60 replies to this topic

[Orkin]

Delighted so many people are enjoying it, in any case.

kdb

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I am!

[Strom]

I still don't have issue #4! Damn responsibility to Acheron! I need my fix!

Guess I'll check out the preview again....but tomorrow that sumbitch is mine!

Did Kurt mention boinkage? Sweet!

[Kane]

Oh, and nice letter to the editor, Kane...

Thanks. You would not belive how surprised I was to see that in the letters page.
My wife has been calling all her family to let them know that it was in there.

[cimerians]

Wow, looks like the impossibility of flawlessness is in the air according to the letters and message posters.

The series is OK....come on, nothing great has really happened yet except for the Frost Giants daughter.

And if you've read the sheer amount of Marvel issues that I have this issue was a bit cliche...

I'm not saying the series is bad, its just that nothings really happened that I haven't seen\read before. And yes, yes, before everyone rips me....I do appreciate Dark Horse for bringing Conan back. I just think its not 5 star material yet like so many people think.

I guess I'm the "Darkhorse" here.

[skeletorjr]

I'd rather see it build slow, and I love how Kurt is bridging the gaps between REH's stories in such entertaining ways. I think Mister Howard would have enjoyed this book.

[El Borak's Li'l Brother]

Wow, looks like the impossibility of flawlessness is in the air according to the letters and message posters.

The series is OK....come on, nothing great has really happened yet except for the Frost Giants daughter.

And if you've read the sheer amount of Marvel issues that I have this issue was a bit cliche...

I'm not saying the series is bad, its just that nothings really happened that I haven't seen\read before. And yes, yes, before everyone rips me....I do appreciate Dark Horse for bringing Conan back. I just think its not 5 star material yet like so many people think.

I guess I'm the "Darkhorse" here.

Nothing great has happened but The Frost Giant's Daughter? Hm. Do you mean as in they've only done one version of a Robert E. Howard story? Well, I'm glad we're getting more than just that -- that Kurt is giving us a continuous storyline that is quite intriguing. And to me, that's what makes a story, this comic book great.

[cimerians]

I know its good its just that I've read TONS of Marvel conan.....SSOC, CTB, KC and even a few of the short-lived Sonja and Kull books to just come out and say that this series is flawless which I don't think it is. Its just that this series still really hasn't impressed me to that degree. Conan is portrayed well 99% of the time and I like the art for the most part but it takes at least 9 or 10 issues for me to call it truly great.

I'm in the same situation with Marvels new She-Hulk title. Good stories so far but I am reserving judgement till at least the 9th or so issue rolls around.

[whitetemplar78]

mmmmmmmmm..............i see your point, but at the same time im glad that they have done what they have done, i just like the look and feel of how they have put this comic together, i work as a side job at a comic store, and see many thousands of comics a day, and the style and color tone they use in it, makes it stand out. In a way, i feel like i am reading ancient scrolls form a age long ago..........maybe im crazy, but that what the look, and art, and color does for me, it takes me there, and when a comic does that, it has done more then i have hoped.........so Kurt, i doubted at first, and you smashed through those doubts with a skill as sharp as cold blue cimmerian steel, and for that i thank you, i have always loved conan, and the world that he wanders, and you have out done yourself in making it come to life, again thank you, and PLEASE keep it up, and don't let the profit hounds that rule the top, push you away from this dream that you are making........

Your fan,
Shawn (whitetemplar78)

[cimerians]

........yeah it is nice to go into a comic store and look at the rows of comics and finally see a comic called Conan eh? Been a loooong time.

I remember Marvel doing a few 3 or 4 parters in the mid to late 90's but NEVER committing to a monthly comic since the last issue of Conan the Barbarian. I remember that issue too, I beleive the words "The End" were written on it. A sad time it was but the series at that point wasn't all too good if I remember.

[alex]

There were Conan comics out there before, but none match the presentation and care that are packaged in this current run. Not any that were devoid of Thomas' name anyhow. Count your blessings we have a back to roots 'real' interpretation of REH's figure once again. Busiek and Co's Conan is an 'event', the way Thomas' was. In the times to come, you'll find the Dark Horse comics will become a staple of any 'essential' Conan comics collection. Throw out the filler and make room for them. They know and care for the source material, that's all I ask for.

[Primeval]

Busiek and Co's Conan is an 'event', the way Thomas' was.

Reading this reminded me that I was going through my comics a week ago, and came across the 3 issue series "The Flame and The Fiend" (or something like that) from a few years back, written by Thomas. I didn't recall having actually read it, so I started to and...

AHHHH, THE PAIN! By Crom, it was awful! Full of stupid humor, constant chatting during battles, and just plain BAD. What happened? Did Thomas forget how to write Conan over the years? I used to enjoy his work.

Ok, back to the subject of Conan #4. I am once again impressed, and am excited that this new Conan series is not losing steam and keeps getting better. As usual, I am now anxiously awaiting the next issue!

[budgie]

Augghhhh..

damn, Im gonna have to stop reeading threads like this..

I only today got my copy of #4 but having followed this thread I knew some of the contents already.. Dont taker this the wrong way guys but spoilers are spoilers.. its my own fault, I shouldnt have read the thread but I couldnt help myself..

Could folks please put a spoiler alert on thier postings before revealing anything about whatever issue in question.. That way it will stop fools like me reading on etc..

remeber not everyone is able to get thier copies on the release date so a little warning beforehand would be appreciatted for those that arn't as fortunate.. cheers

oh, and by the way, another excellent issue.. I have no problem with a manipulative, power posturing type female in a Conan story, they are a common factor in the Conan mythos.. long may they continue

budgie

[Kane1701]

SPOILER ALERT


It may have been mentioned earlier but I don't think so.....how does everyone feel about the hyperborians using the souls o dead folks in their spells? We are in issue four and allready getting a little dark sorcery. I think that its kinda cool that that is how Kurt and Co. are explaining things. Makes the hyperborians that much more evil, that they throw away the immortality that they steal.

[Primeval]

SPOILER ALERT


It may have been mentioned earlier but I don't think so.....how does everyone feel about the hyperborians using the souls o dead folks in their spells? We are in issue four and allready getting a little dark sorcery. I think that its kinda cool that that is how Kurt and Co. are explaining things. Makes the hyperborians that much more evil, that they throw away the immortality that they steal.

MORE SPOILERS:


I like the presentation of the Hyperboreans thus far. The only thing that kind of made me re-read a section was when Conan discovered what was happening and asked about the "machines". Now, I know that that word applies to all sorts of primitive devices, but the connotation for me is technology out of place in a primeval world. So I hope that the Hyperboreans are in fact working dread sorcery and not science and technology of a more modern type. The creative team has shown thus far that they have a good grasp of the Hyborian Age, so I am sure that "machines" just meant some primitive device. Just made me kind of stop and re-read and closely examine the page

[Kane]

The only thing that kind of made me re-read a section was when Conan discovered what was happening and asked about the "machines". Now, I know that that word applies to all sorts of primitive devices, but the connotation for me is technology out of place in a primeval world.

I have to agree with you on this. The word makes me think that somehow the Hyperboreans had access to some form on high tech device left over from an acient race. I'm hoping that it will turn out to be someform of left over Acheron magic that does little more then store life energy and then funnels it through some direct form of magic.

Another, small, problem that I had with this issue. Just what language is Conan speaking through out the issue? Having never been in these lands, did he somehow learn 'Borean? If not then how do the other characters understand what he is saying to them? I doubt that everyone in the city can understand Cimmerian or Asgard.

[Kurt Busiek]

Another, small, problem that I had with this issue. Just what language is Conan speaking through out the issue? Having never been in these lands, did he somehow learn 'Borean? If not then how do the other characters understand what he is saying to them? I doubt that everyone in the city can understand Cimmerian or Asgard.

He's speaking the Aesir tongue.

I doubt that everyone in the city can understand him, but he never actually needs to speak to them all. The overseers who deal with Aesir slaves presumably speak Aesir, and Iasmini probably speaks many languages, given her position.

I'm not sure how varied Hyborian languages are, since REH did describe them as different languages, but had people of different nations mingling freely without trouble communicating. I figure that given Howard's pattern of racial drift, you've got to get to Hyrkania in the east or Stygia in the south before language barriers are particularly substantial; the Hyboreans are all the men of Bor, and came out of the northlands anyway. The difference between Hyperborean and Aesir is probably only a little more than dialictical differences.

The Picts probably speak a wildly different language, since they don't stem from the same roots, but go back to pre-Cataclysm cultures. But within the main Hyborian lands, there seem to be a lot of multilingual people, and Conan never has trouble picking up new languages as needed.

That said, I did write a language bit in #7, so it's not as if we're ignoring it. Just treating it as an easier set of hurdles to navigate than the languages of, say, modern Europe.

kdb

[Strom]

Finally read issue number 4 of Conan!

Great issue from all involved! I am so excited to read Conan monthly again. This issue was very "Howard-esque" again and I couldn't help but think of the similarities with Howard's "The Slithering Shadow".

The storyline with the Hyboreans, to me, is very similar to the life of the Xuthalans in Slithering. They both seem to tire of existence and bask in pleasures be they lotus induced or not. One race goes to extremes for entertainment (gladiators) the other finds extremes in dreaming the dreams of the black lotus. Both stories involve slave girls and the sewers. Where one race throws themselves off a mountain, the other accepts the fate of Thog, their God. Both lifestyles abhorrent to Conan's way of thinking.

Again, I love the comic and as a Howard fan I realize he re-used many a plot (how many lost cities are there?). Its just the similarities were to close not to feel a correlation with one of my all-time favorite Conan tales. That's a good thing!

Keep up the great work Kurt and Cary and Dave!

[Ironhand]

SPOILER ALERT


It may have been mentioned earlier but I don't think so.....how does everyone feel about the hyperborians using the souls o dead folks in their spells? We are in issue four and allready getting a little dark sorcery. I think that its kinda cool that that is how Kurt and Co. are explaining things. Makes the hyperborians that much more evil, that they throw away the immortality that they steal.

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Wow! Keen insight! When I read #4, I perceived the Hyperborean's actions as a type of vampirism, evil in itself, but I didn't perceive the "evil squared" aspect of squandering their stolen immortality. This is not mere magic, it is true horror. And, IMHO, excuses a little confusion between magic and "super science". REH himself used a little bit of super science, as in "Slithering Shadow" and "Red Nails".

On a different subject, I want to commend KB and CN for doing something that even Thomas/Smith and Thomas/Buscema failed to do: capturing the hair-trigger danger and violence inherant in REH's Conan. If a character angered Conan in a Thomas story, Conan would say something like "By Crom, if you think you can get away with that, Conan of Cimmeria will teach you the error of your ways in a manner you will not soon forget!", before taking some sort of revenge. In #4, we see Conan's eyes ignite with anger and his hands stretch to grasp as the other character blurts out his perfidy, then in the very next panel, Conan, without a word, lunges and breaks the hapless character's neck. Those two panels tell us more about Conan than all the issues that Thomas and Smith and Buscema ever turned out.

I am looking forward to "Rogues in the House".

[Strom]

Ironhand Posted on Jun 3 2004, 07:57 PM
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QUOTE (Kane1701 @ May 30 2004, 08:33 PM)
SPOILER ALERT

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On a different subject, I want to commend KB and CN for doing something that even Thomas/Smith and Thomas/Buscema failed to do: capturing the hair-trigger danger and violence inherant in REH's Conan. If a character angered Conan in a Thomas story, Conan would say something like "By Crom, if you think you can get away with that, Conan of Cimmeria will teach you the error of your ways in a manner you will not soon forget!", before taking some sort of revenge. In #4, we see Conan's eyes ignite with anger and his hands stretch to grasp as the other character blurts out his perfidy, then in the very next panel, Conan, without a word, lunges and breaks the hapless character's neck. Those two panels tell us more about Conan than all the issues that Thomas and Smith and Buscema ever turned out.

Excellent point! For whatever reason, it is a concept foreign to most writers of Conan. I can forgive Thomas as he has explained his difficulties with the Comic Code and having to explain the story thru massive Cimmerian speeches but the reason IMHO, that most pastiche writers fail miserably is their inability to grasp the concept of the violence and savagery of Conan?s world and of Conan himself! It obviously isn't an easy concept to portray and that is a credit to the master storyteller REH!

Although Kurt is having no trouble with this concept and Cary and Dave are displaying the concept beautifully!

[Orkin]

I'm not sure how varied Hyborian languages are, since REH did describe them as different languages, but had people of different nations mingling freely without trouble communicating.  I figure that given Howard's pattern of racial drift, you've got to get to Hyrkania in the east or Stygia in the south before language barriers are particularly substantial; the Hyboreans are all the men of Bor, and came out of the northlands anyway.  The difference between Hyperborean and Aesir is probably only a little more than dialictical differences.
...kdb

We were working on a Cimmerian phrasebook, but since CPI stated that they were not interested, we dropped the project.