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Post by johnnypt on Mar 4, 2019 13:45:34 GMT -5
Hither Came Conan is back for another Monday morning. I dug into a couple aspects of Dark Horse's adaptation of 'Iron Shadows in the Moon'
It's good to be the editor!
I have to go and dig out my notes from when this came out, but I remember comparing it favorably to Roy & Big John's version, which was one of my first Conan comic stories via MTE #19. Focusing on Olivia was an interesting choice they made work, especially since Tim did the opening scene as the last scene in Kozaki, so it needed a different apporach. They also made the flip in Dale's chronology work for these stories. Unfortunately it left Conan in the wrong place to begin his journey towards Argos, so Road of Kings was "needed" and...well, we know what happened from there.
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Post by sherlock on Mar 11, 2019 13:33:31 GMT -5
Jason Durall, line editor for Modiphius' 'Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of,' as well as Chaosium's 'Runequest,' holds forth on "Xuthal of the Dusk." Complete with gratuitous whipping scene, to get a Margaret Brundage cover...
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Post by sherlock on Mar 18, 2019 9:37:06 GMT -5
It's Monday morning, and we've got another 'Hither Come Conan.' It's been a great series so far, but I think Scott Oden turned in one of the best we've seen yet for 'The Devil In Iron.'
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Post by johnnypt on Mar 18, 2019 9:57:18 GMT -5
It's Monday morning, and we've got another 'Hither Come Conan.' It's been a great series so far, but I think Scott Oden turned in one of the best we've seen yet for 'The Devil In Iron.'
Thanks again for the series, Bob. Mondays are now more enjoyable! Great job, Scott. Your point about DiI not being great Conan but echoing it reminded me of something my film professor at Rutgers Roger Greenspun wrote when he was a NY Times film critic. His review for Rio Lobo is recognized as basically the only positive one the picture got. He said: "...I'm not‐sure it is a great movie, or even the best of Hawks. But it relates (and refers) to the best of Hawks—especially “Rio Bravo” (1959) and “El Dorado” (1966)—and I suspect that it is close enough to greatness to stand above everything else so far in the current season." Funny thing is when I tried to do a paper relating a film to Hawks, he made me do it over!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 17:41:28 GMT -5
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Post by johnnypt on Mar 26, 2019 9:48:54 GMT -5
I have to wonder if this story indirectly left it’s mark on popular culture with the line “Indiana...let it go...”
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Post by blackdragoon on Mar 28, 2019 8:57:31 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 1:41:06 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2019 1:20:17 GMT -5
Hither Came Conan: Fred Adams on “The Black Stranger”www.blackgate.com/2019/04/08/hither-came-conan-fred-adams-on-the-black-stranger/Welcome back to the latest installment of Hither Came Conan, where a leading Robert E. Howard expert examines one of the original Conan stories each week, highlighting what’s best. Fred Adams talks about “The Black Stranger.” Which was a story that Howard failed to get published, was rewritten without Conan, and still rejected. Fred takes a brand new look at the story. Read on!
Conan as Picaro in “The Black Stranger”
There are days when I ask myself whether Robert E. Howard didn’t sneak away for four years and earn a degree in English Letters when I encounter his facility with literary tropes and conventions. Many would suggest that the influence of the great western writers rubbed off on him from his omnivorous reading, others simply that he labored past mediocrity to instinctively hone his considerable skills at writing, recognizing what worked and what did not.
Whichever the case, he made good use of a variety of literary conventions and techniques, as David C. Smith elaborates in his Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography. One that I have noticed specifically is his use of the picaresque mode of the novel. A good example is his experimentation with the form in the Conan story “The Black Stranger.” Harmon and Holman’s A Handbook to Literature, Seventh Edition defines “Picaresque Novel” at great length:
“A chronicle, usually autobiographical, presenting the life story of a rascal of low degree engaged in menial tasks and making his living more through his wits than his industry. The picaresque novel tends to be episodic and structureless. The picaro, or central figure, through various pranks and predicaments and by his associations with people of varying degree, affords the author an opportunity for satire of the social classes. Romantic in the sense of being an adventure story, the picaresque novel nevertheless is strongly marked by realism in petty detail and by uninhibited expression.” (389)
To call Conan a “rascal of low degree” is mild at best, but to say that he lives “more through his wits than his industry” seems close to his nature. Conan is a barbarian with no social standing whatsoever who lives by his wits as a thief, a reaver, and a warrior. True to the form, he begins the story in a loincloth running for his life from a tribe of savages. By the time the tale ends, Conan has attained the kingly position of leader of the Red Brotherhood, and possessed of enough wealth that he gives a bag of rubies worth a fortune to Belesa saying, “What are a handful of gems to me, when all the loot of the southern seas will be mine for the grasping?”
Before the literary among you cry foul, May I remind you that I suggest that Howard experiments with the form, pragmatically using what works and eschewing what does not as he portrays Conan in the mode of the picaro.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2019 15:29:43 GMT -5
Hither Came Conan: Steven H. Silver on “Man-Eaters of Zamboula”Why “Man-Eaters of Zamboula” Is the Best Conan Story of All Time, with the Possible Exception of “Shadows of Zamboula,” which Is the Same Story, So It Really Is the Best of All Time.
“Man-Eaters of Zamboula” is, without a doubt, the best, and most quintessential story about Conan the Barbarian written by Robert E. Howard. And since stories by other authors don’t count (with one exception noted below), that means that “Man-Eaters of Zamboula” is the absolute best Conan the Barbarian story ever written. I suppose a case could be made that “Shadows of Zamboula” is a better Conan the Barbarian story, but since the only difference between those two stories is the replacement of the phrase “Man-Eaters” with “Shadows,” I’d be willing to concede the point.
Howard first published “Man-Eaters of Zamboula” in the November 1935 issue of Weird Tales, where Margaret Brundage provided a lurid piece of cover art showing Zibibi naked and standing between four cobras preparing to strike, an image taken directly from the story’s climax.
The story has everything: a mysterious stranger giving Conan an enigmatic warning, which the Cimmerian completely ignores, a power struggle between a mad priest and a distant satrap and his power-behind the throne wife, mystical potions, star-crossed lovers, beautiful (naked) women, the one man who can give Conan a physical challenge, snakes, cannibals, revenge, a precious gemstone. You can practically see the over-the-top movie trailer proclaiming the various elements of Conan’s day in Zamboula, because all of that action takes place in a single day and night.Link to the rest of the article: www.blackgate.com/2019/04/15/hither-came-conan-steven-h-silver-on-man-eaters-of-zamboula/
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2019 13:07:15 GMT -5
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Post by Von K on Apr 22, 2019 13:40:44 GMT -5
That was a great article by Keith. Someone seems to be conflating Keith J West with Keith J Taylor in the editorial section. I don't have an account at Black Gate so hopefully someone will flag it in the comments over there.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2019 13:43:32 GMT -5
That was a great article by Keith. Someone seems to be conflating Keith J West with Keith J Taylor in the editorial section. I don't have an account at Black Gate so hopefully someone will flag it in the comments over there.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2019 13:44:31 GMT -5
That was a great article by Keith. Someone seems to be conflating Keith J West with Keith J Taylor in the editorial section. I don't have an account at Black Gate so hopefully someone will flag it in the comments over there. Yeah, it looks like they've corrected it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2019 13:27:39 GMT -5
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