In the 75 years since he debuted in Weird Talesmagazine, Conan the Barbarian has maintained such a level of popularity that nowadays he’s receiving reissues and retrospectives just like a classic rock band or celebrated novelist. At the same time, fresh stories are still being told about the character—a new comic book series, with legendary cartoonist Richard Corben as one of the artists, is set to debut this summer. In addition, Nu Image/Millennium Films has just announced plans for a $100 million new Conan film.
November saw the release of Conan the Phenomenon, a coffee-table hardcover written by Paul Sammon that examines every aspect of Conan—from the original Robert E. Howard stories in the '30s to the film with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the '80s to the comics at Dark Horse today.
And classic Conan comics of the '70s are currently being rereleased with The Savage Sword of Conan trade paperbacks. These collect a run of Conan comics written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by such artists as Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala that ran in magazine format, allowing for longer and more mature stories than those that ran in the regular Conan comic book series at the time.
Conan’s current comic book series, published by Dark Horse Comics, is wrapping up in March with #50, relaunching in June as Conan the Cimmerian . It will be written by Timothy Truman, illustrated by Tomas Giorello, with flashback sequences by Corben, and edited by Philip Simon.
Truman explained that this new series, which he described as “more intense,” sees Conan return to his home of Cimmeria after many years away.
“With Conan47—50, readers will see Conan has come to the end of his carefree years as a thief. He’s about to enter the mercenary years. But first, he decides to take a trip back to his homeland, Cimmeria,” Truman said. “His first wanderings into the lands south and east of Cimmeria have been filled with all sorts of nastiness and betrayal and have left a sour taste in his craw. So, he decides to pay a visit back home—just like most teenagers after they take their first stab at the world. (No pun intended, of course.) When he gets there, he finds that he views the place with different eyes, and that people are the same all over.”
Between now and June, if Conan readers want to learn more about Cimmeria and other aspects of Conan, they can turn to Sammon’s Conan the Phenomenon.
“I wanted to assemble a relevant, up-to-the-minute overview of the character,” said Sammon, who has previously written other overviews such as Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner . “This would be an illustrated history beginning with an examination of Robert E. Howard’s life and Conan’s first appearances in the pages of Weird Tales , then moving on to Conan’s conquests of subsequent media like paperbacks, comic books, television, video games and the Internet.
“Prior to [this book], there was a lot of data out there on the character, but it was diffused and, in some cases, hard to come by. So I purposefully weighted The Phenomenon with, I hope, enough collated, distilled and substantive information that hardcore Howardians will now feel comfortable about turning to my book to check up on some fact about the character.”
As for The Savage Sword of Conan, it originally followed the success of Marvel Comics’Conan the Barbariancomic that started in 1970.The Savage Swordwas different, however, in that it was published in a black-and-white magazine format, which allowed for longer stories and a freer rein on the content. “I liked that format the best,” said Roy Thomas, who wrote stories for both series.
“It was a pleasure and honor for me to be able to introduce [Conan] to comics,” said Thomas. “And I’m happy for my small part, directly and indirectly, in helping the world become more aware of [Howard] and his creations.”
A new Conan film has been rumored in various incarnations for years. Should the latest attempt finally reach the screen, it should ignite even further interest in a character who continues to fascinate. Sammon credits this to the foundation laid by the barbarian’s creator.
“[Howard’s] Conan stories are, in a sense, the ultimate escapist literature—dazzling, involving and completely unrestrained,” Sammon said. “There’s a lot of energy in the Conan stories; you can sense the unbridled glee that Howard must have felt while he was writing these often bloody, sometimes supernatural, but always engaging adventure stories.”
