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[Zhan Shi]

The past few years have been good for fans of REH in general, and Conan fans in particular. The future looks just as bright. For those who may be interested, a brief, but by no means comprehensive, list of Conan goodies.

1. Del Rey books has released all of REH's original Conan stories, corrected for spelling, but otherwise unedited. Same for Solomon Kane, Kull, and Bran Mak Morn. If you can find them, Wandering Star books published beautiful hardbacks, in several different Collector's Editions. They'll put quite a dent in your wallet, however.

2. Dark Horse has been busy as well. Conan: The Phenomenon, by Paul M. Sammon, is a comprehensive guide to all things Conan, from stories, to comics, to films and more. Also has many good web references, to numerous to list here. They're publishing the original Conan The Barbarian comic in color corrected TPBs under the title Chronicles of Conan (13 volumes released thus far). Soon they'll begin releasing The Savage Sword of Conan TPBs. Also, check out their line of Conan themed statuettes. Be sure not to miss their 4 hardback conan collections, as well as the Conan: Book of Thoth TPB, which reveals the backround of Thoth-Amon.

3. Conan: The Ultimate Guide To The World's Most Savage Barbarian, by Roy Thomas. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Hyborian Age, from Conan himself to the various religions. A must have companion book to Conan: The Phenomenon.

4. Todd Mcfarlane has put out the best Conan figures I've seen. The best, IMO, is the Conan of Aquilonia figure.

5. On the RPG front, Mongoose Publishing is doing a decent job. They've just released the second edition rulebook.

[Whipstitch]

Yeah, I think the Conan figures are about the only thing McFarlane's been involved with that I actually really like (although I don't collect toys/figures). Most of his other toys just make me snicker a bit; twisted fairy tales and the like just don't hit me as all that inspired, I guess, even if it is pretty clear that some real effort's been put into the designs. I'm still just surprised that ol' Todd got all the way through Conan Series 1 without having an S&M themed playset (I guess he wasn't hanging out with Clive Barker enough at the time), and the Series 2 Zenobia figure is positively restrained by his standards. Besides, including a half-naked woman looking like she's gonna be sacrificed/eaten/whatever by a sorceror/monkey god/whatever isn't exactly a random breach of canon in this case.

[Critias]

There's been a few Conan video games released recently, and/or on the horizon (like the MMORPG), too. Lots of Conan stuff going on lately!

I certainly agree on the figurine comments, too. The Pallantides of the Black Dragons figure is so awesome I almost bought one the other day, and I don't even friggin' know what book or story or anything he's from. I just like the look of it.

[Whipstitch]

Yeah, Pallantides looks cool as hell. I like the nice balance they hit with his armor; they got about as ornate and detailed as you can get without breaking completely from low fantasy.

[imperialus]

It's because REH's work became public domain in 2002 I believe. He killed himself 1932 so that would make 70 years.

[Zhan Shi]

Just FYI...last night I was doing a web search, and it looks like there will be a new Conan film in 2009. I believe the working title is Conan and the Crown of Iron, or something similar. I saw two different directors mentioned: Rob Zombie, and Guillermo Del Toro. I don't particularly like either of them, but if forced to choose, I pray to Crom its Guillermo.

[hyzmarca]

Just FYI...last night I was doing a web search, and it looks like there will be a new Conan film in 2009. I believe the working title is Conan and the Crown of Iron, or something similar. I saw two different directors mentioned: Rob Zombie, and Guillermo Del Toro. I don't particularly like either of them, but if forced to choose, I pray to Crom its Guillermo.

Considering how horribly Rob butchered Halloween, I second that. Del Toro, however, has a proven track record of doing some incredibly gritty dark fantasy, particularly Pans Labyrinth and pulp heroic fantasy (Hellboy).

[imperialus]

I think it's supposed to be based on Phoenix on the Sword too which would be nice. That always was one of my favorite Conan stories.

[Wounded Ronin]

There really hasn't been a good Conan video game, has there? The only one I've personally liked was Death Sword: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/death-sword

That's not even a Conan game per se but the animations and graphics are pretty much ripped off from the Milius Conan film. But I enjoyed that lots more than contemporary Conan games.

The way I see it if you're going to make a Conan game with sword fights there should be some element of fencing and not just God of War style button mashing. The game engine should satisfactorily handle human opponents with swords as well as big monsters that don't fence.

I feel like after Devil May Cry came out people just gave up on innovative ideas for 3d brawlers and just went for pretty picture button smashing. I actually played Devil May Cry in Japan before it came out in the United States and found myself bored within 2 minutes.

EDIT: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/death-sw...ameShotId,4860/

One. Of. The. Best. Fighting. Games. Ever. One of the few that takes decapitation seriously.

[Reg06]

There has been a wealth of Conan stuff recently, and the time is ripe for it.
I'm still waiting on AoC for the 360, but that looks like it's just a pipe dream. The movie has been whispered about for about as long as AoC has been in the works, and if Rob Zombie gets it I will shit myself in disappointment. He might be able to do extremely graphic butcher-horror (I'm not a fan of his movies), but his Conan would be complete shit. Del Toro can do a very good gritty fairy tale, but I don't know about his Conan. Action he has an eye for, and he is a good film maker and certainly can do fantastic stuff, but REH's world is much darker and less fantastical than anything Del Toro has done- more Cthulhu than fae folk. Still, he has The Hobbit and At The Mountains of Madness (H.P. Lovecraft) on his plate, but these would both obviously be after a 2009 movie, which if we don't have any concrete names is probably farther off.
Still, I would absolutely love a good Conan movie, or at least an entertaining one. The franchise was originally supposed to be a recurring thing like James Bond, so this new one might kick that off.

[Cthulhudreams]

Rob zombie is the worst director ever. I'm pretty sure I could do a better job. For example, I wouldn't make House of 1000 corpses. And the world would actually be a better place.

[Wounded Ronin]

Rob zombie is the worst director ever. I'm pretty sure I could do a better job. For example, I wouldn't make House of 1000 corpses. And the world would actually be a better place.

That was one of my favorite movies. Few ideas are more compelling than welding a couple into bunny suits and chasing them down to brutally execute them. My god, that part alone was sheer genius...