Sunday, March 7, 2021

More Conan

Speaking of Conan, I had a thought while thinking.

Here's my Conan: He is a muscled man, beardless and tan. He is fair and respects his word. He will treat with you with respect as long as you honor your own word. He will gut you otherwise and not lose a wink of sleep. He loves the ladies and the wine and the adventure. Every day is a new day that should lead to some cash, which leads to some wine and women. Conan doesn't wear a lot of armor and doesn't indulge in speeches.

My Conan is based mostly on Savage Sword comics and the 1982 movie with a smattering of Robert E. Howard. This is my Conan.

People will argue that this is not an accurate portrait of the Cimmerian. Only the image of Conan presented in REH's writings are true, everything else is false. And I get it. If you want to be an originalist to the works of a dead man, I get it.

But let's be honest. REH wrote maybe 21 Conan stories, and most of them are really cool. But since his death there have been many more stories written, many novels, some movies, cartoons, RPGs, and a metric FUCKTON of comic books. One could inundate oneself with Conan material and be a Conan fanatic without ever reading Robert E. Howard.

This is upsetting to originalists, but it's the god damn truth. If you spent your youth reading Conan comics and never read a single Howard story you are still a Conan fan and you still have Conan in your blood, by Crom. Don't let the dogs tell you otherwise!

But of course by all means you should read Howard. Most of those stories are pretty good shit. The longer ones are not my cup of tea, but worth a look.



8 comments:

  1. I have just seen the movie and read The tower of the Elephant; both were incredible. If I were to buy a comic, what should I get?

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    1. By "the movie" I assume you mean the John Mulius film, right? Honestly, as far as comics go, I read Savage Sword of Conan from around 1984 to 1989 or so. I have read some of the color comics, but very few. I haven't actually read the Dark Horse run. So my only recommendation has to be SSoC. Starting around issue 102 is a pretty good run, but I can't speak to the quality before it. I betcha it's damn good.

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  2. My favorite two Conan tales by REH: "Beyond the Black River" and "Red Nails".

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  3. There are Howard purists out there? Lol. Internet, man. Everyone has a voice I guess.

    I read all the Howard stuff, and a smatter of the Savage Sword. It's all good. I think the only time I've ever been totally put off in a Conan story was when they made him comfortable with magic. To me that's kind of a core trait.

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  4. Ah, the Conan purists - always good for a laugh (and a little smidge of pity) as they turn their noses up at a lot of really great entertainment in their pursuit of what *they believe* to be the true, pure Howard Conan...

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  5. A good new game in this genre is Forgotten Tales of Sword and Sorcery over at DTRPG. I only mention it because I think it would be in your wheelhouse. Simple but with some good crunchy/fiddly bits
    I'm a big fan of Black Pudding btw...I hope the newest one is available soon

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    1. Thanks for the suggestion. I have issue #7 on the middle burner right now. I don't have any idea when it will be ready but at this stage I'd say it's only 25% there.

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