Easily mistakable for classic Conan:

It's Barry Windsor-Smith, artist of Marvel's first Conan the Barbarian comics (and a ton of other stuff) but this time on story and art, for 1995's Conan vs. Rune.

Possibly because I recently re-read Smith and Roy Thomas's adaptation of "Red Nails," the story and the art here reminded me of that one: travelling through the Turanian desert, Conan approaches a camp, only to find it deserted. Spying a jewel, the usually canny barbarian is lured into a trap, set by the alien vampire Rune, who has already eaten most of the local populace. (Rune's killed them all, he just hasn't eaten all of them yet...)


I don't know all of Rune's story, even though I think I have a couple issues of Curse of Rune since I like the Kyle Hotz art. Rune's power level varied wildly, though: along with this brawl with Conan, he also fought Venom, Adam Warlock, and the Silver Surfer. Not in any particular order, either...

No offense to the colorist, but man, I bet this'd look great in black-and-white. Story and art by Barry Windsor-Smith, with ink assist by Alex Bialy.