

BONUS IMAGE:

ABOVE: Karl Edward Wagner, Dark Crusade (NY: Warner Books, 1983), with cover art by Frank Frazetta.
LATE BREAKING ADDITION (courtesy of an intrepid reader; see the comments section of this post):

Filter Frazetta and Jusko through Panosian’s style, and voilĂ : a variant Conan cover!
Panosian’s cover is fantastic and has it’s own vibe but the pose and lighting are closer to this Joe Susko painting. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/02/be/73/02be73f6c8650a418a0b6d4dcd24efc7.jpg
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Not just closer, Rich, but clearly based upon! The way I’d put it, now that I’ve seen that picture, is that Panosian has produced a mashup, in his own style, of the Jusko figure and the Frazetta landscape/composition. The giveaway that Panosian was looking at Frazetta’s painting as well as at Jusko’s Conan is that Panosian has changed the design of Jusko’s axe to match Frazetta’s design. Anyway, thanks for playing along; I had never seen that Jusko illustration before I followed your link. Definitely will add that image to the post.
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