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Post by benday-dot on Aug 17, 2014 17:29:39 GMT -5
The Buscema adaptation of Tower from SSOC was recently reprinted in color in the Dark Horse quarterly Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword. It was the first time I had read that adaptation. Thwtguardian and I discussed it a bit in the Classic Comics reading club thread... Tower discussion in Classic Comics Reading Club thread
-M I picked up that as well. I do enjoy seeing these newly colourized version of the SSoC originals. The colours are for the most part pretty apt, but ultimately I find they have all failed when compared to the original black and white. It is not that they are unnecessary (what in comics really is?), but, the notion that it might be more exciting instead to see new REH material here aside, the black and white looks so much better and captures the mystery and mood of the story to a degree that the colourized version doesn't quite succeed in doing. The colour reprint is no disaster, but really does little by way of helping to justify the $7.99 price tag. Colour can work... my favourite version is still the CtB # 4 by Barry Smith. I agree with RR. That is sublime stuff! I just wonder how much better it still could have been if Smith himself had been able to apply his master colouring skills to this story, and show that jewel encrusted tower in all its coruscating glory!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 17, 2014 18:26:40 GMT -5
The Buscema adaptation of Tower from SSOC was recently reprinted in color in the Dark Horse quarterly Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword. It was the first time I had read that adaptation. Thwtguardian and I discussed it a bit in the Classic Comics reading club thread... Tower discussion in Classic Comics Reading Club thread
-M I picked up that as well. I do enjoy seeing these newly colourized version of the SSoC originals. The colours are for the most part pretty apt, but ultimately I find they have all failed when compared to the original black and white. It is not that they are unnecessary (what in comics really is?), but, the notion that it might be more exciting instead to see new REH material here aside, the black and white looks so much better and captures the mystery and mood of the story to a degree that the colourized version doesn't quite succeed in doing. The colour reprint is no disaster, but really does little by way of helping to justify the $7.99 price tag. Colour can work... my favourite version is still the CtB # 4 by Barry Smith. I agree with RR. That is sublime stuff! I just wonder how much better it still could have been if Smith himself had been able to apply his master colouring skills to this story, and show that jewel encrusted tower in all its coruscating glory! One of my gripes regarding the Dark Horse reprints of CtB (and of Red Nails from Savage Tales 2 and 3) is that they did not follow BWS's color schemes from the Marvel Treasuries. Who better than the artist could tell what the colors should be like? It's not as if Smith was just a penciller who also dabbles in coloring... he's a great painter.
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Post by berkley on Aug 17, 2014 22:23:41 GMT -5
SSoC 24 is one of Norem's better SSoC covers, IMO - still a bit too bright for my taste, but I think he succeeds in conveying a little more exoticsm and fantasy here than he usually does in his Conan work.
Excellent job comparing the BWS and Buscema/Alcala version of Tower. From memory, and the samples shown here, I agree - the BWS was superior. I'd have to read both again, but at the moment (perhaps under the influence of RR's persuasive assessment, but again, at least partly from memory) this is one of the very few Buscema/Alcala stories that I think is a little below par even with Alcala using his fine line technique that I think is a little below par. Not so much because of any lapse on the part of the artists, but more because the story and the style didn't seem to be a good match for each other.
I agree with RR's point about magic vs realism, but I'd also say that Alcala's fine line work was better suited to the horror side of fantasy with its dark, shadowy, moonlit scenes and creeping, crawling monsters than to the brightly lit scenes in Tower. It was perfect for the more Lovecraftian REH tales. For this reason, I'd actually be interested in seeing the coloured version, as I think it might suit the story better.
Speaking of the realism of the Buscema/Alcala team, look at that first panel with the young Conan in the tavern (it's always a tavern in the Hyborian Age, never a pub or a bar) - I love the care and detail they put into the hilt and scabbard of Conan's sword. The hilt in particular looks both functional and used - like it's been gripped by Conan's hands in battle more than once.
And speaking of the magic of BWS's Conan work - once again, I totally agree. I think that's a big reason why the Conan/Elric story (in CtB 16 &17?) worked so well and was for me one of many highlights of the BWS run: his style evoked so strongly the colourful and fantastic aura that surrounds Elric's world.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 18, 2014 10:11:54 GMT -5
Regarding Gilgamesh, I believe that Walt Simonson introduced him in the Marvel universe as one of the Eternals (in Avengers, of all places). I doubt he stayed an Avenger for long. The Starlin Gilgamesh was closer to a spoof on Superman than to a Sumerian legend, but it did have the same element also touched by the Kull comic-book: that of a wild man who starts as an enemy and becomes the friend of a king who's so far above regular fiolks that he tends to feel a little alone. He was indeed introduced in Avengers..They saved him from something, and he was unconscious for a couple issues, then he was there for many two issues before getting killed off.. it was definitely under Simonson's very brief run, when Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman briefly joined... after the end of Stern's run, but before the 1st 'dissembled' arc around #300.
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Post by fanboystranger on Aug 18, 2014 10:47:42 GMT -5
Regarding Gilgamesh, I believe that Walt Simonson introduced him in the Marvel universe as one of the Eternals (in Avengers, of all places). I doubt he stayed an Avenger for long. The Starlin Gilgamesh was closer to a spoof on Superman than to a Sumerian legend, but it did have the same element also touched by the Kull comic-book: that of a wild man who starts as an enemy and becomes the friend of a king who's so far above regular fiolks that he tends to feel a little alone. Gilgamesh first appeared as "The Forgotten One" in Kirby's Eternals. He played a pretty big role in Thor: The Eternals Saga. Simonson reintroduced the character in Avengers 300, and eventually revealed that TFO was confused with many heroes throughout history and folklore, including Gilgamesh and Hercules. (He may have actually been Gilgamesh, which is why he was wearing the bull of heaven cloak. I can't remember much of Simonson's Avengers beyond Dr Druid getting seduced by "Nebula".) He lasted about 10 issues, then was replaced by Sersi. That Gilgamesh was supposedly killed during The Crossing, but that may have been a Space Phantom. In any event, the Gaiman mini brought all the Earth Eternals back.
I thought Simonson had a good idea with Gilgamesh, but it just wasn't executed very well. (Sort of the story with the post-Kirby Eternals in general.) Walt had to deal with a lot of editorial tampering, so he didn't stay on the book long.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 19, 2014 9:20:40 GMT -5
The savage sword of Conan #25, December 1977Cover by Brian Moore, who we will not see again in this mag; and more's the pity. The figure of the girl in the background and Conan's left foot need a little more work, but this is quite an exciting image. It's got a strong Weird Tales vibe mixed with a 70s sensibility. It has nothing to do with the story, but that would become the norm more than the exception as time went by. This issue's contents: Jewels of Gwalhur, a Conan story The cold hands of death, a Solomon Kane adventure and that's it!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 19, 2014 9:40:26 GMT -5
The frontispiece to this issue deserves a mention: it is drawn by Ed Davis and features Bêlit, the queen of the Black Coast (and Conan's first serious girlfriend). The image itself is arresting, as Bêlit strikes a very regal figure. What's interesting here is that it's a very rare case of her not wearing her regular "Marvel universe" garb designed by John Buscema. (In Robert E. Howard's original, Bêlit went topless and wore little more than a "broad silken girdle"; it was of course not possible to retain that look in a comic approved by the comics code). In a later SSoC issue, Roy would suggest that should the character be used again in the pages of the mag (which was not code-approved), her attire might be updated. Frankly, I personally didn't see the need for it. The brown bikini thing, for all its gravity-defying characteristics, looked suitably barbaric for a Southern Seas pirate queen. The only other times I can think of when Bêlit wore something else to work (when she wasn't disguised) was in CtB #59, her origin story, where she wore a skimpier version of this outfit (basically a brown bikini) and in SSoC #107, where artist Tony Salmons gave her what looks like a practical leather tunic. (The latter is also one of the very, very few appearances of Bêlit in SSoC, and maybe the only one that isn't a simple cameo. Readers would have to wait for the Conan the savage magazine to finally see another proper Conan-Bêlit adventure). More modern versions of Bêlit include the striking look designed by artist Becky Cloonan for Dark Horse's Conan the barbarian recently concluded comic series ; it's at the same time sexy, exotic, barbaric and almost code-friendly. Not that we care about these things nowadays, of course!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 19, 2014 11:06:04 GMT -5
Jewels of GwahlurScript by Roy Thomas Artwork by Dick Giordano Adapted from the original Conan story "the servants of Bit-Yakin", first published as "The jewels of Gwahlur" in the March 1935 issue of Weird Tales. It strikes me today to see so many original Robert E. Howard stories adapted in a row in SSoC. Sure, that was basically the idea when Roy started the mag, but today we'd probably see the publisher adapt these stories little by little, interspersing them with original tales or adaptations of non-Conan stories, just so the REH material would last longer. Those were indeed days of plenty!!! Unfortunately for this particular reader, "Jewels of Gwahlur" is my least favourite Conan story. I suppose everybody must have one. It's still head and shoulders over a vast number of other SSoC stories from the 80s, but back in 1977 this would have been something of a "meh" issue, if not for the Dick Giordano art; this is indeed Dick's only penciling job on a main story in SSoC (and he inks it, too). His work here is reminiscent of Neal Adams at times, and he certainly goes for the Adams rather than the Buscema or Smith look. Dick is also generous with one of his fortés: the depiction of the female form, and I was often reminded of his work on Stephanie Starr while reading jewels of Gwahlur (and that's not a criticism!) The plot itself is a bit involved… Conan is after famous sacred jewels called "the teeth of Gwahlur", kept in the ancient city of Alkmeenon, in the land of Keshan. To get access to these, Conan finds a job as trainer for the Keshan army. In his quest for the jewels, he's however competing with the Stygian Tuthmekri, first seen in CtB #28. The Stygian comes to the Keshan king with a proposal to invade the country of Punt (on Keshan's behalf) with forces from the neighbouring country of Zembabwei; what he wants in exchange are trade agreements and a few of the teeth of Gwahlur (which are to be piously deposited in the Zembabwan temple of Dagon and Derketo, of course. And Tuthmekri also has a bridge to sell you in the fabled land of Brooklyn). Gorulga, the high priest of Keshan, says that the oracle of Alkmeenon must be consulted on the matter, something that hasn't happened for a century. All the actors therefore prepare to get to the city of Alkmeenon, which is hidden inside a vast, natural circular stone wall that only the priests know how to get through. Hearing priests discuss the trip, Conan learns the location of the city and rides there alone, intent on finding and absconding with the jewels. He doesn't know how to pass the cyclopean walls surrounding Alkmeenon, so he simply climbs them; a feat that tests even his hillman's skills. On the way up, thanks to the kind of coincidence that frequently occurs in pulp magazine tales, he finds a niche where a brown mummy has been laid to rest; he takes from it a scroll of parchment to read at a later time. Exploring the jungle-choked abandoned city, Conan finds the building where the oracle should be; it is a statue of a white woman, and one carved with exquisite detail: we learn later that she's the goddess Yelaya, the oracle of Alkmeenon, dead a thousand years. Looking around, the Cimmerian fails to find the jewels' hiding place; he does, however, find a niche in which priests can take place to speak in the oracle's name (the cheats)! Reading the parchment, he learns of a wise man named Bit-Yakin, who long ago came to Alkmeenon and dwelt there until the end of his days with his servants; the Cimmerian is surprised that the name is never mentioned in connection to the place. After some page-filling pages involving collapsing floors and subterranean rivers (Howard was paid by the word), Conan returns to the statue of Yelaya and finds her very much alive, as we see in the above image. The woman claims to be the ancient goddess, but the Cimmerian exposes her as a fraud: he recognizes her as Muriela, a dancing girl that he saw a year before in Shem. (Conan claims he never forgets a woman's figure)! Muriela admits to playing a role; it is Tuthmekri and his accomplice Zargheba who brought her to replace the goddess and to act as an oracle. She was to say to the assembled priesthood that the teeth of Gwahlur must be given to the two men, and that Conan was to be flayed alive. Conan gives her a new set of instructions (essentially the same, but reversing the roles). Muriela later plays the oracle to perfection in front of the Keshan priests, but as soon as they walk out of the oracle room one of them comes back and calls her a traitress. He is Gwarunga, another accomplice of Zargheba and Tuthmekri. Conan intervenes and knocks the man out. Muriela is then abducted by parties unknown, but another pulp-era cliché saves the day: a wisp from the girl's skirt, caught between two stones, reveals the presence of a secret door in one of the walls. Conan manages to force the door open and enters a gloomy tunnel where frescoes depict the life of Bit-Yakin and his mysterious servants, who seem to be some kind of ape-men. More secret doors and booby traps enliven the journey until the Cimmerian comes back to his point of origin, from which both the body of the unconscious Gwarunga and that of the oracle Yelaya (the real one, which had been hidden away while Muriela played her role) have disappeared. Leaving the building, Conan follows the steps of the departing priests all the way to a great door shaped like a serpent's head jutting from the mountain wall that encircles the city. It leads to a subterranean temple where the priests are praying in front of a hideous, bestial statue. Right then Yelaya appears on a high tier in the temple's main room: she tells the priests to give the jewels to Tuthmekri and to have Conan killed, much to the confusion of the priests who heard her say the exact opposite just fifteen minutes before. Grumbling, they step out to obey while Conan runs up the stairs to the place the goddess stands; and it's not Muriela turning on him, as he feared, but rather the real Yelaya, all tied up to a stone pillar so her body doesn't fall to the ground. The author of this subterfuge is then revealed as Gwarunga attacks Conan from a darkened corner, only to be slain for his trouble. Following the priests again, Conan is drawn by the sound of sobbing to another room with another hideous statue and another Yelaya. This time it is Muriela, who explains that she was abducted from the oracle room by a bunch of bestial beings. Conan explains what he's learned from the parchment and the frescoes: he tells her of Bit-Yakin, who came to Alkmeenon long ago, discovered the body of Yelaya and was the secret voice behind the oracle. When he died, his bestial servants kept the place running, so to speak, taking care of Yelaya's body as he had done… and probably eating anyone who came to visit. Trying to catch up with the Keshan priests who are likely about to recover the teeth of Gwahlur to give them to Tuthmekri, Conan and Muriela reach a vast underground chamber in which an underground river roars, with great arches of stone going high over it. The priests are just extracting the jewels from their hiding place when they are attacked by Bit-Yakin's creatures; the priests run away, followed by their attackers, leaving the loot behind. The Cimmerian grabs the casket containing the jewels, but the pair's escape is complicated by the untimely return of two ape creatures. After some running about and some fighting, one of the servants of Bit-Yakin, severely wounded, runs over one of the stone arches with the casket in one hand and Muriela over his shoulder, Conan in hot pursuit. As the creature falls dead from loss of blood, Conan only has time to save either the girl of the casket, and as he grabs Muriela the jewels fall into the river. The two escape Alkmeenon, and when Muriela sobs that without her Conan would have kept the treasure he waves her worries off and plans to pull the same stunt in Punt, where there is also an ivory oman worshipped as a goddess. Notes:- This story is set after the events covered in the story Red nails. Conan is roughly 38 at the time. Placing this tale in the later part of his career makes sense for several reasons: not only does he speak the local language (which would take a while to learn, one imagines), he can also read (something I'm sure wasn't taught to children in Cimmeria)… and what's more, he can read ancient pellishtim, a language from Shem. The story also says "Conan the Cimmerian, late of the Baracha Isles, of the Black Coast, and of many other climes where life ran wild, had come to the kingdom of Keshan following the lure of a fabled treasure that outshone the hoard of the Turanian kings". It must therefore be placed after the Barachan days, which are typically set in Conan mid-thirties. Conan mentioning that he saw Muriela one year ago in Akbitana is a bit of a problem, because Akbitana is located in northern Shem, not on the coast; he can't have been there while being a Barachan pirate. So either his latest stint with the Barachans was very short, or the reference to that period is more ancient than could be assumed at first. - L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter would write a sequel to this story, "the ivory goddess", to be adapted in SSoC #60. It was… a pretty bad story! - Dark Horse published a beautiful re-adaptation of this story, masterfully rendered by P. Craig Russell. I recommend it.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 19, 2014 11:32:19 GMT -5
The cold hands of deathScript by Don Glut Art by Steve Gan and Dino Castrillo Solomon Kane is in Eastern Europe, on his way to castle Dracula. He encounters ancient ruins in which a mirror miraculously still remains unbroken, and because the Bible says " thou shalt not suffer the polished token of someone's vanity to endure" (or so you'd think), he destroys the mirror's "spiritual pestilence". Solomon, I think you need to hear this again: And in a sense he does, for next to the broken mirror he sees the statue of a woman. Not a particularly beautoful one, but beggars can't be choosers, and Kane asks God's help for strength to resist all impure desires as he smashes the statues to pieces. Reaching an inn hosted by an early adopter of cigars (this is, what, the late XVIth century?), Kane starts dreaming of his stony girlfriend. He wakes up with a start and the girl is there in his room, getting him to unclench a little! He then realizes that she must be a succubus, for he feels his energy being drained away. Firing his pistol, he manages to scare the spirit away. He prays the entire night, then pours ice water over his head (he needs, it, I'm sure!) and goes back to the temple to settle things with the succubus. Falling under her spell again, he is about to succumb to her kisses when a reflection in the broken mirror (see? see? Those things DO have their uses!) shows her true, hideous form. The sight gives him the strength to decapitate her. Solomon is then free to continue his journey to Castle Dracula. After the cool dragon story from last time, this one was a bit of a let-down. And Kane guy should really loosen up about his sexuality, even if he intends to remain chaste; there is quite a strong difference between showing self-control and obsessing about the very idea of sex!
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Post by benday-dot on Aug 19, 2014 20:47:37 GMT -5
Regarding Belit's costume... I was never a huge fan of the standard Buscema design we are all so familiar with. There was something a bit too superhero-y, even a bit too of the 70's about it in my mind. Additionally, it failed to evoke a sense of the breathtaking, of the thrillingly exotic, the deathly seductive.
I never thought Buscema's Belit left the impression that she was any of these things. She definitely was attractive and could well swing a sword and always displayed intelligence. But there was nothing particularly wild, untameable, fiercely piratic, as was her calling, nor devastatingly seductive about her... not the sort of dagger out of the blue that could stop Conan's heart liked she did when Howard introduced her.
And indeed for all the flaws of Brian Wood's recent adaptation of "Queen of the Black Coast", one of them wasn't Becky Cloonan's masterful take on the character. I really thought she nailed how Belit might look (keeping in mind it had to be general readership friendly as RR points out)
I always imagined Bary Windsor-Smith would have given us a hell of fine Belit if he ever had the chance.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2014 22:30:53 GMT -5
Regarding Belit's costume... I was never a huge fan of the standard Buscema design we are all so familiar with. There was something a bit too superhero-y, even a bit too of the 70's about it in my mind. Additionally, it failed to evoke a sense of the breathtaking, of the thrillingly exotic, the deathly seductive. I never thought Buscema's Belit left the impression that she was any of these things. She definitely was attractive and could well swing a sword and always displayed intelligence. But there was nothing particularly wild, untameable, fiercely piratic, as was her calling, nor devastatingly seductive about her... not the sort of dagger out of the blue that could stop Conan's heart liked she did when Howard introduced her. And indeed for all the flaws of Brian Wood's recent adaptation of "Queen of the Black Coast", one of them wasn't Becky Cloonan's masterful take on the character. I really thought she nailed how Belit might look (keeping in mind it had to be general readership friendly as RR points out) I always imagined Bary Windsor-Smith would have given us a hell of fine Belit if he ever had the chance. Cloonan's designs for Belit that were released to hype that series had me highly excited and anticipating it. In fact, it was one of the series that brought me back into the comic shops to start a pull list after a long absence, but Wood's take was highly problematic and Cloonan left after a handful of issues, so ultimately that series was a huge let down for me. However, Cloonan's work on Belit remains my favorite visual interpretation of the character overall. -M
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Post by foxley on Aug 19, 2014 23:17:53 GMT -5
Definitely one of the weaker Kane pastiches. The whole smashing mirrors and statues business is out of character for Kane: he might sneer and turn his nose up at displays of vanity but he wasn't really one to engage in random acts of vandalism. And Gan's artwork is lackluster at best.
Solomon Kane is my favourite of Howard's creations, so I also read these tales with an interested, but critical, eye.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 20, 2014 8:17:22 GMT -5
Regarding Belit's costume... I was never a huge fan of the standard Buscema design we are all so familiar with. There was something a bit too superhero-y, even a bit too of the 70's about it in my mind. Additionally, it failed to evoke a sense of the breathtaking, of the thrillingly exotic, the deathly seductive. I never thought Buscema's Belit left the impression that she was any of these things. She definitely was attractive and could well swing a sword and always displayed intelligence. But there was nothing particularly wild, untameable, fiercely piratic, as was her calling, nor devastatingly seductive about her... not the sort of dagger out of the blue that could stop Conan's heart liked she did when Howard introduced her. And indeed for all the flaws of Brian Wood's recent adaptation of "Queen of the Black Coast", one of them wasn't Becky Cloonan's masterful take on the character. I really thought she nailed how Belit might look (keeping in mind it had to be general readership friendly as RR points out) I always imagined Bary Windsor-Smith would have given us a hell of fine Belit if he ever had the chance. Here's a little something to let us dream of what might have been! I see what you mean about the "superhero costume" of Bêlit; I assume that even for more "realistic" characters (meaning ones who don't put on disguises before going out in the morning), it made sense for Marvel to give them a constant and recognizable look. Even characters who might be expected to change clothes from time to time tended to wear the same thing issue after issue: Rawhide Kid, Shang-Chi, Conan... Bêlit's Marvel outfit would not qualify as thrillingly exotic, I agree, but I like the balance it struck between code-imposed modesty and a bit of teasing. To wit: her back is completely bare, and the two parts of her loincloth do not cover her hips. When she's drawn from the right angle, her clothes might almost appear to be absent. Cloonan's design is better, IMO, but it benefits from more artistic freedom. Cloonan's designs for Belit that were released to hype that series had me highly excited and anticipating it. In fact, it was one of the series that brought me back into the comic shops to start a pull list after a long absence, but Wood's take was highly problematic and Cloonan left after a handful of issues, so ultimately that series was a huge let down for me. However, Cloonan's work on Belit remains my favorite visual interpretation of the character overall. -M Same here. Cloonan's art was beautiful. I didn't mind Conan being drawn as a lighter man (something which seems to have outraged many readers at Conan.com) but right after the introductory story arc, Wood's take on the character struck me as completely wrong; this impression got worse when the plots themselves started making little sense and when, horror of horrors, Conan and Bêlit simply crossed the Pictish Wilderness on foot to pay a visit to Conan's mom. No more Wood Conan for this reader, thank you. Definitely one of the weaker Kane pastiches. The whole smashing mirrors and statues business is out of character for Kane: he might sneer and turn his nose up at displays of vanity but he wasn't really one to engage in random acts of vandalism. And Gan's artwork is lackluster at best. Solomon Kane is my favourite of Howard's creations, so I also read these tales with an interested, but critical, eye. Luckily for all Solomon Kane fans, issue #26 introduces the David Wenzel take on the character; a much more satisfying onem IMO. We'll also soon be treated to adaptations of several non-pastiche Kane stories.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 20, 2014 8:39:18 GMT -5
A little more on Bêlit: before her death, the character never really grew on me. I was a Sonja and Valeria fan, and Bêlit as the franchise's third sword-wielding female character felt a little superfluous as well as imposed on us readers. The whole setting of the pirate ship also didn't feel like the Conan I had known previously. (I grew to love that era, but it took some doing; Roy's continuing storyline eventually won me over). Bêlit was also introduced as a psychopath, a pirate who doesn't hesitate to murder innocents just to acquire a few trinkets, and that clashed with my naive vision of Conan as a gruff but noble savage. I simply didn't see what he could see in that woman. (Hey, I was still prepubescent. Don't blame me).
The sudden passion of these two people for each other is also very surprising, even in Howard's original story. I can see why Conan goes with her at first (notice that he doesn't claim he loves her upon their initial meeting; he just agrees to sail with her). After all, his choices are (a) keep his head, become a pirate and go to bed with a very hot and passionate babe, or (b) death. I'm pretty sure I'd have made the same choice. But why does Bêlit fall head over heels over this guy? Some have argued that it's partly due to Howard's racist mindset, and that Conan is simply the first interesting white man she meets. But that can't be right, since we know she's been plundering ships from all nations for long enough to have acquired a reputation extending all the way to Argos; there must have been a few good-looking and strong-thewed northern sailors onboard those sunk vessels. Is it because Conan is a mighty warrior? Well, her own Black Corsairs aren't chopped liver in that department, and I can't believe that a woman who leads them will object (or even notice) their skin color. Especially since, in the Marvel Conan universe, she's been raised among them. This sudden passion must then be credited to the whimsy of Eros (and to the convenience of the plot); something that just happens and can't be resisted.
That being said, and even if Bêlit never grew into a sympathetic character, I wish we had seen more of her after CtB #100. Her return in the pages of Conan the savage, even if that was written by Roy himself, had her act way too much like a harpy. Foul-tempered, yes; bitchy all the time, no.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 20, 2014 8:51:17 GMT -5
I think Belit works better if you approach the comic book character having read Queen of the Black Coast first. I did, and thus, when Belit showed up in the comic, my thoughts were less "What the heck makes HER so special?" and "isn't this moving a bit quickly?" and more "Oh, she DOES seem a little more special than she did in the original story" and "I'm impressed that Thomas is slowing this down so much more than REH did in the original story."
I always loved the idea of Queen of the Black Coast, but it wasn't particularly well done, and Thomas clearly put a lot of thought into doing it better.
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