Hopefully my review for this should be posted soon. It was a terrible let-down. Really, really bad. I have been pretty happy with the series so far, but with this issue they just went off the deep end.
They made King Kull look like a cuckholded fool, giving up all the power of his kingdom to Sarames. He was literally running through the castle with a big goofy grin on his face saying how thanks to Sarames the kingdom is safe and all is grand and glorious. I thought he was going to break out into a musical number.
Boo.
Kull: The Cat And The Skull #3
Started by ZackDavisson, Dec 08 2011 08:52 AM
21 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 08 December 2011 - 10:07 AM
Hopefully my review for this should be posted soon. It was a terrible let-down. Really, really bad. I have been pretty happy with the series so far, but with this issue they just went off the deep end.
They made King Kull look like a cuckholded fool, giving up all the power of his kingdom to Sarames. He was literally running through the castle with a big goofy grin on his face saying how thanks to Sarames the kingdom is safe and all is grand and glorious. I thought he was going to break out into a musical number.
Boo.
Valka! I was afraid of this.
HIRE DOUG MOENCH NOW, DHC.
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#3
emerald
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Posted 08 December 2011 - 06:00 PM
Wait. What?
Really?
Nah. You're joking, right?
What the heck is it with DH and Kull?
Really?
Nah. You're joking, right?
What the heck is it with DH and Kull?
#4
ZackDavisson
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Posted 08 December 2011 - 07:46 PM
Seriously. I was so bummed. I wish I could paste some of the images of Kull with a big goofy grin on his face in here. You can see them when the review goes up.
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Posted 09 December 2011 - 08:29 AM
I sure don't remember that in the story I read. I guess all that stuff about shark monsters and giant sea serpents and inhuman cities under lakes just isn't cool enough for comics or anything...
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#6
Ironhand
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Posted 09 December 2011 - 10:02 AM
Why is this in the Solomon Kane forum?
"Did you deem yourself strong, because you were able to twist the heads off civilized folk, poor weaklings with muscles like rotten string? Hell! Break the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull before you call yourself strong. I did that, before I was a full-grown man...!" - Conan, in "Shadows in Zamboula", by Robert E. Howard
"... you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?"
"I was," grunted [Conan]. "I was one of the horde that swarmed over the hills. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires." - "Beyond the Black River", by Robert E. Howard
Read my Conan screenplays at The Scrolls of Ironhand (in particular my transcription of THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER in Act II of "The Snow Devil") at
http://www.scrollsof...d.us/index.html or at
http://www.delicious...ic=ConanProject
"... you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?"
"I was," grunted [Conan]. "I was one of the horde that swarmed over the hills. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires." - "Beyond the Black River", by Robert E. Howard
Read my Conan screenplays at The Scrolls of Ironhand (in particular my transcription of THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER in Act II of "The Snow Devil") at
http://www.scrollsof...d.us/index.html or at
http://www.delicious...ic=ConanProject
#7
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The OG of "Psychotic Maladjustment"
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Posted 09 December 2011 - 01:26 PM
Why is this in the Solomon Kane forum?
That's a very good question, Ironhand.
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#8
ZackDavisson
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Posted 09 December 2011 - 07:01 PM
'cause I misposted it, obviously! 
#9
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#10
ZackDavisson
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Posted 13 December 2011 - 11:24 PM
Allright, my review is posted for this. Read it and weep ....
http://www.comicsbul...cat-and-skull-3
http://www.comicsbul...cat-and-skull-3
#11
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Posted 14 December 2011 - 11:17 AM
Honestly, we have Pictafarians, Kull being married, buck-toothed Nosferatu rat-faced "Serpent Men..." all-singing all-dancing Kull just seems to fit right in to me. 
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#12
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Posted 14 December 2011 - 02:14 PM
Y'know, I have damn near every Howard-inspired comic published since the first Marvel Conan the Barbarian, including a complete run of Kull.
And I am not going to buy this.
Why is it okay to dramatically distort REH's original work here? The original stories are seminal texts in the history of fantasy fiction, yet they are being treated like third rate pastiche.
Seriously, I'm obviously not a hard liner when it comes to pastiche. If these were pastiche storylines, with Kull married and acting out of character amongst oddball subplots, I'd roll my eyes and keep going. I don't expect pastiche to be a Howard adaption.
Conversely, I do not expect a Howard adaptation to be a pastiche, either.
This series goes on without me.
And I am not going to buy this.
Why is it okay to dramatically distort REH's original work here? The original stories are seminal texts in the history of fantasy fiction, yet they are being treated like third rate pastiche.
Seriously, I'm obviously not a hard liner when it comes to pastiche. If these were pastiche storylines, with Kull married and acting out of character amongst oddball subplots, I'd roll my eyes and keep going. I don't expect pastiche to be a Howard adaption.
Conversely, I do not expect a Howard adaptation to be a pastiche, either.
This series goes on without me.
#13
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Posted 14 December 2011 - 04:25 PM
Allright, my review is posted for this. Read it and weep ....
http://www.comicsbul...cat-and-skull-3
I read. I wept.
"It is more than a mortal sea. Your hands are red with blood and you follow a red sea-path, yet the fault is not wholly with you. Almighty God, when will the reign of blood cease?"
Turlogh shook his head. "Not so long as the race lasts."
--- The Dark Man, by Robert E. Howard
Turlogh shook his head. "Not so long as the race lasts."
--- The Dark Man, by Robert E. Howard
#14
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Posted 15 December 2011 - 01:31 AM
Allright, my review is posted for this. Read it and weep ....
http://www.comicsbul...cat-and-skull-3
I read. I wept.
Now read the issue itself...and weep some more. Oh man...something went really wrong here. Before we get to Kull as portrayed by silent movie king Don Lockwood ("Gotta dance!"), we get the big reveal of the story at the beginning of the issue to a character that wasn't even in the original story! I didn't mind last issue's elaborations since they flowed with the story. Now we're getting things that jam up against it and wrench it astray. It would've been ok to drop a few hints but save the reveal for next issue. About half of this issue distracts from the main tale with the snake-men subplot yet again. And as Zack mentioned we get actual looking snake-men, but why? This confuses things at this point. We leave Kull in the middle of the lake when we should have been done with it this issue. This whole issue should've been revised at the plot stage by the editors, this is an original story interrupted by selected highlights from Delcardes' Cat. OK, maybe that's a little much, but you get the point.
I also picked up the latest issue of Warlord of Mars, the first part of the Gods of Mars adaptation. Didn't notice anything that wasn't in the original, so it can be done.
Edited by johnnypt, 15 December 2011 - 01:34 AM.
#15
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Posted 15 December 2011 - 05:58 PM
With the exception of Kull hamming it up and acting like a buffoon, I enjoyed the issue. I haven't read the original story yet, so I can't compare. The shark man at the end looked a bit cheesy, but I can let that one slide...
- The illegitimate son of Crom
#16
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Posted 15 December 2011 - 06:07 PM
....
I also picked up the latest issue of Warlord of Mars, the first part of the Gods of Mars adaptation. Didn't notice anything that wasn't in the original, so it can be done.
...AND by Arvid Nelson, so I'm not sure why "Pictafarians" and "Snakeratu" were necessary during his Kull run.
Classic tales are classic for a reason. There just has to be the will to adapt them faithfully. Honestly, I'm not sure such a will is present, editorially, at DHC. Roy Thomas certainly implied otherwise.
REH and his works will be here long after DHC are done and gone.
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#17
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Posted 15 December 2011 - 06:40 PM
With the exception of Kull hamming it up and acting like a buffoon, I enjoyed the issue. I haven't read the original story yet, so I can't compare. The shark man at the end looked a bit cheesy, but I can let that one slide...
Once you read the original story, its faults as an adaptation become clearer. Howard never even came close to writing Kull in the manner he's presented here, and definitely not in this story. But the change to the part of the story's climax, moving it forward and changing the characters, is far worse to me than goofy Kull. That's not good either, but the reveal of Saremes' secret now damages the end of the story for me as a reader.
#18
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Posted 15 December 2011 - 06:44 PM
I haven't read the original story yet, so I can't compare.
Why? You're spending money on the comics but don't own the REH originals? Any edition shouldn't cost much more than $5 on Amazon.
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#19
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Posted 15 December 2011 - 06:52 PM
....
I also picked up the latest issue of Warlord of Mars, the first part of the Gods of Mars adaptation. Didn't notice anything that wasn't in the original, so it can be done.
...AND by Arvid Nelson, so I'm not sure why "Pictafarians" and "Snakeratu" were necessary during his Kull run.
Classic tales are classic for a reason. There just has to be the will to adapt them faithfully. Honestly, I'm not sure such a will is present, editorially, at DHC. Roy Thomas certainly implied otherwise.
REH and his works will be here long after DHC are done and gone.
I've mentioned it elsewhere, but if you had told me at the end of the Shadow Kingdom mini that Arvid would do a spot-on adaptation of Princess of Mars with minimal changes and have me looking forward to his Tarzan comic, I doubt I'd have believed you. That's exactly what's happened. Looking back, the actual adaptation of Shadow Kingdom itself (issues #2-4) seems to have been less reworked than the current story. The visual elements were messed up as we've discussed, but the plot itself was relatively unaltered. The addition of Igraine didn't radically move the plot in a different direction, her actions in this issue did. It'll end up where it's supposed to at the finish, but the path by which it got there is different now.
#20
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Posted 15 December 2011 - 11:38 PM
I haven't read the original story yet, so I can't compare.
Why? You're spending money on the comics but don't own the REH originals? Any edition shouldn't cost much more than $5 on Amazon.
How dare I, right?!
But nope, I own the Del Reys (every REH one, in fact), I just haven't read that particular Kull story yet. But now that I've finished all the A Song of Ice and Fire books, I've been switching back to Howard.Once you read the original story, its faults as an adaptation become clearer. Howard never even came close to writing Kull in the manner he's presented here, and definitely not in this story. But the change to the part of the story's climax, moving it forward and changing the characters, is far worse to me than goofy Kull. That's not good either, but the reveal of Saremes' secret now damages the end of the story for me as a reader.
This one will be next on my list then, once I finish reading Almuric. I'm eager to read the original now.
- The illegitimate son of Crom
