Conan (real Conan)

[Fyrestryke]

Hey guys! On Tuesday night, I cracked open my shipment from Sci-fi Book Club where I had ordered some books to fulfill my quota with them and when I pay them off, I can cancel my subscription. Anyways, I ordered... (All hardback SFBC versions)

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
The Bloody Crown of Conan
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
The Dark Elf Trilogy
The Icewind Dale Trilogy
And I think Legacy of the Drow which hasn't arrived yet...

Anyways, on Tuesday night I cracked open The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian and read through the introduction (forget who wrote it) about the history of the Conan stories. That took me about 45 minutes to read that and the first couple of pages of The Phoenix on the Sword. One of the reasons I hate to read, I suppose. Then, last night, I finished The Phoenix on the Sword. WOW! Awesome story!

Can't wait to read Frost Giant's Daughter. I loved the comic adaption of that in the new Darkhorse series.

 

[InzeladunMaster]

Phoenix on the Sword was indeed excellent. Keep in mind that the Frost Giant's Daughter was rejected by Weird Tales; it did not see print as a Conan tale until after Howard's death (Howard rewrote it in 1934 and gave it to a fanzine under another title with another hero, but it originally was a Conan story that never sold). Indeed, Phoenix on the Sword was a rewritten King Kull tale that never sold.

 

[Fyrestryke]

Yeah, I new TPotS was a rewrite of another story, but I didn't know about TFGD. Thanks for the info.

 

[Bob_Probst]

PotS has a wonderfully written fight sequence. Wasn't a big fan of FGD though. Vince, did he start writing Conan before or after his boxing stories?

 

[Fyrestryke]

PotS has a wonderfully written fight sequence. Wasn't a big fan of FGD though. Vince, did he start writing Conan before or after his boxing stories?

Have you been reading the new comics, Bob?

 

[Bob_Probst]

Nah, found the art after the first issue to be slipshod and unimaginative.

 

[Fyrestryke]

Nah, found the art after the first issue to be slipshod and unimaginative.

Bummer... I like the art.

I seem to have an advantage over the rest of you. When I read a book or comic or even watch a movie, I just sit there and I am entertained. I have other friends who go and watch a movie and analayze every bit of it. I just sit there and watch it.

Sometimes art bugs me (like the new X-Men series that Michael J. Strazynski (I'm sure I butchered that) was writing). I didn't like that art and thus only bought the first issue. But, the art has to be really weird or off the wall for me to dislike it.

 

[Odovacar's Ghost]

Nah, found the art after the first issue to be slipshod and unimaginative.

It seems like most comics nowadays are crap anyway. Crap stories, crap artists, crap editors, crap illustrators. Though tracers are good. Just crap.

 

[thormagni]

It seems like most comics nowadays are crap anyway. Crap stories, crap artists, crap editors, crap illustrators. Though tracers are good. Just crap.

You sir, are reading the wrong comic books. True, there is a lot of crap out there, but there is a lot of really good stuff too.

I really think the last 10 years or so have been a new Golden Age in comic book art and writing, although certainly not in sales. I think the various books written by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, J. Michael Straczynski (sp?), Kevin Smith, Kurt Busiek, Garth Ennis and a few others I can't recall off the top of my head are all top notch. Even adjusting for changing styles and expectations, the stories and art today are so much better than the majority of the stories and art of the 1940s or 1960s or 1980s.

Now, I will concede that the unbridled creativity of those eras were superior to today. Authors today have to deal with a "been there, done that" sort of roadblock that is hard to overcome. I think the most succesful writers have gotten around that by deconstructing the superhero genre and playing with the pieces they have taken apart, which has been a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Bob_Probst]

80s had some fantastic artists they just weren't employed by Marvel or DC. Some of the most inspire artist in Comics came out of the 80s Graphic Novel Renaisance. If you wanna show at Vinces early on Sunday I can prove my point with the simple collection I have.

I found the Conan comic art to be muddy & utilitarian. Comics should be able to tellthe story in pictures alone. I have several comics (Matt Wagner's "Grendel") that go for several pages without a word of dialog -- and not a single fight -- and the story is more concise than any I've ever read.