Conan Annual 1973 #2 - back issue - $5.00

Prologue to the main story

There are three Marvel annuals that can be dated alongside the regular September 1976 cover-dated Marvels: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10, Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 and this one, Conan the Barbarian Annual #2. All three annuals feature the same advertisement pages as the regular Marvels dated September, in particular the same inside front, inside back and back covers. They also contain the same Bullpen Bulletins page (its title beginning with "A Quaff of Quixotic Quips"), which means they were printed along with the regular comicbooks for Sept 1976; furthermore, that Bulletins page advertises three new Giant-Size titles, Conan, Spider-Man and Two in One. As the Giant-Size titles had all ended by now (with the exception of a couple of returns in 2005), it's safe to assume that between the writing of the Bulletins page and their actual publication, these Giant-Sizes had become the above-mentioned Annuals. On sale date from the Comic Reader #131.

• Attack of the Midnight Monster! - Art credits from Buckler. Dan Adkins previously credited with inks by Nick Caputo.
• The Phoenix on the Sword - Adapted from Robert E. Howard's "The Phoenix on the Sword".
• - Roy Thomas and Glen Lord relate how Robert E. Howard's Kull story "By This Ax I Rule" was later revised to become his first Conan story.