[CONAN] Guest Stars in the Chronicles of Conan

[Supplement Four]

In my readings, we've already had Conan meet Elric. And before you roll your eyes the way I did before I read the story, it wasn't done half bad. In fact, it was a decent, even believeable, story. I surprised myself by liking it.

Red Sonja has come and gone, and I know will come and go again. But that's hardly worth mentioning since she's a Hyborian Age character.

Coming up (haven't read it yet), I understand that there is a long period where Conan travels with Belit over several issues, filling in that three years that is glossed over in Howard's story. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm trying not to learn spoilers, but it seems that part of the Belit stories tell the tale of how Conan earned the name of Amra The Lion. Evidently, there was another man who had that name before Conan....

We'll see how that plays out.

 

[Sting52jb]

That is a really good story I hope you enjoyed it. I really did when i read it in the original Black and white Savage Sword of Conan comics. Heck I think if i searched hard enough i could find it.

 

[Boneguard]

That is a really good story I hope you enjoyed it. I really did when i read it in the original Black and white Savage Sword of Conan comics. Heck I think if i searched hard enough i could find it.

Dark Horse does have an omnibus colored reprint of them...aside from the color it's essentially the same comics


@OP.
I read some of the Sonja stuff awesome, and I,m looking forward ot read the original Red Sonya story to compare the Hyborian version to it.

I heard of Elric but never read any of the stuff he's in so that should be interesting...incidently in what issues?

 

[Supplement Four]

Dark Horse does have an omnibus colored reprint of them...aside from the color it's essentially the same comics

That's not really true. I collect both (the Marvel reprints in the Chronicles of Conan and the Savage Sword of Conan), and there's is very little overlap.

In fact, if you read the essays in the Chronicles vols., it is explained that when there is any overlap (I can only think of one story that is exactly the same "except in B&W" from what I've read so far) it was because the producers were in a time crunch to meet the deadline for publishing.

A good example of a tale told twice in both books: When the Tower of the Elephant is presented, it's the same story told two different ways with completely different art.

I heard of Elric but never read any of the stuff he's in so that should be interesting...incidently in what issues?

I'm not sure how much you know about Elric, but he has his own major following. There's supposed to be a movie in the works about him.

It was the gods from this mythos that were taken from the 1st edition AD&D Deities & Demigods book that made it so rare. The several rpg's set in the universe include Stormbringer and Mongoose's Elric of Melnibone.

And, Elric has a ton of cousins in prints, including Corum and Dorian Hawkmoon.

Where Conan is considered high adventure but fairly low fantasy (depending on your definition), the Elric stories are quite high fantasy with lots of magic and incredible things happening on almost every page. I haven't read much of the Elric saga, but I do remember loving the Corum character from The Swords Trilogy and The Chronicles of Corum

Talking about Moorcock's works one day in a game store, I remember the clerk remarking, with a smirk on his face, how Moorcock was smart in that he forced his readers to read all of his books because he connected them through is "multiverse" and "eternal champion" ideas.

One of these days, I'll set about reading all those books--there are a lot of them.

Gotta finish the 100+ Conan novels first, though. :shock:





But...to answer your question...

The first two stories in Chronicles of Conan 3 deal with Elric, and the story connects with a story called Zukala's Daughter, told in Chronicles 1.

For me, what "works" about the mixing of Elric's and Conan's universes is that Conan is set on Earth, while Elric is in another dimension, and magic is used to bridge the multiverse. Both could logically exist without breaking my suspension of disbelief.

 

[Supplement Four]

To elaborate on Savage Sword...Marvel got around the Comics Code by making the Savage Sword mag "different". It was in B&W and oversized as a comic. They didn't even call it a comic but an illustrated story, or some such, aimed at more mature readers.

So, there's stuff in Savage Sword (blood, adult themes, sex) that would have been cut had it been presented in the Marvel Chronicles run.

Now...dont' expect Savage Sword to be a rated X, or even rated R, collection of stories. It's far from it. But, the stories in Savage Sword sometimes reach a PG type rating, and are more faithful to the way Howard spun his Conan tales.

Personally, I think the B&W art adds to the "grittiness" of the story telling. It's a good choice, and I'm not sure Savage Sword would have the same bite if it were in color.

For example, I love this opening pic of Black Colossus. Doesn't the B&W shading give off a sense of forboding? Of the promise of dark, diseased terrors that will claw at your soul if you venture into the ruins? This pic gives off that kind of atmosphere, to me, and I don't think it can be duplicated as well if it were in color.

 

[Boneguard]

I'm trying not to learn spoilers, but it seems that part of the Belit stories tell the tale of how Conan earned the name of Amra The Lion. Evidently, there was another man who had that name before Conan....

Does it involve a trip for Conan, Sonja and Bêlit to a certain place with a certain king?

I'm wondering if it doesn't follow through the Red Sonja story (with Conan and Bêlit) in Marvel Feature 6 and 7 with a page of the book of Skelos.

 

[Supplement Four]

Does it involve a trip for Conan, Sonja and Bêlit to a certain place with a certain king?

I'm wondering if it doesn't follow through the Red Sonja story (with Conan and Bêlit) in Marvel Feature 6 and 7 with a page of the book of Skelos.

Don't know. I stopped reading the comics for a while as I'm reading Blood of Wolves, which is Loren L. Coleman's book about Cimmerians during the time that Conan is King.

I'm about half the way through. I don't have a lot of time to read. So far, the book is fan-freakin-tastic.

 

[Boneguard]

Does it involve a trip for Conan, Sonja and Bêlit to a certain place with a certain king?

I'm wondering if it doesn't follow through the Red Sonja story (with Conan and Bêlit) in Marvel Feature 6 and 7 with a page of the book of Skelos.

Don't know. I stopped reading the comics for a while as I'm reading Blood of Wolves, which is Loren L. Coleman's book about Cimmerians during the time that Conan is King.

I'm about half the way through. I don't have a lot of time to read. So far, the book is fan-freakin-tastic.

Well nope. I just finished reading 8-9-10...which BTW are awesome, as well as how Conan got the name Amra, pretty well done.

The Ark I was talking about Conan, Bêlit and Sonja and the page of the book of Skelos was not published do to the fact that Dynamite Entertainment has the Right over Red Sonja Story (thus why CTB 66-67-68 ) was chopped out...shame it was a great story ark, but you need Marvel present 6 and 7 (Or Dynamite colume 1 of the Marvel's Red Sonja reprint) to have the full picture...so I bought those 3 issues.


Anyway, The Bêlit era Conan story are great. I'm sure you'll like them