106 replies to this topic

[ZackDavisson]

Personally, I love the framing device. That is what makes this comic rise above a really good adaptation to being awesome. I love how Truman managed to add new content to the story without upsetting the original, and I love the old King Conan sequences.

To each their own! But I love it!

[KG Thunder]

Personally, I love the framing device. That is what makes this comic rise above a really good adaptation to being awesome. I love how Truman managed to add new content to the story without upsetting the original, and I love the old King Conan sequences.

To each their own! But I love it!

I'm normally fine with it, but I do think it sort of cheapens all sense of danger in this comic. There are all these people plotting against him and saying "For tonight...CONAN DIES!", but we already know he'll be fine because just a few pages before we saw him as an older King relaxing in a garden. When the story is pretty much about trying to kill Conan, seeing him alive and well in the beginning is almost like spoiling the ending.

[Aquilonia]

I like the framing too. To each their own...

[Dave the Rage]

Personally, I love the framing device. That is what makes this comic rise above a really good adaptation to being awesome. I love how Truman managed to add new content to the story without upsetting the original, and I love the old King Conan sequences.

To each their own! But I love it!

I'm normally fine with it, but I do think it sort of cheapens all sense of danger in this comic. There are all these people plotting against him and saying "For tonight...CONAN DIES!", but we already know he'll be fine because just a few pages before we saw him as an older King relaxing in a garden. When the story is pretty much about trying to kill Conan, seeing him alive and well in the beginning is almost like spoiling the ending.

The majority of fans will know Conan lives, but people jumping on for the 1st time wont I suppose but would surmise the hero lives. The story has me captured as it shows and aged Conan that is awsome....like Sean Connery lol

Edited by Dave the Rage, 17 February 2012 - 02:23 AM.

[ZackDavisson]

Maybe in theory, but come on ... when you pick up any comic, do you really think the main character is going to die? If I am reading "Captain Wigwam," I pretty much assume that Captain Wigwam is going to make it through in the end. That isn't where the suspense of a story lies ... especially with an old and established character like Conan. If he actually died in any of his comics, it would be a media event.

[godcipherdivine]

Loved the letter written by one Mike Autry in the back of this issue, he "get's it" here's some of it below.............

"I believe that if Robert E. Howard were alive today, he could anonymously write a Dark Horse Conan comic and someone would complain about it. If you were sitting around a fire listening to Conan stories from people who had handed the stories down by word of mouth, would you decide to split the storyteller's skull with your axe? If so, you might need to ease back on the rotgut and try to enjoy the stories for what they are meant to be. They are comics. They're meant to be fun, If you're not having fun, drink more. You can't keep whipping your axe out every time you disagree with somebody's campfire story. I personally enjoyed the hell out of King Conan the Scarlet Citadel. I have all of the Dark Horse Conan books. If this isn't the story and art that I enjoyed the most, it has to be close. I liked having "Old Man" Conan tell the story, and the art was intense. I guess I'm one of the less wordy Conan fans. The only way that I can describe it: Badass!"

^^^I agree^^^

[Taranaich]

"I believe that if Robert E. Howard were alive today, he could anonymously write a Dark Horse Conan comic and someone would complain about it.

If the story he was writing was sub-par, then yes, people would complain about it, as surely as certain fans cite "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula" or "The Vale of Lost Women" as far below Howard's usual standards.

If you were sitting around a fire listening to Conan stories from people who had handed the stories down by word of mouth, would you decide to split the storyteller's skull with your axe?

But we're not sitting around a campfire listening to Conan stories from people handed down word by mouth, because the original stories, unchanged, undiluted and unadulterated, are right here, easily accessible, easily found. If you want to play the "storyteller" approach, by all means, do the storyteller approach, but don't then say "this is Robert E. Howard right here." People want to have their cake and eat it in regards to Howard adaptations. They want to stick faithfully to the story, but they also want to do their own thing. That's all fine. That's good. But

If so, you might need to ease back on the rotgut and try to enjoy the stories for what they are meant to be. They are comics. They're meant to be fun, If you're not having fun, drink more.

Wait, so do we drink more or drink less? (I kid, even I'm not that pedantic!)

In any case, if you can have fun, then by Crom have fun! Great! Couldn't be happier. Why do you guys care about us being such sticks-in-the-mud? I don't begrudge you guys enjoying the comic, but if I feel sufficiently strongly about something to voice my concerns, I'm going to do exactly that.

To illustrate the point: I had great fun with John Carter. I knew it was a pretty substantial departure from the novel in any ways, and to me, it was faithful *enough* as far as I felt the Hollywood system would permit an adaptation to be. Yet I will not begrudge more discerning Burroughs fans from their criticisms, because I've been in their shoes with the Conan film. Though there's clearly a gulf of difference between "adapt a novel with changes" and "make a new story with a character," I won't argue against their criticisms, or brush them off, or say "it was necessary to the process of adaptation." Someone thinks JC was a massive betrayal of the main character and the spirit of the books, and I respect that, even if I disagree to a certain point.

All I'm saying is, it takes all sorts. Or something like that.