*Marvel: Roy Thomas and Barry Smith’s comic book recreation of Robert E Howard’s Conan the Barbarian was a breakout hit for Marvel in the early 1970s, but yet another fantasy comics star made her debut in Conan #23 (Feb 1973), when Conan encountered Red Sonja, a female brigand and adventurer who was every bit his equal – even though Marvel missed a step by not cover-featuring her! Sonja rapidly caught the public’s imagination and spun off into her own series (regrettably with a skimpier and more impractical outfit than her earlier look), and more than fifty years later – being a licensed character not linked to a specific publisher – continues her comic-book career to this very day. This is structurally a decent pence printed copy, with nice spine, great cover colours except for a small faded area above the logo to the left, where the red has become orange (see scan), tight, firm staples and supple off-white pages. There is some creasing breaking colour, one at the right edge with a tiny tear with no loss, and one across the bottom right corner. 
PICTURED: CONAN #23 VG p £40