along with some story-driven series, Valiant was soon one of the most successful third-party publishers until Image Comics came about. However, in 1993, Jim Shooter had left the company and when it set up a work-for-hire policy Wintersmith left as well as this was the reason for his problems with Marvel. Due to legal issues, he would never work on Archer and Armstrong again, even stating in 2008 he would return to the series when pigs fly to the moon and return safely.

16:38Thus, when Valiant was revived a few years ago along with Archer and Armstrong, Wintersmith has had nothing to do with it. Next, Barry Wintersmith worked for Malibu Comics in the series Rune, which he co-created with Chris Oum and he even did a crossover with Marvel Comics and Conan the Barbarian. However, there would be legal issues over ownership of the character despite Marvel buying Malibu and as a result the series has not been reprinted to this day.

17:03Wintersmith next found himself at Image Comics in the crossover Wild Storm Rising with him drawing and coloring the first issue of the May 1995 series along with all 11 covers of the interconnected crossover. He would later claim to regret doing the series that he didn't understand the motivation of the characters and even tried to change the story to make it better which upset writer James Robinson. That same year Barry Wintersmith created a Barry Wintersmith storyteller which featured ongoing features like The Paradox Man a dark science fiction tale,

17:34Young Gods an homage to Jack Kirby's New Gods and The Freebooters a satire about an aging Conan-like character that now runs the tavern. Wintersmith would cancel the series after nine issues despite a tenth issue being completed and Fantagraphics would since publish a hardcover edition of Collecting Young Gods and The Freebooters. Fantagraphics would also publish opus volumes one and two. Originally opus was meant to be a bimonthly or quarterly magazine that publishes unused work but he nixed the idea when he realized the text would be needed to accompany the art.

18:06Barry Wintersmith of horrid violence though he specializes in it with his art and even understands it as a distinguishing part of the human race. However, he hates the industry's overliance on its use in storytelling thus when he uses it in his work such as in The Paradox Man it is intentionally depicted to disturb the readers. In the 2000s Barry Wintersmith created UFO POV an 11 page story for Streetwise in July of 2000 a trade paper rack for a two morrows publishing and even returned to Marvel in 2000 and 2001 providing covers

18:36for the new X-Men and five interior pages for Wolverine number 166 which was a weapon X tie-in with writer Frank Keery.

18:45Today, Barry Wintersmith has published no major work recently despite numerous projects announced from a thing story for Marvel to a Superman story for DC but nothing has come in them lately. And this is the eccentric but brilliant career of Barry Wintersmith. Despite producing not as much work as other great artists what he has produced remains remarkable. His run on Conan the Barbarian in the 1970s remains one of the great runs on any fantasy comic book ever along with helping revive the character while also contributing to Wolverine's origin and helping form

19:16the original Valiant Comics. His disagreements with the industry and his own spiritual release has taken them in different directions than most other great artists but it is still one that has made the comic medium better for it.

Career Legacy

19:27Great artists have many different ways to reach their achievements and Barry Wintersmith is no exception.

19:33I would like to thank the original sources for this episode Opus Volume 1 and 2 by Barry Wintersmith himself in which he details his life and spiritual beliefs along with some brilliant reprints of his art. It is mostly on his views of the world but there is also some nice insight in both his how he thinks along with his work ethic and some interesting biolographical techniques. This is highly recommended for Barry Wintersmith fans.

20:10And now it is May 21st, 2026, time for the favorite comic of the week. G.I. Joe number 22 by Joshua Williamson and Andrea Molina which is a great new story arc that sees two rival Joe teams going after a new statue of Energon only to run into a classic G.I. Joe character that may or may not be on either one of them's side. This is a great fun issue by Williamson who really plays up the Destro Cobra dynamic as Cobra commander is upset with how he tried to portray him in the past story arc so he sends

20:41him out to lead a field mission which Destro doesn't want to do but he's got no choice at this point and they go up against the Baroness and Risk on the G.I. Joe team which is a fun contrast because you know in the comics and the cartoon the Baroness and Destro are romantic interests but now they're going against each other but we'll see where it's going with this story it looks like a lot of fun and it's masked by Adrian Molina is a very gorgeous like it's nice mix of gritty and cartoonish which is something Tom Riley brought to the original series and it's perfect because this is like

21:13with science fiction and fantasy and stuff and giant robots with transformers which is also referenced very funny because when they come to the sources of Energon which they claim is like this haunted location one of the Joes just outright admits hey we're dealing with giant alien robots I believe in anything at this point so that's just a lot of fun little meta commentary there so yeah just all in all just a great read and still the best of the Energon universe books right now which by the way is still the best new shared universe on the market today and with that we'll conclude with this episode of the

21:43next week like it for another episode of Archive still working I do have five down but I want to get five more together to do a bank of ten before I release some new episodes so yeah even though I'm going on vacation I'm going to take out some research books try to get some more try to get that next script out what are you going to do when you try but it's still fun I'm going to keep doing it until I don't want to anymore and hopefully everyone keeps listening but and also quick reviews Punisher One Last Kill came out last week on Disney Plus fantastic a little meta

22:13but as a quick 50 minute short film I think it's a little over short film based on what the qualifications are this is great to see John Burnt all back as the Punisher that's killing everybody he's so good and you can tell he's had real training because the way he moves those firearms he's really playing like a real military precision that Frank Castle should do like these gangsters they don't know how to shoot a gun but he takes everyone and he shows them how it's done it's beautiful so yeah definitely check out Disney Plus and until then definitely go out and check out a good comic book

22:44and check out The Internet and the Universe and G.I. Joe because they're some of the best comic books in the stands right now free is great but only if it's useful free credit scores from some apps can differ by as much as 100 points from your actual FICO score that 90% of top lenders use when you apply for a credit card personal loan car loan or mortgage that can mean a higher interest rate a bigger monthly payment

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