17 replies to this topic

[Lunatic]

Compared to works of other authors, not including tv and movies.

Aren´t there quite a lot of Conan pastisches around?

[PaulMc]

Yes, historically there have been, though the last one was Turtledove's back in 2004, Conan of Venarium.

I'm not really sure why that even popped up when it did, the TOR line had quieted down way back around 1997, if you don't count reprints of earlier books.

Why so many? A combination of appeal and a loose literary estate, I suppose (back in the day.)

[Taranaich]

I think Sherlock Holmes and Dracula can probably give Conan a run for his money, as well as Luke Skywalker and the Star Trek captains.

[AndyHolcombe]

I can't really comment on Sherelock Holmes, but Dracula is public domain and Star Wars and Star Trek are both started life as corporate properties rather than creator properties. Granted, in the case of Star Wars, the creator owns the company. The point being, that I don't consider those accurate comparisons.

[johnnypt]

As Paul mentioned, in the 90s, there sure were. You could go to bookstores and there'd be rows of Conan books (none by Howard, but that's another subject). But they've certainly dried up, leaving us with just Howard and some of DeCamp, Carter and Jordan being easily accessible. FWIW, I'd probably put Holmes at the top of the pastiche pyramid.

[Boot]

I own all the Conan books, and I will tell you....I don't know if I'll read them all before I die.

[LagomorphRex]

I had started working my way through them all last year, but to be honest with you I realized I was spending a lot of time reading books that just weren't very good. I'd read one or two that were decent, and then get to one which was heinously bad, killing my enthusiasm in the process..

[RJMooreII]

Name aside, I think Superman pastiches might be the most common. There are dozens of these things within the same comic book companies sometimes.

[Tex]

The Hyborean Apocrypha.

Start here...

http://blackringofse...0&max-results=7

...and work your way through.

Tex
(wishing he'd continue the project)

[PaulMc]

I had started working my way through them all last year, but to be honest with you I realized I was spending a lot of time reading books that just weren't very good. I'd read one or two that were decent, and then get to one which was heinously bad, killing my enthusiasm in the process..

Yeah. I'm 3 TORs short of a complete collection, but I don't know how much time I want to spend reading them with so many other things available to read.

Part of that is reading time available. I wouldn't mind knocking off some less-than-stellar titles if I could get through them quickly, but I don't have a lot of reading time currently so I really want to read things I am *very* interested in - not just passing curiosities.

[Libaax]

Name aside, I think Superman pastiches might be the most common. There are dozens of these things within the same comic book companies sometimes.

Which pastiches are you about? Dc own superman from the start, there is no pastiche comics when its a coporate character. Not creator character. Same with Batman Kane created for dc. V.

[RJMooreII]

Name aside, I think Superman pastiches might be the most common. There are dozens of these things within the same comic book companies sometimes.

Which pastiches are you about? Dc own superman from the start, there is no pastiche comics when its a coporate character. Not creator character. Same with Batman Kane created for dc. V.

Pastiche just means 'a work that impersonates the structure of a previous work'. On the Revengers supervillain team in Marvel there are 5 or 6 Superman pastiches not counting that Baron, or Captain Nazi, or Gladiator. The there's Mr. Majestic and Apollo in DC itself. And there are untold hundreds of others in various comics.

[Libaax]

Name aside, I think Superman pastiches might be the most common. There are dozens of these things within the same comic book companies sometimes.

Which pastiches are you about? Dc own superman from the start, there is no pastiche comics when its a coporate character. Not creator character. Same with Batman Kane created for dc. V.

Pastiche just means 'a work that impersonates the structure of a previous work'. On the Revengers supervillain team in Marvel there are 5 or 6 Superman pastiches not counting that Baron, or Captain Nazi, or Gladiator. The there's Mr. Majestic and Apollo in DC itself. And there are untold hundreds of others in various comics.

Yeah but there are different pastiches. Writer of prose who own thier character and sell the story is not like comics written by 1000 creators for the company that owns the character. I meant we cant compare Superman to Conan. Sherlock Holmes,Bond is characters there are often other lit pastiche.

Pastiche character like Mr Majestic,Apollo i can see what you mean to. There are creator owned characters in comics too but not the big characters.

Edited by Libaax, 25 April 2012 - 05:20 PM.

[ZackDavisson]

There can't really be a "Superman" pastiche. Just lots of writers working on the same character. And characters like Mr. Majestic and Apollo are said to be in the Superman archetype, but no one consideres them "pastiche." That is a misuse of the word.


But Conan and Sherlock Holmes are the same, with the same problem. The public's appetite for the character far exceeds the small number of stories created by the original author. Thus the pastiche glut.

[LagomorphRex]

I had started working my way through them all last year, but to be honest with you I realized I was spending a lot of time reading books that just weren't very good. I'd read one or two that were decent, and then get to one which was heinously bad, killing my enthusiasm in the process..

Yeah. I'm 3 TORs short of a complete collection, but I don't know how much time I want to spend reading them with so many other things available to read.

Part of that is reading time available. I wouldn't mind knocking off some less-than-stellar titles if I could get through them quickly, but I don't have a lot of reading time currently so I really want to read things I am *very* interested in - not just passing curiosities.

Yes, reading even the bad ones rarely took me more than a day. The hard part was trying to find enough in them to write 5 multi-paragraph reviews of.. I sort of painted myself into a corner with that format, of trying to cover 60 pages in each review..

The Hyborean Apocrypha.

Start here...

http://blackringofse...0&max-results=7

...and work your way through.

Tex
(wishing he'd continue the project)

It should Hopefully resume in a few weeks once class ends for the summer, I'm planning to pick back up where I left off, I will likely do a single column for the really bad/dull/boring books and save the longer reviews for the ones in which stuff of import actually occurs..and by doing so get through them a bit quicker.

Edited by LagomorphRex, 27 April 2012 - 04:04 AM.

[Tex]

COOLNESS, LR!

What I was really enjoying was that it seems like an expanded version of Robert Weinberg's Annotated Guide to Robert E. Howard's Sword and Sorcery...

http://howardworks.c...andsorcery.html

...only covering ALL the published Conan stories. The site's a GREAT way to check out the various pastiches and determine if they're worth our valuable reading time.

Once you've gotten them all read (you poor bastard) and reviewed, you can always go back afterwards and expand upon what you've already written.

Tex
(and if you go with a printed version once it's done, I'll buy the first hardcover hot off the presses)

[Libaax]

There can't really be a "Superman" pastiche. Just lots of writers working on the same character. And characters like Mr. Majestic and Apollo are said to be in the Superman archetype, but no one consideres them "pastiche." That is a misuse of the word.


But Conan and Sherlock Holmes are the same, with the same problem. The public's appetite for the character far exceeds the small number of stories created by the original author. Thus the pastiche glut.

Exactly what i meant with Superman. Copying a famous superhero with a similar superhero cant be pastiche.

Sherlock and Conan was both created by a single creator and become popular culture icons with many pastiches. Of course Sherlock being classic detective have been easier to make good pastiche in tv,film.

[LagomorphRex]

Well I've put up a few short entries, and have begun working on Conan the Relentless. School has pretty much wrapped up now, so I'm hoping to make it to "Queen of the Black Coast" before next semester.