Page: 1 2
ntnon
Sub Administrator
Global user
Registered: 06-2003
Location: Home
Posts: 531
Karma: 1 (+1/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Conan
Since (some/many) people seem to be enjoying JLA/Avengers [when it comes out..  ], and many people have mentioned Arrowsmith... (how m)any of you are going to be looking out for Mr Busiek's relaunch of Conan for Dark Horse in February...? 
---   EM
"Sur.realism is not just subliminal, but sublime..." ~March |
|
25/1/04, 17:49
|
Send Email to ntnon
Send PM to ntnon
|
spsmith
Marquess
Local user
Registered: 06-2003
Posts: 397
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
To be honest I've never been able to get into the sword and sorcery/barbarian fiction.
|
|
26/1/04, 9:55
|
Send Email to spsmith
|
ntnon
Sub Administrator
Global user
Registered: 06-2003
Location: Home
Posts: 531
Karma: 1 (+1/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Saucey Swords
quote:
spsmith wrote:
To be honest I've never been able to get into the sword and sorcery/barbarian fiction.
No, well.. I've never read any of the Conan books-proper, but the Discworldian and Terry Goodkind angle have enabled me to enjoy (Pseudo)S&S, and Mr Busiek is a good writer... ..but then it all mounts up, and would wind up being expensive.. 
--- EM
"Sur.realism is not just subliminal, but sublime..." ~March |
|
26/1/04, 11:06
|
Send Email to ntnon
Send PM to ntnon
|
tb sivana
Baron
Global user
Registered: 06-2003
Location: Incarnate
Posts: 99
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
Personally, I always loved the Conan stories, which L. Sprague DeCamp introduced me to in the reprint series of the late sixties. There have been many pastiches and knock-offs in the franchise, but the original Robert E. Howard and the first DeCamp and Carter adaptations remain good reads and a nice introduction to the character.
It was the comics version I never warmed up to, despite Barry Windsor-Smith, and don't get me started on that movie!
Still, I like Busiek, so we'll see.
---
Department of Redundancy Dept.
|
|
6/2/04, 0:31
|
Send Email to tb sivana
Send PM to tb sivana
|
Cefo
Count
Local user
Registered: 06-2003
Location: Almada, Portugal
Posts: 216
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
I prefer the stories written by Robert E. Howard. They have a certain je ne sai quois about them... maybe it's a pulpish characteristic, or a characteristic of stories published in Weird Stories (if that's the right name).
Wasn't L. Sprague DeCamp responsible for the greates barbarities commited against Conan of Cimmeria?
---
"I tell you. I must cranch. I have to cranch. It's my worry isn't it?" Martel from Scanners Live in Vain, by Cordwainer Smith
|
|
17/2/04, 5:32
|
Send Email to Cefo
|
kobe27
Count
Local user
Registered: 06-2003
Posts: 212
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
No, not QUITE.
True, the stories DeCamp wrote are mostly rubbish. He had this weird idea Conan was a NOBLE hero, when, in fact, he was nothing of the sort.
However, it was DeCamp who was responsible for the stories being reprinted in the 60s (like TB Sivana mentions) and for that alone we owe him everything. It is conceivable that if not for this an entire generation would be completely unaware of the Conan character, as hard to imagine as that is today. Certainly, no one remembered Weird Tales as anything more than the place where Lovecraft used to publish his stories. It was in the 60s when the Conan boom REALLY began, which led a couple of years later to Roy Thomas actively pursuing the Conan license for Marvel.
The REH stories are as good as it gets in sword and sorcery. They're NOTHING at all like Discworld. They're not fantasy, they're raw, they're brutal (REH had a LOT of issues, believe me). They're politically incorrect, and to a certain extent, misogynist. Being written in the 30s, they're also quite racist.
Do yourself a favor and read them all.
BTW, you should also give a try to the TPBs Dark Horse is putting out reprinting the first Conan stories by Marvel. Roy Thomas was still searching for the right narrative voice, and Barry Windsor Smith was STILL aping Jack Kirby, but by Volume II things get better. By Volume III we REALLY get to see BWS'art shine. I'm still hoping Dark Horse decides to reprint the first ten years' worth of stories (until Thomas quit in issue 115)
I'm EXTREMELY skeptical about this Conan revival, with all due respect to Busiek. It's highly unlikely they'll publish SOME of Conan's stunts in this day and age, unless it has a Mature Readers label (which it doesn't), like the fact Conan raped and murdered for gold.
|
|
17/2/04, 19:11
|
Send Email to kobe27
|
tb sivana
Baron
Global user
Registered: 06-2003
Location: Incarnate
Posts: 99
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
Boy, Kobe, you don't mince words, but I must respectfully disagree with your opinion of L. Sprague DeCamp...I loved his own fiction, (especially the Incomplete Enchanter Stories), as well as the Conan pastiches, and after all, where would the Conan Canon be without him? Right up there with August Derleth and Otis Adelbert Kline!
Of the comics Conan...it's all been a yawn. No artist, not even Barry Windsor-Smith came close to those inspirational Frank Frazetta covers, and the Roy Thomas scripts were pretty imitative and repetitive....some might say Lin Carter-esque. I recently read the Poul Anderson Conan novel, and enjoyed it a lot. I have not read the other Conan franchise writers...most fall into that same old tired category. For me the difference between DeCamp and these other writers, is that he was a fan, interested in expanding and filling out the Conan history, not just churning out a few more pages. I don't know for a fact, but I'm surprised at your inference that he 'cleaned up' Howard's prose...
For those interested in Frazetta, (anyone on this site SHOULD be!) I urge you to go to http://www.cinemachine.net to see a 3-D version of his most famous Conan painting.
---
Department of Redundancy Dept.
|
|
18/2/04, 20:22
|
Send Email to tb sivana
Send PM to tb sivana
|
kobe27
Count
Local user
Registered: 06-2003
Posts: 212
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
Ooops, my bad, TB. Of course I forgot to mention my opinion about DeCamp's Conan stories was just that, MY opinion.
(Also, I would like to add I think the world of his Enchanter stories. It's just his Conan tales I really don't enjoy. )
Um, like I DO mention in my post, the Conan canon owes everything to Decamp.
I didn't imply he cleaned up Howard's prose, however, I DO think his Conan is an altogether different character from the one in the REH stories. Certainly the character who wants to rape Atali in "The Frost Giant's Daughter", or who hires himself to murder some "priest" for gold in "Rogues in the House" is NOT the same as the captain of men that shows up in most of the DeCamp pastiches, IMHO.
I'm surprised to read you also liked the novel by Poul Anderson (ANOTHER author I otherwise hold in the highest esteem) .
I do agree with you regarding DeCamp's enthusiasm. Clearly, he wasn't in it for the money. (It could be argued the big Conan money came after him and BECAUSE of him)
Like I said, this is just my two cents.
Having said that, I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree regarding the Marvel Conan. I'm not saying every story from Conan #1-115 or Savage Sword 1-60 were masterpieces, but I do believe overall they're a wonderful body of work. Obviously the BWS conan has nothing to do with the Frazetta version (or the Vallejo, for that matter), but I think that was the whole point. BWS drew an almost effete Conan in his teens. Buscema wounded up drawing HUNDREDS and hundreds of Conan stories, but the first few years his pages were almost magical (particularly the ones from Savage Sword thanks to the engraving-like inks of Alcala) .
My Conans from the 70s hold a treasured place in my collection.
|
|
18/2/04, 21:27
|
Send Email to kobe27
|
tb sivana
Baron
Global user
Registered: 06-2003
Location: Incarnate
Posts: 99
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
I shall have to check them out. Perhaps there'll be an 'Essential Conan' b&w reprint issue. This is a series that anyone who loves cartooning should look at, since it distills those old stories down to basic black and white drawing.
Of particular greatness: the Steve Ditko early Spiderman drawings, where he inked himself, and the Gil Kane Spiderman run. Great line-work.
I also had to get the 'Essential Dracula' for the black and white repro of the Gene Colan pages. His stuff looks at it's best in just black and white.
Buscema's drawings in 'Avengers' was always too imitative of Kirby for me, so I guess I should take a look at those swords and sorcery strips, which I imagine he had a lot more enthusiasm for. I also like Alcala's work, and I don't know when I would have seen them paired elsewhere.
Speaking of great inking; I just this afternoon returned from A.P.E. in San Francisco, (Alternative Press Expo), and the thrill of listening to Carol Lay talk about her career and work. I have always loved her drawings, which have ranged in styles from a kind of grungy linework for underground comix, to wonderful retro 'Little Nemo' style ink work for National Lampoon to her current zipatone look for her newspaper strips. 25 years or more cartooning and still going strong!
---
Department of Redundancy Dept.
|
|
21/2/04, 20:31
|
Send Email to tb sivana
Send PM to tb sivana
|
kobe27
Count
Local user
Registered: 06-2003
Posts: 212
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Conan
I assume you're talking about an Essential Conan with the early Buscema stories, since there already is one reprinting the BWS stories.
By the way, did you get the Essential Howard the Duck? That one, too, has b&w Colan pencils. I have the original issues (just like I also own the original Tomb of Dracula issues) but I bought both Essentials just for the reasons you mentioned. It's nice to see art before it was colored (particularly from the 70s when the crude coloring techniques more often than not simply blotched the artwork).
The reproduction quality on those Essentials sometimes leaves something to be desired, of course, but it's our only option.
|
|
22/2/04, 12:50
|
Send Email to kobe27
|
Add a reply
Page: 1 2
Powered by AkBBS 0.9.5b - Link to us
- Blogs
- Hall of Honour
- Chat
Click here to get your own free message board
|
You are not logged in (login)
Board's time is: 23/11/09, 2:58
|
|
|
