CONAN #2

Cover shows sharp corners, glossy unfaded color, and strong spine with no visible ticks or stress lines. The book is in a protective plastic sleeve which limits full assessment of surface gloss and edge condition. No creases, tears, or stains are visible in this photo; interior pages and back cover were not assessed.

Marvel's 1995 Conan title was one of several attempts to keep the Robert E. Howard license active after the long-running Conan the Barbarian ended its 275-issue run in 1993. Issue 2 carries "The Treasure of Harach Gnar," scripted by Larry Hama with pencils by Barry Crain, inks by Jimmy Palmiotti, colors by Marie Javins, letters by John Costanza, and editorial oversight by Bob Harras. Crain and Palmiotti also supply the cover. The book contains no first appearances or origin material, and Conan is the only significant character; its interest lies in Hama's brief tenure with the Cimmerian and in the series' place at the tail end of Marvel's original Howard licensing period.

Demand is thin. The series was published into a collapsing mid-1990s market, print runs and sell-through were modest, and the title has never developed the collector following that attaches to the Barry Windsor-Smith or John Buscema years of the original run. Copies move principally in complete-run lots rather than as single issues, and dealer pricing across most grade bands sits close to or barely above the original cover price. Certification is rare and generally uneconomic: the census for the run is sparse, which means a high-grade slab is scarce on paper without being scarce in fact, since unread copies remain easy to source from back-issue boxes.

Buyers are Conan completists assembling the full Marvel licensing history and, occasionally, Hama or Palmiotti collectors filling bibliographies. Low-grade copies are functionally reading material and trade as bulk; mid-grade copies clear at back-issue box rates; and the only meaningful premium sits in certified top-of-census examples, where the price reflects the cost of grading and the shipping-plus-slab floor more than underlying collector competition. Anyone acquiring this issue should expect run-building rather than speculation to drive resale, and should weigh the cost of certification carefully against the likely return.