As a hero, Conan the Barbarian is so iconic that even his homage/parody, Groo, has become an icon in its own way. Possibly the most popular hero to have ever come out of pulp magazines, Conan is definitely the one with the strongest presence in the modern world. From movies and comics to short stories and magazines, there is seldom a month without something new and exciting in Conan’s journey of from Cimmeria to the modern age.
In essence, many of comics greatest heroes came out of the editorial room and a burning need to fill pages. Conan didn’t. He had a long gestation period taking place in the mind of the man who created him: Robert E. Howard.
From his earliest days, Howard loved history and myth. Blessed with an encouraging, literate mother, as well as a true storyteller’s mind, Howard knew that he wanted to be a writer. He was especially fond of historical fiction and by the time he was nine he had written his first story. From there it was off to stories of Pirates, Buccaneers and battles. Even in his earliest work he was not shy about adventure and bloodshed.
The influences a writer has can often foreshadow what they may embrace when their careers begin to take off. Howard was not only a fan of Jack London and Herman Melville, but he also developed a great appreciation for the tales of the Texas prairie that he heard. His father was a local doctor so Howard saw first-hand what real injuries and pain looked like.
Howard, like so many children of the day, was also transfixed by the world of boxing. At this time in American History, boxing could be said to have been the country’s most popular sport. The stories of real life men who could endure massive amounts of pain and horrific beatings, yet still end up on top were highly influential on Howard’s outlook towards what constituted strength and adventure.
At the age of thirteen, Howard discovered a book in a local library that focused on a group of Scottish Tribesmen called the Picts. The book, which was more myth-based than fact-filled, held numerous stories of a group of people who were not afraid of battles and went to extreme lengths to maintain their freedom. Many critics feel that this single volume helped inspire Howard more than any other and possibly helped form a pattern of where much of Howard’s writing would go until the end of his career.
Howard was fifteen when he discovered pulp magazines. Filled with tales of the Foreign Legion battles, pirates, and adventurers who couldn’t be stopped, Howard ate the stories up and immediately began writing his own take on what he was reading. He studied what he read and began to write directly for each magazine that he read.
For the next few years, he created characters that are revered in the modern age, including Solomon Kane and the last king of the Picts, Bran Mak Morn, but at the time Howard was greeted with rejection after rejection. It wasn’t until 1924 that he sold his first story. In September 1927, he sold a story to Weird Tales featuring the character that many feel was the precursor to Conan, Kull, Exile of Atlantis. It saw publication in the August 1929 issue of Weird Tales.
Kull, like Conan, was a barbarian. The most elementary distinction between the two was the age in which the two lived. Kull lived in what Howard called “The Pre-Cataclysmic Age” – the time on Earth before the flood that sunk Atlantis had occurred. The stories of Conan take place in “The Hyborian Age,” which occurs long after the flood. So there is a long time span between the times that the two men walked the Earth. Howard was clear that they were Homo sapiens, capable of thought, introspection and an understanding of moral right and wrong.
The Kull stories laid the groundwork for a fictitious time on Earth while sounding to readers like it had actually existed. As real as it sounded, this newly created history, The Pre-Cataclysmic Age, was clearly a product of the writer’s imagination.
The Hyborian Age, the time in which the stories of Conan take place, precedes the time of Greece and Rome but takes place far after the time of Kull. This narrative device allowed Howard to construct his own world, with its own countries and languages and definitions of reality that stood outside of natural history, but somehow sounded exactly like it existed!
Three stories featuring Kull were published during Howard’s lifetime, but there were others written which never were published. Unsatisfied with Kull, Howard began to develop a new character named Conan. The Cimmerian debuted in the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales with the story The Phoenix and the Sword, an adaptation of an older Kull story that had gone unpublished.
It was the acceptance of this story that led Howard to write the essay The Hyborian Age, which became his own template and history for Conan. Using that essay as a guideline, Howard wrote The Tower and the Elephant that went on to become an extremely popular story and set the stage for sixteen other Conan stories to be published during Howard’s lifetime.
Using his own essay as a bible, Howard built a rich, complex world that features the Barbarian at its center. As much a part of the stories as Conan’s personality is the land and time in which the stories take place. Howard’s ability to create a reality that exists outside of our own reality is only enhanced by his ability to create places and events that sound as if they are taken from the pages of our common history itself.
A deadly and capable fighter, Conan was much more than a killer. He was a complex man who took to wondering the world after taking part in the destruction of the Aquilonian outpost of Venerium. It was during this time that he fought mythical creatures as well as opponents who were aided by magic.
In time, he acquired a group of men and as the years pass he found himself their leader. He learned from his experiences and applied what he has learned to current situations. More than almost any other hero in pulps, Conan was human. He had faults, lied, did wrong and grew to the point where he took the Kingdom of Aquillonia as his own.
With Howard’s suicide in 1936, the original run of Conan stories came to an end. The stories he wrote are used as a blueprint for other writers such as Poul Anderson, Harry Turtledove and many others. Some of the writers who tackled Conan were finishing parts of tales left behind by Howard, while others wrote their own version of the character. Howard’s original works have since been re-written slightly and published in anthologies and collections.
One of the more famous runs of Conan reprints is the Lancer/Ace editions of 1966-1977. Lancer couldn’t finish the run so Ace took over the reigns. Many remember these books because the covers featured incredible art from Frank Frazetta. These collections were a mixture of the old and an occasional new story, while Frazetta’s artwork created what many found to be the definitive version of Conan.
Today, the best collection of Howard’s original work can be found under the Ballentine/Del Ray banner. They contain the original stories as written by Howard and are free of all corrections by later writers. In addition they also contain essays, chronologies and some great looking artwork.
As popular as Conan was in regular print, it is comic books that have kept the character alive over the past 40+ years. Since 1970, Conan comics have been published consistantly by either Marvel or Dark Horse. Marvel started in 1970 with Conan the Barbarian, written by Roy Thomas with art by Barry Windsor-Smith. Eventually John Buscema replaced Windsor-Smith, but Thomas stayed on title for many years. In 1974 Marvel introduced a black and white, more adult take on the Barbarian with The Savage Sword of Conan. Thomas was again writing the stories with pencils handled by either Buscema or Alfred Alcala. This run of Conan is still highly revered by the fan community and considered by many to be classic Conan.
In 2003 Dark Horse started the title Conan featuring the work of Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord. Busiek left for DC and Tim Truman came in. Dark Horse also publishes Conan the Cimmerian as well as Conan: The Frazetta Cover Series and several other Conan titles.
In film, Conan has hit the big screen twice, both featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first, Conan the Barbarian debuted in 1982. A number of people worked on scripts for the film, most notably Roy Thomas. But Oliver Stone and Director John Milius wrote the final film. The film is credited as the break out role for Schwarzenegger. It is also notable for using Howard’s actual stories as a springboard. A 1984 sequel, Conan the Destroyer was less enthusiastically received by the public. Many feel that this was due the films more generic take on the genre of sword and fantasy cinema.
This summer, after years in development, Conan the Barbarian is scheduled to make its debut on the big screen on August 19, 2001. The film, which is reputed to spend its first fifteen minutes on the story of Conan as a youth, looks to be step closer to the original stories of Howard than anything the public has seen before. Staring Jason Momoa as the title charactrer, the trailers have fans excited and the poster appears suitably dark as the warrior is seen atop a pile of skulls. Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lange, Ron Perlman and Rose McGowan are also featured. The film will also be released in 3D at the same time as the regular version.
The foundation laid by Robert E. Howard is among the strongest for any character created in modern fiction, regardless of the genre. He has been kept alive for years by great talents such as Anderson and Thomas and publishers such as Marvel and Dark Horse, prized by readers as one of modern fictions most popular and longest lived characters, Conan looks to be alive for another hundred years.