Conan

[Necromancer]

Has anyone read the Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian Series? They were a summer full of reading for me when I was younger. I quite enjoyed them. I got into them from reading the Savage Sword of Conan, which was a black and white, oversized comic from Marvel. I found the actual novels to be phenomenal and liked them much more than even the comics.

 

I prefered the original stories that were actually written by Howard himself to the adaptations done by his successors, but even they were good.

 

I was highly dissapointed in the movies though. Hard to believe you could combine Arnold with one of my favorite "heroes" and it would come out so crappy. But that's the movies, not the books and that's Jack's OTHER forum.

 

So if any of you are Conan fans, of ANY genre, pulp or comics or movies... let's discuss it here.

 

There's been a great resurrgence in Conan popularity and there is talk of a new version coming to film that is supposed to be more in line with Howard's version of the black maned Cimmerian. I truely hope so and can't wait.

 

Dark Horse has a newer version of the comic out now, but I have yet to read it. I hear it's full of legal tie ups, so the characters are all messed up in it. That's a shame when that happens.

[Necromancer]

Here is a list of the original Howard Conan stories that made it to publishment before his death. I am a big fan of some of the later writers, such as L. Spraque DeCamp, but none of them capture Howard's style, which is just perfect for the brooding Barbarian.

 

Conan stories published in Weird Tales

The Phoenix on the Sword (novelette; WT 20 6, Dec 1932)

The Scarlet Citadel (novelette; WT 21 1, Jan 1933)

The Tower of the Elephant (novelette; WT 21 3, Mar 1933)

Black Colossus (novelette; WT 21 6, Jun 1933)

Xuthal of the Dusk (novelette; WT 22 3, Sep 1933, as The Slithering Shadow)

The Pool of the Black One (novelette; WT 22 4, Oct 1933)

Rogues in the House (novelette; WT 23 1, Jan 1934)

Iron Shadows in the Moon (novelette; WT 23 4, Apr 1934, as Shadows in the Moonlight)

Queen of the Black Coast (novelette; WT 23 5, May 1934)

The Devil in Iron (novelette; WT 24 2, Aug 1934)

The People of the Black Circle (novella; WT 24 3-5, Sep/Oct/Nov 1934)

A Witch Shall be Born (novelette; WT 24 6, Dec 1934)

Jewels of Gwahlur (novelette; WT 25 3, Mar 1935)

Beyond the Black River (novella; WT 25 5-6, May/Jun 1935)

Man-Eaters of Zamboula (novelette; WT 26 5, Nov 1935, as Shadows in Zamboula)

The Hour of the Dragon (novel; WT 26 6 & 25 1-4, Dec 35/Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr 1936)

Red Nails (novella; WT 28 1-3, Jul/Aug-Sep/Oct 1936)

 

 

A more in depth depiction of the Conan lives from pulp to video games can be found at Wikipedia.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_the_Barbarian

[Necromancer]

An even better site. The offical Conan site.

 

http://www.conan.com/

[Necromancer]

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/1020/Conan-.jpg

[Jack Aubrey]

If you watch the documentary on the DVD, there's an interesting bit about Robert E. Howard. Apparently the guy was a little.....off. He would become convinced from time to time that the people in his town were coming to get him, so he would barricade himself in his house with his guns. Also, Conan was inspired by an hallucination. Howard actually had a vision of Conan. Conan appeared before him holding a battle axe, and directed Howard to tell his story. Howard stayed up all night writing the first novel and collapsed when Conan disappeared at dawn. Strange dude.

 

 

[DouglasFir]

QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jun 26 2006, 08:11 PM)

If you watch the documentary on the DVD, there's an interesting bit about Robert E. Howard. Apparently the guy was a little.....off. He would become convinced from time to time that the people in his town were coming to get him, so he would barricade himself in his house with his guns. Also, Conan was inspired by an hallucination. Howard actually had a vision of Conan. Conan appeared before him holding a battle axe, and directed Howard to tell his story. Howard stayed up all night writing the first novel and collapsed when Conan disappeared at dawn. Strange dude.

I read an article a few weeks ago talking about Howard's life and the events leading up to his suicide - really interesting stuff. I may have to see if there are any actual biographies about him out there.

[Fridge]

I LOVE the original Conan series. First rate puip in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs etc.

I prefer Howards original plus the adaptations by Lin Carter and L Sprague De Camp, but wasn't so enamoured of the later offerings by Robert Jordan et al.

 

Howard himself was a tragic figure. He suffered from black mood swings which plagued him all his short life.He was obviously some kind of manic depressive, but he was never properly treated(it was the 1930s after all). If memory serves me correctly, he spiralled into a particularly bad bout after his mother died and he committed suicide at the age of thirty. A sad loss.

 

Interestingly, he also corresponded frequently with another of my favourite authors, H. P. Lovecraft,(though they never met in person) who also died young, albeit due to ill health...

[circumstances1]

I read all the REH Conan stuff as a kid as well (plus all the L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Howard, etc.).

 

All the Roy Thomas/Barry Smith and later John Buscema comic adaptations.

 

The movie "The Whole Wide World" (1996) starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Renee Zellweger is a Robert E. Howard biography that hardly anyone saw (including me). Just FYI.

[Necromancer]

QUOTE (circumstances1 @ Jul 2 2006, 03:07 PM)

I read all the REH Conan stuff as a kid as well (plus all the L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Howard, etc.). All the Roy Thomas/Barry Smith and later John Buscema comic adaptations. The movie "The Whole Wide World" (1996) starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Renee Zellweger is a Robert E. Howard biography that hardly anyone saw (including me). Just FYI.

Cool. Thanks for the FYI on that. I really never put any interest into REH himself, but since I started the thread, I've been finding stuff out about him and NOW i'm interested. I'll check that flick out soon as I get a chance. Sounds good.

 

I'm also going to start a new collection of the REH paperbacks and maybe even re-read them. I always thought the Saga of Belit was an exceptional read and would like to see if I still feel that way as a more versed reader.

[TheAccountant]

I also really enjoy the original REH Conan books (read them all). Also liked the Lin Carter and L Sprague De Camp books and the Robert Jordan stories.

 

Anything after those did not interest me in the least.