The Lancer Kull Series

[gary]

I've started a series reviewing the King Kull stories in the 1967 Lancer paperback, King Kull.  I give a little publication history, notate any textual changes between the Lancers and Del Rey book.  Mention any comic adaptations and give a little summary.  I'm nowhere near as versed in King Kull lore as Deuce or others but I try.  If I got any facts wrong or left out any important info I'd like to discuss it here so I can fix things or make them better.  Check out the first entry called "Prolog."  Lots of maps and such.

spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/2022/07/28/the-lancer-kull-series-prolog/

[Char-Vell]

nice! I love the collected Maps.

I wish there were more Thurian Age tales to immerse myself in.

[johnnypt]

I got a copy of the 1967 Lancer on Amazon for a real steal, just a couple of bucks in really good shape. The Del Reys are definitive, but the Lancer is an important part of Kull history. I think the Baen one from the 90s is the only other pace to get the completions, not sure if there are other changes. You may want to take a look at that one too.

[gary]

Checking for textual changes is the most tedious part of doing these articles! The Bantam 1978 book titled Kull (The Fabulous Warrior King) got rid of Carter's changes but kept most of Glenn Lords' edits. That is true of all subsequent editions except Del Rey. Glenn did go back to using REH's original names like Khor-nah instead of Gor-na but kept other edits.

Examples using Exile of Atlantis

Lancer: ... and then turned to a more material task.
Bantam: ... and then turned to a more material task.
Baen: ... and then turned to a more material task.
Del Rey: ... and then turned to a task more material.

Until the Del Rey books, EVERY Kull collection was edited in some way. Even the Del Reys have some edits but they documented them in Appendicies.

[gary]

A look at REH's The Black City and Lin Carter's rewrite and completion of it, re-titled Black Abyss, and introducing Zogthuu! Comic book adaptation and cat stuff. Did Lin do OK?

spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/2022/08/24/the-lancer-kull-series-black-abyss/

[gary]

A little on Justin Sweet. Lots of textual changes. Marvel/Dark Horse versions of Thulsa Doom. A summary with some humor. Some thoughts on Kull and language acquisition.
spraguedecampfan.wordpress.com/2022/08/31/the-lancer-kull-series-delcardes-cat/