In another thread, a cromrade made a list of the contents of what I called, "the Bible."
The Bible, as we will be using the term, would be a work of very detailed research that would be an indispensable aid in bringing any iteration of conan to any screen- big screen or small screen. It would also inform any pastiche- printed or comic. In our fantasy Conan world where we cromrades can pretend the production will happen as we would want it to, this Bible would need to be read by everyone in charge of anything to do with the movie, and must be adhered to. This would instantly ramp up the quality of any pastiche and create a respectful framework for adaptations. If I were in charge of the property, this would have been the first thing I would have commissioned. I would have hired 5 or 6 of the known and respected scholars- many of whom post here- to execute this project, and everything from video games to other creative efforts would need to be informed by this.
Other productions that have successfully brought a vision of an original literary work to screen have used such devices to keep the productions anchored. Howard himself used his own essay, to lend a visceral realism to his stories that allowed people to quickly invest in the stories cast against this backdrop. I don't know if he wrote it before Phoenix, someone will have to say, or after...but it's clear it's not a fluff piece but something he put a lot of thought into and as such he became a world builder, one of the first and providing one of the most visceral backdrops against which to tell stories.
300 for example, basically had Frank Miller's graphic novel as their story board...even saying: "The characters stood and they looked and they talked like the graphic novel, and that you felt the graphic novel. That was the most important thing to me because I felt like the story was there, was sort of the heroic nature of the film. But, the tone of it, the where it came from, I wanted you to feel it. So in that way, I used the graphic novel as a thing that informed the tone of the movie. That's my favorite thing about the movie is that I feel that."
So in the Bible, we would obviously want all the original stories. Maybe even color coded texts, or even annotated like a real Bible sometimes is.
We will also obviously want the essay that was the framework for it all, the Hyborian Age.
I think also a pictorial dictionary- showing exactly what the suit of armor Conan wore as King in Phoenix, in Black Colossus...what does a scale mail hauberk look like, what was it Howard was looking at for his inspiration. One of our other Cromrades was complaining that critics were not offering their own view and this seems a bit cheeky since for a lot of it there is already one correct view and that is the author's own. Any opening in that armor can be viewed as a chance for one's creativity, yes, but the rubric is there already. We can't have adult Conan taking down 3 Picts and have 12 yr old Conan kill and behead 4 like it's nothing. If Howard never once had Conan wearing a romanesque or greek chest plate why would we put him in a magic suit of armor that was a leather breast plate. At least, wait until the pastiche period lol.
Can someone add in some important letters...add in, cromrades, add in...essays from all our illustrious scholars with opposing critical viewpoints should be included...definitive versions of each story with a publication history...
I dunno...I'm just musing I guess. If something like that were to come out I think I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
