lordyam tackles DH Howard

[lordyam]

It's no secret I'm rather fond of DH's take on the Cimmerian, and am disappointed with how it ended not with a bang but a whimper. However, looking back there were always some flaws. Some of them couldn't really be helped (Kurt Busiek left for medical reasons, Cary Nord, for all his talents as an artist, did need help on occasion, there was a lot of filler); this is more of a what could have been, if things had worked out properly.

I posted a similar thing on the illustrated forum but I'm not happy with it and more importantly it wasn't in the correct forum.

Issue 0: Conan the Legend: I'd keep this as is. It does a great job introducing

Issues 1-7: Would adapt the Hyperborea arc; notably I rather loved this story. It fully captured the darkness of civilization, and Conan changes a great deal over the course of the issues; he starts out relatively wide eyed, and emerges a sadder, but in some ways wiser man. There's a lot of thematic depth in the storyline, and it 

Issue 8: Born on the Battlefield Part 1:

Issues 9-14: Would largely adapt Arc 2 but there would be changes. They aren't heading to Hanumar but rather a different location. Janissa also doesn't immediately reveal the full details of her past to Conan. Conan can however, sense that there's.....regret in her words, as if deep down she knows that she made a bad decision but can't admit it to herself. As such Conan rejects the Bone Woman's Offer. He gracefully declines Kalanthes's offer.

Issue 15: Born on the Battlefield Part 2:

Issues 16-22: Largely the same as the third TPB; Conan realizes he has a lot to learn and heads to Zamora. You have that whole rigamarole, and you even get the Helm story

Issue 23: Born on the Battlefield Part 3

Issues 24-30: This is where I'd start to differ. In the original run Kurt Busiek left at this point, forcing them to have more filler to ensure a transition. In this case, I wouldn't do filler, and would just jump straight to Halls of the Dead. That would also help to smooth things out.

Issue 31: Born on the Battlefield Part 4

Issues 32-37: Rogues in the House Arc; largely the same at this point, though hopefully the art would be better

Issues 38-39: Born on the Battlefield Part 5-6

Issue 40-46: Cimmeria return arc. Conan returns to Cimmeria, but finds that things aren't that different, and in any case he's just not cut out for life in Cimmeria.

Issues 47-50: Yaralet arc. Conan returns and decides to begin again.

That would be it for series 1

Series 2: Conan the Cimmerian.

Issue 0: Conan makes an enemy of Sergius and Aratus. They start out in the same unit, but Conan shows Sergius up with his bravery, resulting in Sergius trying to kill him. Sergius is forced to leave the unit in disgrace, alongside Aratus and Ivanos.

Issues 1-6: There's been about a year long time skip; Conan's fallen in with a band of mercenaries and is rather fond of them. He's also gained more experience in the ways of war. However, their boss stiffs them by making peace, and they all decide to head out east for more plunder. However, they run afoul of Shah Amurath and the unit is mostly wiped out in a violent bloodbath. Conan is the sole survivor but he gets his (rather gory) revenge on Amurath

Issues 7-10: Iron Shadows in the Moon: Nothing to change. Truman hit it right out of the park with this one.

Issues 11-12: Conan's career as a Pirate comes to an end when Olivia and Ivanos cast him out (Conan's increasing recklessness nearly got them all killed, so Ivanos and Olivia drug him and leave him adrift. Conan quickly falls in with a Hyrkanian tribe

Issue 14: Part 1 Filler: Home for the Hunt but it's mixed in with Conan and the Hyrkanians instead.

Issue 15: Sorrow of Akivasha

Issues 16-18: Return of the Widowmaker: Janissa's back, and she manipulates the tribe into carrying out an attack, resulting in it's destruction. Conan learns about her past, but also swears revenge on Janissa for her betrayal. In the epilogue Janissa meets with her mistress. She feels crappy about hurting Conan and when the Bone Woman accidentally lets slip that she had offered Janissa up Janissa decides enough is enough and kills her mistress.

Issues 19-25: Black Colossus Storyline and buildup.

Road of Kings Miniseries: 

This would be much much shorter than the original story. It sees Conan lead his crew on a daring rescue mission of King Khossus, at which point Conan takes his leave. The next three issues would be Conan heading to Argos; the miniseries would end with Conan riding off into the sunrise.

[themirrorthief]

great info and review

[lordyam]

Miniseries: I'm going to take a brief divergence to cover some of the miniseries DH covered; some of them worked others didn't. So I'll cover my own take, ditching the ones that didn't work and fixing the ones that had potential.

Miniseries: With the exception of Book of Thoth I'd make most the miniseries King Conan stories. This would create a more consistent feel

1.) Book of Thoth: As Heretical as it sounds, I rather liked it. It addresses one of the more skeezy element of the original stories (Stygians as Always Chaotic Evil) by adding a sense of tragedy (that Stygia was actually relatively nice at one point before Thoth destroyed it.). I also feel that Thoth's origin of him coming from humble origins is more compelling, making him a dark mirror of Conan himself, as well as Kalanthes.

What I'd change is the following. Thoth gets in when his friend saves Kalanthes's father from an assassination attempt. Thoth seems to turn over a new leaf but is seduced by the prospect of dark power. He finds the ring and begins his bloody ascent to power (his best friend is also killed). He and Kalanthes also manage to save Thoth's sister from Thoth's drunkard father. As Thoth rises, Kalanthes tries to stop his former friend but fails. Ayina saves Kalanthes from death, but Thoth murders her for this. Thoth then begins to start gathering the resources needed to begin his great ritual, with Kal challenging him every step of the way.

2.) Midnight God: I also rather liked it. Ra Sidh was a wonderfully evil and depraved antagonist, the action was creepy and mystical and it served as a good study of Conan himself. I'd have it set the stage for Conan's final battle with Thoth Amon as well; Ra's actions create the opening Kal needs to undermine faith in father set.

3.) Songs of the Dead: Honestly I'd take a page out of Jewels of Gwahalur and just replace this one with an adaption of Shadows of Zamboula

4.) Demons of Khitai: I'd rework this; Khitai would be more based on Ancient China, and it would be set fairly late into Conan's reign. Conan's older and has gotten bored of being a King.

5.) Conan Isle of No Return: I'd replace this with the two parter of Conan and Nai. That was a solid tale that desperately deserves an adaptation. It would also clear up space for another change I was going to make.

6.) Jewels of Gwahalur: So I lied; this would get the three issue miniseries treatment.


So now back on track.

Okay, this is where in real life things REALLY went off the rails and never quite recovered. I'm going to try to take the few things that worked (Conan's relationship with the crew, the death arc, and the love of Conan and Belit.

Arc 1 (Issues 1-3): Largely the same as the original, with the last issue showing Conan starting to bond with the crew members.

Arc 2 (Issues 4-6): Belit's origin story; We find out that N'Yaga is the one who essentially raised her and helped smooth things over with the other tribesmen.

Arc 3 (Issues 7-9): Well of Skelos: Quite some time has passed, and we learn that Conan and Belit have made quite the name for themselves. Conan runs into Kalanthes again, and is persuaded to help him raid the infamous well of skelos (Belit is also enticed by the possibility of the treasure, whereas Kalanthes only wants a certain artifact.) This prompts a heated clash with Thoth's agents, and while Kalanthes protects them from further retaliation by invoking Ibis's blessing upon the crew, quite a few of the crew members have died in the clash.

Arc 4 (Issues 10-12): Raid on Khemi: Thoth Amon, unable to retaliate with magic, has sicced the Stygian Navy on the Tigress. Realizing that they can't keep living like this, they decide to go on the offensive and burn the fleet in the dock during a festival (they can also claim some treasures). They find the little alcove that Conan will use in Hour of the Dragon, and Conan defeats the Python. They go on the offensive, burning the ships and making off with quite a bit of gold.

Arc 5 (Issues 13-15): The Death: This would be largely unchanged, since the underlying ideas were actually pretty damn good. The miscarriage is a major hammer blow and both Conan and Belit are unsure of how to deal with the tragic loss.

Arc 6 (Issues 16-18): Abombi: Conan and Belit try to save their relationship the best way....by going on a pirate raid. During the fight with one of the chieftains he traps Conan in a weird vision state, where Conan's fear and guilt comes to the surface. Conan fights through it and saves Belit by bisecting the chieftain. His brother shits his pants and runs off in terror, and Conan and Belit are reconciled.

Arc 7 (Issues 19-21): Filler Arc: Mostly light hearted adventure fare; Conan tangles with Thuthmekri for the first time, and comes out on top.

Standalone Issue 22: A Calm before the storm; Conan reflects on his life up to this point (with callbacks to the other series).

Arc 8 (Issues 23-25): Song of Belit. Issue ends with Conan watching the ship burn before vanishing into the jungle.


Conan the Avenger

Arc 1: Issues 1-6: Shadows over Kush: Largely the same as Canon, except the poor bastard is pulled out of the flames at one point before he gets lowered back in. Conan leaves with Amra's bastards in tow, alongside Diana. However, he rejects her advances as he's still upset over Belit.

Arc 2: Issues 7-10: Conan and the Bastards search for the lost city in Shem that Diana's husband was searching for. They tangle with some other mercenaries who were interested in the site but as it turns out the "hoard" is in fact a "horde" and the bastards are forced to bury the city forever. Diana and Abit (who she has been getting close to) leave together after the chaotic collapse leaves Conan convinced that they are dead. Conan ends up running into the rebel prince from Series 2 and with no other real prospects joins up again.

Arc 3: Issues 11-15: Conan and the Bastards join the company but Strabonus is able to handily crush the rebels (there are whispers that a mysterious wizard named Tsotha-lanti is aiding him). They flee to Shem, and in the process of raiding a Shemite City Conan frees Natala from slavery. However they are quickly overwhelmed and crushed, with Conan and Natala as the only survivors. From there the story plays out like so.

Arc 4: Issues 16-19: Conan and Natala have managed to make their way back north, arriving at the Oasis of Akrel. Conan meets Valerius....but also encounters Janissa again. He's still rather sore about how the Hyrkanian Tribe incident went down, but Janissa explains she broke free from the Bone Woman's service and is now trying to find her own destiny. They fight and it turns out the bone woman has been manipulating Janissa all along. The Bone Woman reveals that for aeons she has been working to gain control of the Great Old One Nazu.....and now that the tower's been taken she can do that. Conan, the Turanian Emissary, Janissa and Valerius go into the tower to activate the defense mechanism. Janissa kills her mistress for good by shattering the scepter used to control Nazu. Nazu devours the Bone Woman for good and Conan soon afterwards triggers the Chime, destroying Nazu as well. Conan and Janissa make peace, and Natala stays with Janissa's band. Conan takes Taramis's offer of employment and returns to Khauran.

Arc 5: Issues 20-25: A Witch Shall Be Born: Essentially the same story as before

Conan the Slayer

Arc 1: Issues 1-3: At this point, to avoid repitition I'd have it that Conan is still in charge of the Zuagir horde. He comes across a large band of Kozaki, and is challenged by the chieftain for dominance. The guy tries to cheat but Conan comes out on top, adding the Kozaki horde to his army.

Arc 2: Issues 4-8: Devil in Iron adaptation. I'd change the ending a TEEEENY bit (make it very clear that Octavia IS into Conan even though she's pretending otherwise).

Arc 3: Issues 9-10: Khwarazeim burns: Conan takes his horde and sacks the living shit out of Khwarazeim. At the end of Issue 10 Yezdigerd dispatches Kerim Shah to destroy the horde from within.

Arc 4: Issues 11-14: Kerim Shah manipulates the horde to its doom and flees right after they head out.

Standalone Issue 15: Conan breaks into Sultanaphur to save the surviving members of his horde. Octavia leaves to go back to Nemedia and Djebal sets out to rebuild the horde, having gained a lot of lessons from Conan.

Arc 5: Issues 16-18: Conan goes East into Vendheya and joins the Afghuli.

Arc 6: Issues 19-25: People of the Black Circle; I’d have more issues added in order to give it the heft it deserves.

[lordyam]

Another issue is that god willing things would have moved more like clockwork, and any potential hiccups would have been dealt with.

Optimally I'd have had THIS be how things played out.

Series 1: November 2003-January 2008
Series 2: April 2008-April 2010
Road of Kings: May 2010-November 2010
Series 3: Queen of the Black Coast: December 2010-December 2012
King Conan ongoing: May 2011-June 2013 (this would adapt the King Conan stories Truman and Giorello adapted.)
Series 4: February 2013-February 2015
Black and Red Trilogy Adaptation: February 2014-February 2016: This would cover the Black and Red Trilogy.
Series 5: June 2015-June 2017

Hopefully by this point the following stories would have been adapted.
Frost Giant's Daughter, God in the Bowl, Tower of the Elephant, Halls of the Dead, Rogues in the House, Yaralet, Iron Shadows in the Moon, Black Colossus, Queen of the Black Coast, Snout in the Dark, Xuthal of the Dusk, A Witch Shall be Born, Devil in Iron, People of the Black Circle, Jewels of Gwahalur, Phoenix on the Sword, Scarlet Citadel, Hours of the Dragon, Wolves Beyond the Border, Black Stranger, Beyond the Black River, and Red Nails.

[lordyam]

Series 6:

This would be an adaptation of the following stories; Drums of Tombalku (might need to get creative with this one), Pool of the Black One, and Vale of Lost Women.

I'd close everything off with a final 12 issue Miniseries.

Part 1: Would be Conan battling with Thoth in the Past; We see Thoth Amon fall and Stygia cast down Set's worship.
Part 2: Thoth would make his move against the Prince; Conan is called in via a Kings of the Night situation and Thoth Amon is destroyed forever. Conan returns to his own timeline and the Prince is ready to be a King.