In 1970, when writer-editor Roy Thomas convinced Stan Lee and the powers-that-were at Marvel Comics to license Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian for comics, no one could have known that almost 40 years later we’d still be talking about the resultant comic book masterpieces.

Conan, of course, was just one of many fondly remembered points in Thomas’s storied career, but it also marked the explosion on the scene by artist Barry Windsor-Smith. Now Dark Horse Comics will collect the BWS Conan material in two hardcover volumes.

The first volume of The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives includes such classic tales as “Rogues in the House” and “The Tower of the Elephant,” written by Thomas and illustrated by Windsor-Smith, will be with remastered coloring using the original color palette.

The 200-page hardcover will retail for $49.95 and is scheduled to be in stores January 20, 2010.