"Favorite Robert E. Howard Creation?" Topic

1) Conan
2) Kull
3) Solomon Kane
4) The boxing stuff
5) The westerns
6) The horror stuff
7) The detective stories
8) The historical stuff
9) ?

Conan

The horror stuff he wrote in the Lovecraft circle, however that crosses over into the Conan stuff, too.

I liked the Bear Creek stuff a lot too, it just got repetitive after a while.

Soloman Kane. Loved the brooding figure fighting supernatural evil.

Conan and Kull. The rich background of peoples/nations is IMHO the best fantasy setting ever created.

Conan followed by Kane

1) Conan
2) Kull
3) The horror stuff
4) Poems

Conan is my favorite, but I have only read 1,2 and 3. Kull is very much the same as Conan, and some of the Conan stories are rebooted Kull stories with new names and places.

Conan and the horror stuff.

Not favorite,maybe,but I have a fondness for Dennis Dorgan,the not-too-bright merchant sailor and amateur boxer,and his pulpy adventures in the South Seas.

No mention of El Borak or Kirby O'Donnell?? Wow! I discovered them later on and now they are my favorite stories, closely followed by the stories about The Crusades with characters like Cormac Fitzgeoffrey.

Conan and Kane.

The Kills stories are my favorite, but Kane is my favorite character.

Kane and Conan

Kane. A unique character.

Conan hands down.

Kull, like a more emo Conan.

I'd love to read his more obscure stuff like boxing since that's where the majority of his work is. But it's hard or expensive to get a hold of.

Some one needs to do a mass market series of that stuff, like the recent Del Ray series of Conan, kull, Kane, borak, etc.

A tie between Conan and Kane.

(In D&D terms I always thought of Conan as being chaotic good and Kane as lawful good.)

Zebra did a lot of that stuff in paperback,BC. Also Berkeley,IIRC. Still findable in used bookshops.

I like all those picks too,Shadow!

Esau Cairn, stranded on the planet Almuric.

Solomon Kane.

Conan for me too, but I haven't read any of his other stuff!

Conan mostly. They're pretty uneven though.

Some stories hold up fantastically, others are pretty dire. I guess it just depends a bit, though with such a prolific writer, you kind of have to expect that.

As a fun game, drink every time an "unspeakable monster" turns out to be a snake or ape.

>Some one needs to do a mass market series of that stuff, like the recent Del Ray series of Conan, kull, Kane, borak, etc.<

University of Nebraska: Bison Books, did a collection of his work titled "The Lord of Samarcand and Other Stories of the Old Orient" that collected his Cormac Fitzgeoffrey titles and some others. Great stuff!

Conan – the only one of Howard's creations which was fully realised.

(Some more rigorous critics might even say he was overdone, with some stories padded, repetitive, or too-obviously adapted from other genres. Me, I'm less than discriminating. Love that pulpy stuff.)

But… no matter what your opinion of Howard's other protagonists – they're all frustratingly short of their full potential.
Solomon Kane? BRILLIANT character. But the body of work just isn't there.
(While we're on the subject, though, somebody greenlight a James Purefoy sequel)

Kull? Purists may say the Kull stories are better written. They're not wrong.
But Conan has both quality AND quantity.

Herky – I've got you covered for REH collections.

Conan

Anyone wanting to check their answers:

link

duh Conan by a Starship troopers size landslide

Kane.

>>But… no matter what your opinion of Howard's other protagonists – they're all frustratingly short of their full potential.<<

Really?? I don't get it. There were several El Borak stories, and they depicted his personality and background quite well. There were more published Conan stories, but does that mean they are "more fully realized"?

Kane, Kull and Conan

You're telling me you wouldn't have liked a few more El Borak stories?
I certainly would, and that's what I mean by "short of full potential".
"Several" stories? Pah!
I could happily have read El Borak – and Solomon Kane – and Bran Mac Morn – until they started getting as stale as the tail-end Conan stuff.

>>You're telling me you wouldn't have liked a few more El Borak stories?<<

Oh hell yes! Pure high adventure!

Conan , Bran Mak Morn, and Gottfried von Kalmbach

Conan

Kane

Kull, Kane, Conan, and if she counts, Red Sonja. Honorable mention to Breckenridge Elkins of Bear Creek!

>>Gottfried von Kalmbach<<

In Howard's story "Shadow of the Vulture" Red Sonya (not Red Sonja) is an ally of Gottffried Von Kalmbach's at the siege of Vienna. Interestingly, Sonya, or Sonja, never appeared in any of the Conan stories. The two were never associated until the comic book stories, where Red Sonya was changed to Red Sonja, and she became a chainmail wearing barbarian.

"Shadow of the Vulture" was a very good story that was first printed in the pulp magazine "Magic Carpet". Highly recommended.

Conan & Solomon Kane

Conan in The Hour of the Dragon!!!! That book still sends chills up my spine 40 after I discovered it.

Conan.

— Letter to H.P. Lovecraft, March 6th, 1933

"I'm curious to know how the readers will like Gottfried von Kalmbach … A more dissolute vagabond than Gottfried never weaved his drunken way across the pages of a popular magazine: wastrel, drunkard, gambler, -monger, renegade, mercenary, plunderer, thief, rogue, rascal – I never created a character whose creation I enjoyed more".

The public must not have liked Gottfried very much, as the only story that he appeared in, that I know of, is "Shadow of the Vulture".

Kirby O'Donnell

Only one mention of Almuric? I loved that one. Perhaps felt a bit more like a ERB clone that much like anything else REH wrote, but fantastic setting and hero.

Conan and Kane and Bran.