How did you first discover Conan?

[Deleted]

Like the title says, how did you first discover Conan?  I've been thinking about this lately and I've realized that I don't actually remember when I first came to know the character, it just feels like I've always know who Conan was.

I remember the cartoon from the 90s, but I watched it because I already knew who he was.  I also remember my dad bringing home a random issue of Savage sword and already knowing who he was(my dad obviously had no idea the issue had that much violence and partial nudity).  And of course there were the movies.  By the time del rey put out the original stories I knew the character but had no idea he had originated in stories so it was a perfect time to discover the original source.

The closest I can come is that I probably saw Conan the destroyer on tv as a kid since it tended to be shown more than the original.  In fact I was already in my 20s when I saw the first movie from beginning to end despite having seen many of the scenes in it before.

So what's your story?

[garbanzo]

I grew up in the 80s, but my first exposure to Conan was Dark Horse's reprints of the original Marvel comics on Comixology about 7 years ago. Even then it took a few years to really get hooked. In 2017 I started collecting the black & white mags, and it was all downhill from there.

Now I'm a fanboy. I can't stop buying Conan books, comics, and music. Just the other day I bought the Limited Collector's Edition of Conan Exiles for PS4 just to get the soundtrack, comic, art book, and other goodies inside. I don't even have a PS4!

At this point, I think I need to start selling some of my other books/collectables to both fund and make room for more Conan stuff. I have a lot of reprints of 1950s horror comics that need to go, and a bunch of old EC stuff that I never read anymore now that most of it is available digitally.

I still love the old Marvel stuff best, but I'm finally diving into Howard's stories and some of the pastiches. Fortunately, there is plenty to explore.

[kemp]

It started with this issue of SSOC.

[danieljames495]

I think I've mentioned this a few times in other threads. I used to live in Guyana, South America and comic books as a whole were pretty hard to find in my general area. We would usually get the occasional marvel 2099 and some Tintin and a few others. My dad had a collection, inclusive of Conan and the thing that grabbed me was that they were bigger than the comics I usually read because they were mags and needless to say, I was immediately hooked. My first Conan mag was Conan Saga 89. I had never seen a colored Conan comic till years later. Now I live in the US and online shopping is such a great commodity that I've amassed a collection of about 700 Conan comics, way more than any other character in my collection.

I, like mbern45, had no Idea about the original stories till years after although I did read the devil in iron adaptation by Roy Thomas and I absolutely loved it.

[BlackHeart]

I watched both Arnold's movies back in 1994, when I was five. After that, cause I loved battles as a kid - same as now - and I was deeply opsesed with monsters, cartoon came along and I enjoy it to, though the movie was still better for me. Brutality and blood was something I always apreciated when it comes to movies. Then in 1998 I discover original yarns of REH, and find out that nothing filmed or done with Conan isnt as were in books. Still, I like flicks even today, cause they were my first interaction with the character and the Hyborian world. Finaly, in 2000, Marketprint started a series of Conan the Barbarian comic again in my country, so eventualy, I get to that as well. All in all, Conan was an element that made my childhood one great adventure 😊 I made wooden swords all day long, later even few metal ones from my grandfathers old tool and what ever I could find to use as blade... Of course, they were not werry good or fine looking, but hey 😎⚔️😎 I was just a kid. I even trained with weights in those young days to be muscular, had a long hair and lots of stuff more. For me, those were realy days of high adventure

[Char-Vell]

Marvel comics. Probably starting with the What if? issue where he meets Thor.

[terryallenuk]

I'd packed up reading Marvel some time in 1968 as I left school, after all I was a grown up now LOL. Then one of the guys brought some comics into work including CtB #13 and I wondered who this new "Marvel super-hero" was, but I was soon hooked.

[lordyam]

I first heard about him in Mad Magazine actually (Mad does superheroes.) I gained more of an understanding reading the Ultimate Conan guide roy thomas put out in 2006, and started reading the comics in 2007 when I moved to the UK (dad got me a DH tpb for christmas in 2007).

[kemp]

Interesting the mention of the Mad Magazine. I remember around the same time as I picked up my first issue of SSOC, can't be sure which came first, that I saw this image on the cover of Mad at my school, it was on a stand with other magazines.

[alexander]

When I was a kid in France I lived in a small city with no real public library and the Marvel comics were too costly for my parents to buy.
I think my very first exposure though was seeing at the back of some comics the covers of Conan stories by John Buscema.
Then in the mid-eighties I saw Conan the Barbarian on TV. That was quite a revelation (I expected a Mad Max-like movie). That was probably my first exposure to sword & sorcery.
I went to Uni the following year and finally had access to a large public library. For me conan was a creation of Buscema so I desperately looked for the Conan books written by him :-) Needless to say I never found any.
Then one day, while I was browsing the bookshelves I saw "Conan the warrior" (with Red Nails, the Jewels of Gwalhur and Byond the Black River), written by a certain REH. I guess I was 20.
My life has never been the same ever since :-) I love Conan, REH's stories and sword & sorcery generally speaking.

[Grim Wanderer]

My first experience was The Savage Sword of Conan. Shortly after that Conan the Barbarian came out and with it the novelisation. I was too young to see the film in the cinema but I bought the book and read that. After that I found the Ace editions and then the Tor pastiches.

[bonesaw]

Watched CtB as a kid and loved it, but my "discovery" didn't really kick off until I got a hold of the little soft cover Lancer books with the Frazetta art work. That was my first real exposure to REH and boy did it grab me by the balls with an iron fist and still hasn't let go. In fact, the grip has tightened.

I branched out from there, reading some of his western tales and Waterfront Fists, in particular. Now, I am just trying to collect the comic omnibuses for both Original Marvel and Savage Sword. Some day when I retire, I am going to plop my ass down in a comfy chair, steamy cup of tea at my hand and crack those bad boys open. Big dick player-style.

[headlessvulture]

I discovered Conan at my local drugstore when my parents were picking up a prescription and had us kids in tow. I saw a "Savage Sword" in the magazine rack and basically stole it (read it cover-to-cover and put it back) while I was waiting. From there. I started reading Savage Sword whenever it came out, and subscribed for a year to Marvel's Conan the Barbarian. Just as my subscription ended, Lancer/Ace came out with their books, and those took me through my teen years.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[danieljames495]

Mar 9, 2021 19:26:04 GMT -5 headlessvulture said:

I discovered Conan at my local drugstore when my parents were picking up a prescription and had us kids in tow. I saw a "Savage Sword" in the magazine rack and basically stole it (read it cover-to-cover and put it back) while I was waiting. From there. I started reading Savage Sword whenever it came out, and subscribed for a year to Marvel's Conan the Barbarian. Just as my subscription ended, Lancer/Ace came out with their books, and those took me through my teen years.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Well, it's not stealing if you put it back😁

[themirrorthief]

when I was a kid my dad brought me a huge stack of conan comics, a hooker, and a bottle of shine...then he said "son these things will help you become a man and a damned good republican"