Marvel Premier Featuring the Mark of Kane No. 33: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Author Robert E. Howard's creation Solomon Kane appears in this issue of 1976 a Marvel Premiere, a title produced by Marvel Comics to test the popularity of new characters. The story by Roy Thomas, with art by Howard Chaykin, is part one of an adaptation of Howard's pulp story Red Shadows, first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928.

Howard, best known for authoring the adventures of Conan the Barbarian, wrote a number of stories and poems featuring Kane, a Puritan from around the turn of the 17th Century who, armed with flintlock pistols and edged weapons, adventured around the world wearing a signature slouched hat.

The character has been featured in comics produced by Marvel as well as Dark Horse. The gothic hero was portrayed by actor James Purefoy in the film Solomon Kane, released in 2009.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1976
• maker: Marvel Comics
• Object Name: comic book
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 6 3/4 in x 10 1/4 in; x 17.145 cm x 26.035 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York City
• Subject: Comics
• Subject: Fantasy
• ID Number: 2013.3039.283
• nonaccession number: 2013.3039
• catalog number: 2013.3039.283
• Credit Line: Gift of George R. Zug
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.