"Favorite REH Comics?" Topic

Over in this thread there's a discussion of the various "forgotten" pulp heroes of Robert E. Howard. My first introduction to his works was, of course, the awesome 1970s comics by Roy Thomas and others.

I really enjoyed the first 15 or so issues of the original CONAN THE BARBARIAN comic. In those stories he was still a teenager and didn't have that steroid-looking body he became famous for. I particularly remember the "Tower of the Elephant" as one of my favorite stories from that time. It was in CtB #3 or #4, if my memory serves me.

I also recall the Kull comics of that time, and of course the Red Sonja (love that armor!). If I had to pick my favorite, though, think it would be the CONAN THE KING series of the 1980s. It dealt with Conan sitting on the throne and had a lot of palace intrigue, in addition to the barbarian action.

Hmmmm. Just the other day I found my copy of the Conan The Barbarian Marvel Treasury Edition from 1975: link

I think it deserves another reading. It's been a while since I've read "Rogues in the House" or "Red Nails."

Savage Sword of Conan. The black and white magazine sized comic. Particularly the stories drawn by Ernie Chan. I recently picked up the digest versions put out by Dark Horse and have been reliving those stories. Just amazing stuff.

I started reading it about the same time I started playing D&D, when I was about 11. SSOC pretty much defined fantasy for me. I got into both after seeing the Red Sonja movie, which came out when I was 10.

Speaking of Red Sonja, I'm also a pretty fanatic* fan of that comic, though I have to admit it was rarely as well written or illustrated as the Conan comics (though, especially in the early runs, it was often the same team of guys).

But Red Sonja is really a Roy Thomas character, having almost nothing in common with the REH character. Even the name is different (in REH's story its Red Sonya).

* One of the easiest ways to set me off is to say something to the effect of "Red Sonja's chainmail bikini is unrealistic." Man, I'll go off on you for that. Many a fangirl prone to mindless ranting about "sexism in gaming" has felt my internet wrath after citing Sonja as an example of the problem of chainmail bikinis -- I'll agree they're unrealistic on the average female warrior, but if you think Sonja is anything resembling average, I have a lengthy lecture in my back pocket with your name on it.

While I enjoyed Barry Smith's "Conan" for the art in general, nothing that I've ever seen in a comic book, by *anybody*, has ever equaled REH's imagery in my mind's eye. Reading the novels has always been light years more satisfying for me than reading the comic books, so after Smith left I stopped buying them cold.

Savage Sword of Conan – when I was a kid in Junior High I felt very adult reading it! There were curse words and almost nudity in it! Plus great, gory fight scenes!

I liked BWS's treatment of Bran Mak Morn, but didn't really care for his work on Conan – the art was beautiful, don't get me wrong, Conan just didn't look right to me. John Buscema's Conan, on the other hand, seemed spot on to me.

Man, I absolutely loved Savage Sword. I liked the color comics, too, but they had to tone them down a bit. Savage Sword was the real deal!

And, I bought my first miniatures game out of a catalog I ordered from Savage Sword – and bought my white box edition of D&D from the back of an SSoC, too.

Those were the days . . .

Favorite is Savage tales #1 with a adaptation of Red Nails
by Barry Smith. It was reprinted later on in color.

Savage Sword with John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala art. Nuff said!

"Red Nails"!!!

Hope I still have my copy of that somewhere.

w.

Oh yeah, and I was a SSoC fan as a twelve-year-old D&D player, too ;-)

Savage sword of Conan for me to… Just finishing volume three of the collected by Dark Horse.
Also like Solomon Kane and just found Dark Horse are releasing 'Saga of Solomon Kane vol 1', the Kane version of the collected SSoC…
Mick

"Red Nails" has been reprinted in color a few times, including in the Treasury Edition I mentioned above. I just pulled it and it looks pretty darned good. It's definitely on my reading list for the next few days.

I've also been thinking of picking up that Dark Horse SSoC reprint. I keep seeing it around and it keeps trying to pry open my wallet. I think it's about to finally happen.

I recently finished reading the first 6 collected volumes of Savage Sword of Conan by Dark Horse. It was a fun read and I look forward to the remaining volumes. I was excited to get them as I had gotten about two dozen issues as a teenager, and loved them. The black and white was a very good medium for Conan. They could get graphic, yet your mind has to fill in the details and it isn't so overwhelming like the current colorised versions are.

Then I picked up the reprint volume of the Soloman Kane by Dark Horse. I was surprised at just how much Conan and Soloman Kane look alike and seem to have very similar adventures. Their morals are different, but that is about all that is different.

I've never had the pleasure of reading any of the novels of either so I don't know how much similiarity there are between the two, but I can see where the Conan character came from in Soloman Kane.

Conan The King was my favs, was really sad back in the day when his bodyguards (The Black Dragons, right) were KO'd by the Picts.

The Dark Horse series that started a few years ago. Great art and great writing; telling the Saga of Conan in chronological order.

I've heard from others that the old Solomon Kane comics weren't true in spirit to the stories. I haven't read enough of both to comment definitively on that, though.

Started reading the CONAN Treasury Edition last night. "Rogues in the House" is as good as I remember it. Looking forward to "Red Nails" in color.