CONAN RED NAILS Art Book by Barry Windsor- Smith Deluxe Hardcover with Slipcase (Red Nails) Hardcover – January 1, 2013

When the "Savage Tales" #2 and #3 first came out with this story, I was blown away. Now, 20+ years later, to see the original art is like reading the story for the first time again. Easily the peak of Barry Smith's artwork for the Conan work.

I just received the book, and it is not AT ALL what I expected.Printed on shiny paper and only one image per page spread, with a lot of filler. Only 69-70 pages of actual art.It appears to be giant "photographs" of each page of artwork, rather than an accurate reproduction of the actual art (on matte paper), which had been done in the IDW Artists Editions.I am a huge Barry Windsor Smith fan, and was Very, Very, disappointed.This is not worth the money.I hope that someone from Genesis West reads this and responds.

I received the "Conan Red Nails - Original Art Archives Volume 1" this week and would like to make some comments.To start, I own several of the IDW Publisher's similarly themed "Artist Edition" books (Wally Wood, Simonson's Thor, Miller & Mazzucchelli Daredevil, Shultz's Xenozoic Tales and most treasured, Wrightson's Muck Monster) and own a few original pages/pieces of comic art from favorite artists. I'm a graphic designer and illustrator, grew up on (mostly Marvel) comics from the mid 60's through 80's and this kind of release greatly appeals to me. The artist for this release, Barry Smith ranks way up among my very favorite comics artists and this is unquestionably his finest achievement during his run on the Conan comic in the 70's. If I was to rate this book on the quality of the artwork, it would be an easy 5 stars.The reproductions of each page of art looks excellent, revealing nuances such as more detail in the linework, varying shades of the india ink in large black spaces, faint pencil lines, border marks, scribbles, etc. never before seen in any previous printing of the story. The actual story is under 60 pages long and is black and white art photographed (not scanned) in color which shows the yellowing of the original art pages and other subtle discolorations of the art board and artwork that comes with almost 4 decades of age. As with other books of this genre, this is a very large book at 14" x 19". The book comes in a nice slip case.That said, I have to rank this release as a significant disappointment.One of the key points of IDW's "Artist Edition" books is that the pages are printed on matte heavy stock paper that replicates the exact tactile feel of a page of white Bristol 100 lb paper comic art and at the actual size of the original art. This "Red Nails" release by Genesis West Publishing is printed on heavy stock glossy paper much like many large coffee table hard cover art books and the art fills about 80% of the actual page size. Each one-sided page has about a 1/2 inch black border on the larger dark cool gray page, perhaps to mimic the page matted in a fine art frame. You have the comic page on the right page and the left page which is a full page dark grey (they used a *lot* of that spot color for this book!) has a small blow up of art from of one panel from the right page along with a title header graphic listing the page number. From a graphic design standpoint, it's very oddly laid out. In addition, it's easy to get fingerprints on the glossy page and they can crease or dimple if you don't take care when flipping through the pages.While the quality of the reproduced art is equal to the IDW books, this book seems more like a very large art book than a collection of "comic art pages."Another issue I have with this release is the fact the book is padded out to almost double the story page count with frankly mostly unnecessary "supplementary" stuff that adds little to the presentation. Also, there is no input from Barry Smith himself.This all leads to my biggest complaint, which is this book is wildly overpriced for what you get, especially when compared to the superior IDW releases which usually have 3 times the page count and sell from $120 - $160 upon release. Mine was a gift as my wife knows how much I love these kind of books, but I felt bad she spent the money on this particular release.As this is titled "Volume 1" and I understand Genesis has access to other Barry Smith Conan stories, I would guess there's a chance of a "Volume 2" coming out at some point. Based on this release and the pricing, I would not spend the money no matter how dearly I love Smith's art if another book came out like this book's design.In conclusion, I would hope that Genesis publishes a bare bones 2nd edition with just the story on white borderless Bristol Matte Board stock with the page size close to the true actual art size at a more realistic price point sometime in the future.

There isn't much I can add to other reviews here. All the criticisms you've already read are certainly valid. It isn't a perfect product, and it's not available at a perfect price. But in terms of viewing the original art, there is currently nothing better. And I think everyone should have an opportunity to see this work in some way, since you can't walk into a gallery and view it in person.The fans and collectors who pre-ordered this product sight unseen in 2013 probably had the most to complain about, but there are now photos and videos available online for your consideration. They don't do this work justice of course but at least you will have an idea what to expect if you decide this product is worth the extra cost.And if money is the issue, Savage Tales #2 and #3 are some of my favorite illustrated magazines ever, and can still be found for a much more sensible price than issue #1 at least. The Marvel Treasury Edition from 1975 is also one of Marvel's best in my opinion and is very much worth owning, in color, with additional rendering from Barry Smith no less. And if you don't mind a different language in the text, there is also the Dutch Limited Edition release from 2007 called "Rode spijkers", which is a great collection of Barry's work with the story of Red Nails as the centerpiece. This last publication is one that I know next to nothing about, but since a handful of them came with a print signed and numbered by Barry, I'm guessing this is one of the few releases he actually approved of. It is supposedly limited to 1000 copies (?) and prices seem to have crept up since I bought mine, though I wouldn't pay much for it since it was "scanned from the original publication".There are several aspects of this Genesis West release that I find lacking, as other reviewers before me have asserted (i.e. price, wasted space, lack of additional content, etc.), and therefore I deduct two stars from my total rating. However, since it's possible the original pictorial may never get this kind of treatment again, and since this work has continued to inspire me as an artist since I first saw it in the 70's, I still give this release three stars. Barry's work here is worth ten stars at least, but if you're even considering this item then you already knew that.This may be the last time I buy another reprinting of Red Nails. Maybe.