Today, we take an (admittedly quite out of date) look at the graphic adaptions and reimaginings of the work of Robert E. Howard, the father of heroic fantasy. This became one of my most viewed and referenced articles to appear online, and received praise from a number of devoted Howard fans and scholars, which was an absolute joy for me.
The Graphic Robert E. Howard
By Luke Forney
Fans of heroic fiction won’t need much of an introduction to Robert E. Howard. Certainly among fans of heroic fantasy, but even more broadly for fans of heroic fiction in general, Howard is one of the most widely read authors. One of the hallmarks of Howard’s fiction is its popularity when it comes to adapting it to graphic format. Part of this is Howard’s powerfully descriptive prose, which frequently begs to be seen visually, on a vast, sweeping canvas, and part of it is the depth of the characters Howard creates, as characters are the root of the best graphic fiction.
Robert E. Howard’s appearances in comics began with Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, written by the legendary Roy Thomas, with art from Barry Windsor-Smith initially. Thomas set out to both adapt stories from Howard’s canon, but also to create new ones, both as prologues and epilogues to Howard’s stories, but also to fill in the years of Conan’s life not explored in Howard’s fiction. It takes a couple issues for the series to hit its stride, but when it does it moves along quite nicely. Fans of graphic heroic fantasy will enjoy this one, as will comic and graphic novel fans, although (at the risk of angering the purists among us) it isn’t my favorite adaption of Conan. Conan the Barbarian is currently being collected by Dark Horse Comics in a series entitled The Chronicles of Conan, which sits at 20 volumes at the moment, collecting up to issue 159 of the Marvel series.
Based on the popularity of Roy Thomas’ Conan the Barbarian, Marvel released two other Conan series. The first was a magazine-format series entitled The Savage Sword of Conan. Featuring a rotation of artists and regularly written by Roy Thomas, the series was an outlet for even more tales of Conan, both Howard adaptions and original stories, that may not have fit into the main series at the time. This series was also hugely successful, with a very highly regarded adaption of “Red Nails.” This series is also being collected by Dark Horse Comics, in a series of very think black and white editions entitled The Savage Sword of Conan. The reprint editions are currently at 8 volumes, collecting through issue 93, and also collects the five issues of The Savage Tales of Conan, the short-lived predecessor to The Savage Sword of Conan.
Marvel’s other major Conan series was King Conan, focusing, as the title makes obvious, on the years of Conan’s life when he is king, and has a slightly different tone to it than the other Conan tales. This series wasn’t quite the hit that Conan the Barbarian was, but is still an entertain read from Roy Thomas. Dark Horse Comics is collecting the series in a set of reprints entitled The Chronicles of King Conan. So far, only the first volume has been released, which collects the first five issues.
The best of the Conan adaptions, however, is Dark Horse Comics’ current run on the title. Running through three series (Conan, Conan the Cimmerian, and the current Conan: Road of Kings), Dark Horse has been adapting Howard’s tales, mixing powerful artwork and brilliant storytelling. Kurt Busiek took the writing reigns initially, and a number of powerful adaptions and original tales, with a brief appearance from Mike Mignola, before handing over the writing duties to Tim Truman. The three series, all collected under the name Conan, have brilliantly adapted Howard’s stories into tales that are imminently readable, capturing Howard’s moody work perfectly in dialogue and art. This is the type of book to hand to people who refuse to read comics and graphic novels. A must read for fans of heroic fiction.
Yet Conan isn’t Howard’s only famous character, and he also isn’t the only one adapted to comics, although he got the most extensive treatment by a longshot. Kull of Atlantis made a splash after the success of Conan the Barbarian, receiving three short-lived series, along with regular appearances in back-up stories in The Savage Sword of Conan. His three main series are being collected by Dark Horse Comics in The Chronicles of Kull, while his black and white appearances are being collected by Dark Horse in the two volume The Savage Sword of Kull.
A new series has been started up by Dark Horse as well. Simply titled Kull, the series, written by Arvid Nelson, began with an adaption of “The Shadow Kingdom.” The story is a fun one, and worth the read, although the series seems to have stalled since the first book’s release.
Solomon Kane also had a spate of appearances and mini-series from Marvel. His complete marvel adventures are collected in The Saga of Solomon Kane, a black and white volume in the manner of The Savage Sword of Conan, while all of the color stories are being reprinted in color in the single-volume The Chronicles of Solomon Kane.
Once again, Dark Horse picked up the right to Solomon Kane adaptions, and has published two volumes so far, written by Scott Allie. Fans of the original tales will enjoy them, although the series has received mediocre reviews for the most part.
Red Sonja, incredibly loosely adapted from Howard, caused a bit of a stir when she first appeared. Clad in a skimpy metal bikini, she was the sword and sorcery sex symbol so many fans wanted, and was quite popular for a time, before crashing and burning. Her rights were picked up by Dynamite Entertainment, and her Marvel stories were reprinted by them in the series The Adventures of Red Sonja.
However, while those tales, looking back on them, are a bit lackluster, Dynamite released a new series, Red Sonja, She-Devil with a Sword, that has flown under the radar a bit. That is a shame, because this is quite possibly the best Howard comic out right now. The series is collected in a number of smaller collections, but is also being released in omnibus editions. The first omnibus features writing from Mike Carey and Michael Avon Oeming, and is a brilliant approach to the character. Carey and Oeming remove Sonja from simple sex object, and instead treat her as an important character worth setting a series around, and it achieves all that the Marvel series lacked. Brilliant storytelling, deep characterization, and a wonderful set of artists make this the must read for fans of Howard, sword and sorcery in general, and anyone who likes strong heroic fiction.
This article was originally published in April, 2011 at Rogue Blades Entertainment's website as part of my series, Graphic Heroics. Text copyright Luke Forney.
