Created by Robert E. Howard, the strong, skilled, and intelligent conquerer Conan the Barbarian has been around for long. Being the brilliant visionary that he is, Howard managed to create an entirely fictional era called the Hyborian Age. Although Conan belonged to that era, publications have made him somewhat free of any timelines.
The warrior in Conan is mostly about the gore and violence whilst being a leader and an adroit tactician. Calling him a barbarian would be against the respect he deserves. Conan skilfully devised plans and strategies to further his own cause in a battle.
Conan isn’t a superhuman but his innate martial art skills are enough to defeat any opponent. This video will discuss the origin, development, future, and some facts about Conan.
Conception and Evolution of Conan The Cimmerian by Howard
Robert E Howard wrote a fantasy tale called People of the Dark in 1931 for a pulp magazine, Weird Tales. Thev tale was primarily about reincarnation, He also introduced Conan of the Reavers. In 1932, Howard wrote The Phoenix on the Sword that served as a foundation for Conan.
Conan hailed from the fictional land of Cimmeria. It was here that he turned into an excellent warrior by the age of 15. Since the publication of Phoenix on the Sword Howard went on to write 18 stories featuring Conan. It can safely be said what started out in 1931 bore results in 1932.
Howard worked on Kull before before creating Conan. Kull’s stories and legends were ruling Weird Tales Magazines and the lost city of Atlantis. The story By This Axe I Rule featured Kull as the protagonist. Although Weird Tales rejected it, Howard didn’t want to discard his literary effort, so he re-wrote it as The Phoenix on the Sword and based Conan on the same lines as Kull.
Conan and Kull share an uncanny resemblance in form of their appearance and fighting techniques. However, the newly written piece was more supernatural and Lovecraftian. Howard also added more women in the life of Conan, making him more play-boyish than Kull.
This is how Conan the Cimmerian was given birth and nurtured into a brutal fighting machine. It is interesting to note that Howard conceptualized and created Kull in 1929 and Conan in 1931, but the two heroes did not follow chronology on the big screen. Conan the Barbarian was released in 1982, much before Kull The Conqueror, which hit theatres in 1997.
Howard’s Legacy
Robert E. Howard commited suicide in 1936 after his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Before his death, Howard had managed to churn out several Conan tales that became an instant hit. The foundation took him from magazines, to cinema, to tevelvision, and finally OTT platforms like Netflix.
Fantasy Fan and Weird Tales continued to publish Howard’s work while several authors picked up his unfinished narrative. They re-wrote his Conan stories as novellas and novels. In the 50s, writers like Lin Carter, Bjorn Nyberg, and L Sprague de Camp penned down works like The Snout in the Dark and The Return of Conan.
Later in the 60s, Lancer Books claimed the rights of publishing Conan in paperbacks, and they hired Frank Frazetta to do the covers of these books. The image of Conan with ripped muscles and a chiseled body with pumped-out veins came from Frazetta’s imagination of Conan, and it exponentially accelerated the character’s popularity.
These art works attracted crowds towards this hulking and handsome male. A few years ago, Frazetta’s original Conan the Destroyer sold for $1.5 million, and Conan The Conqueror sold for $1 million. However, these paperback novels intensely magnified the personality of Conan that Howard had visualized.
Conan wasn’t a superhero that went on lengthy voyages or committed himself to the people. Instead he was quite self-centred doing everything for his own benefit. While he did perform heroic deeds, he continued to display traits of an anti-hero. This portrayal of Conan, naturally, had a ripple effect on other writers, and they created other characters who were violent, virtually tempted towards sex, and full of questionable virtues.
Conan comes to comics: Marvel Comics
The popularity of Conan, brought by Lancer Books and Ace Books, paved the way for Conan to walk into the world of Marvel Comics. In 1970, writer Roy Thomas asked then Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee about a new series based on Conan, and Stan Lee agreed.
Thomas then collaborated with Barry Windsor-Smith to produce the first issue named Conan the Barbarian #1 in October 1970. The success of this comic led to the title Savage Sword of Conan in 1974.
Marvel Comic lost out its publishing rights to Dark Horse Comics that continued to publish Conan-based comics for the upcoming years until 2018 when Marvel was able to reclaim publishing rights over Conan. On January 1st 2019, Conan The Barbarian saw a reboot as a 12 issue anthology.
Interestingly, this was followed by the reboot of Savage Sword of Conan. These stories established everything there was to know about Conan in an enjoyable comic book format, making him a household name, especially among teen and college-going readers.
2020 marked the 50th anniversary of Conan the Barbarian coming to Marvel Comics, and naturally, they released a celebratory one-shot epic edition called King Size Conan in the December 2020. Marvel brought in Roy Thomas to work on this one.
The comivs are special because they have remained true to the original personality of Conan. He remains his ruthless and violent self that doesn’t think twice before a kill and is always prompt to save a damsel-in-distress.
Few fans in the 70s feared that Conan’s character in the comics would be diluted to make him more socially palatable and child-friendly. Surprisingly, that did not happen. Even today, Marvel Comics is making sure that they give us the Conan that we deserve.
Conan The Barbarian 1982 film
It seems like every milestone that Robert E. Howard’s wanderer achieved became a turning point in his legacy and popularity. After a rather exciting journey on paper, Conan surfaced on the silver screen played by Arnold Schwarzeneggar. The Austrian Mr. Universe seemed like the perfect match for Conan.
Despite Marvel Comics being a major contributing factor behind the making of the movie, writer-director John Milius and writer Oliver Stone kept the story and characters grounded to Howard’s original world, though Edward Summer and Marvel Comic’s Roy Thomas are known to have written an uncredited first draft.
The film revolves around Conan seeking retribution from the savage warlord Thulsa Doom who murdered her father and decapitated his . Conan was raised as a slave but immediately started plotting for revenge once he earned his freedom. The making of this movie was a twisted affair, both cinematically and realistically.
While Arnold was the first choice to portraqy Conan, his bulky physique made it difficult for him to wield a sword properly as a result of which he was asked to loose around 30 pounds. He was also given martial arts and horse-riding training.
Arnold went through quite a strenuous process during the production. In one of the scenes where he is chased by 2 dogs, Milius brought in two frenzied dogs that went as far as to attack their trainer. So, when we see Schwarzenegger running from the dogs, he is actually running for his life! In the crucifixion scene, Milius used a live vulture to bite Arnold’s wounds, and later he bites off the neck of an actual dead vulture.
Schwarzenegger also had to do most of his stunts because they couldn’t find an appropriate body double, given his Mr. Universe body. Arnold’s amazing portrayal in the film cemented his image as an actor and he went on to star in blockbusters like Terminator and Predator.
Arnold could be credited amogst one of the many factors contributing to Conan’s popularity and critical success. Milius worked alongside Basil Poledouris to create hauntingly engaging music. In an interview, Basil even revealed that the music is just one long and continuous cue from the first scene of the film to the scene with Wheel of Pain.
We can never be grateful enough to Howard for creating Conan and his world with a pioneering and marvelous imagination. Two years after the film’s release, Conan fans were treated with a sequel.
Conan the Destroyer 1984 film
Richard Fleischer directed the sequel to the first film. The reason for his arrival was because producers wanted to tone down the violence so that the film might be able to secure a PG rating instead of being rated with a R. However, the milder version of Conan with reduced violence and lesser sex-appeal did invited criticism of what was done to the character.
In his autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, Arnold mentions that Universal wanted a more family-friendly movie after the success of their 1982 release ET. He reveals that him and Fleischer objected to Universal’s decision but eventually that to comply with it.
However, the now experienced Arnie could show off his acting skills besides his well-built body, not to mention his exceptional performance in the brutal action sequences. The best part was probably the Glass Palace fight sequence, and Arnie was more humorous in this one, special mention go to his drunk scene.
Grace Jones, the star of Rock and roll, played the role of Zula and performed most of her stunts. She even injured two stuntmen in a stick battle sequence. Conan The Destroyer was made more comic-like, and the credit goes to its writer Roy Thomas from Marvel Comics. Despite all its criticism, the film was appreciated by the younger audience, and this led to Conan’s exploration of the animated world.
Conan and Cartoons
An otherwise violent, cunning, and womanizing warrior, Conan’s character had been severely toned down to make him more palatable to a younger audience when the 65-episode animated television series Conan The Adventurer debuted. This was followed by Conan and the Young Warriors.
In spite of being based on Howard’s Conan, this version resembled nothing that Conan fans would have appreciated. This take was more child-friendly and tended to give moral lessons to its viewers.
Howard and Marvel’s Conans are cunning in nature and don’t withhold from stealing to fulfill their purpose, but Conan the Adventurer refuses from stealing, well… cause it is bad. Of course, he will not visit brothels as he did in Marvel Comics.
This version of Conan is righteous and stands up for his friends while doing away with his selfish needs. This depiction of Conan certainly went against the preconceived notion on who he was supposed to be, something that cemented his position in pop culture. The animated series had to be canceled, but it brought Conan into a new arena: television, which led to his reshaping and evolution.
Conan The Adventurer 1997 Live-Action Television Series
Ralf Moeller stars as Conan in this television series, and thankfully, this time, it wasn’t made for children. The story picks up where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan The Barbarian left, and the giant German bodybuilder wore the shoes of Arnie.
However, this Conan was further unrecognizable in terms of his character, and to say the least, The Barbarian’s character was assassinated in cold blood. He was crafted as a dumb-witted, all muscle and no brain Conan.
It was an outrageously disheartening live-action series, and the most important reason was that its story borrowed more from the films than Howard’s tales. The series came out when American television was taken by storm with series like Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
Overall, this show adopted the cinematography, style and setting to ridiculous levels and resembled very little of the Cimmerian or Atlantian setting. Another diversion from the original story was Conan’s visit to Cimmeria, in none of Howard’s stories does Conan visit his homeland.
However, in this live-action adaptation, he happily visits Cimmeria to kill the evil lord Hissah Zul and take the reigns for himself. But folks, all is not lost here. You’ll well be able to see some great action sequences with a few CGI monsters and bountiful women in skimpy outfits, some of whom turn out to be Femme Fatales, and the others damsels-in-distress.
Conan Rides The Dark Horse… Comics
As discussed earlier, Conan rights were acquired by Dark Horse Comics in 2003, until 2018. These 15 years led to entirely new developments for our mean wanderer. With its various issues, Dark Horse could sustain the popularity that Conan deserved. Many had feared that the change of publication would bring a dark age to Conan and people would forget him, but that was far from reality.
It’s important to note that after the end of publication from Ace Books and Lancer Books, comics were the only source of new Conan stories, and fans were dependent on them. Until 2011, only two films based on Conan were released, and one of them had drifted far away from the source material.
Dark Horse Comics kept the fire alive from 2004 to 2008 with its first anthology of 50 issues named Conan. Next in line were Conan the Cimmerian, Conan: Road of Kings, Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Avenger and Conan the Slayer, in addition to numerous one-shot comics.
Dark Horse remained true to the source material written by Robert E Howard, like The Phoenix on the Sword, The Frost-Giant’s Daughter, The Slithering Shadow, and so forth. The 24th issue of Conan became a part of a minor controversy when cover artist Tony Harris included a nude lady, which displeased many store owners.
However, the 4000 copies that were already printed were distributed by wrapping them in black plastics. Conan The Slayer was the final anthology by Dark Horse, but their success led to another event in the Conan timeline.
Conan The Barbarian 2011 Film
The time and conditions were similar to 1982. Back then, Marvel Comics had created huge popularity for Conan and his world, and it led producers to believe that they could monetize the opportunity. Similarly, Dark Horse Comics published some great anthologies and one-shots from 2003, and this created a similar atmosphere for Conan.
Contemporary producers once again felt that they had a wonderous money-making opportunity, and the Jason Momoa starrer was given the green light. It was supposed to be a remake of the original film of 1982, but the plan was dropped, and this film became a reboot with a plot more grounded to Robert E Howard’s stories.
This film is premised on the diabolical Khalar Zym who wants to acquire the Mask of Acheron. This artefact is bound to make him immortal and help him raise his wife from the dead. However, this is bound to unleash an ancient diabolical force on earth. It is now Conan and his champions that will have to put up a fight to stop this evil.
This film gave Jason Momoa’s , who stunned with an action-packed performance, career a great push just like it has to Arnold Schwarzenegger post his debut as Conan in 1982.
Originally titled Conan, the reboot was considered to be titled Conan 3D. However, the makers eventually settled with the original title. The film, unfortunately, tanked at the box-office. However, the film fell on its face at the box-office. Just before the credits roll in Conan The Destroyer of 1984, a much older Conan is shown sitting on a King’s Throne.
Clearly, a third Conan film starring Arnie was on the watch, but the sudden demise of this 2011 flick made producers skeptical about the project. However, we’d love to hit the theatres in the post-pandemic world and enjoy a Conan movie in which the Austrian stallion would dawn his old look and give one last stand.
The wait will be over with Netflix
Well, folks, all is not lost as Netflix is working alongside Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media. Nothing much is known about the project, but we know that it will be a live-action series, and we’re hoping that it will be nothing like the one that came out in 1997.
Given Netflix’s quality and dedication to films and series, we are confident that this new project will be every bit as dark, violent, sexy and heroic as Robert E Howard wanted his sword and sorcery legend to be.
What has started out as a pulp magazine character went on to become a global icon featuring in novels, comics, films, and games. Our only wish would have been for Howard to be alive to see how beautifully his work has taken shape.
Did we tell you that Robert E Howard and HP Lovecraft were contemporaries and in each other’s good books? No, we mean literally in the books. In his story named The Shadow of Time, Lovecraft introduces a character named Crom-ya, who is described as a Cimmerian Chieftain. And, Cimmeria is Conan’s homeland while Crom is the God by whose name he swears.
To know about the sequel, King Conan, you can check out our video titled King Conan – What’s Going On With Conan’s Sequel? Explained