Amis Absents

Just over five years after Steve Tompkins' death, Miguel Martins died. Deuce Richardson has a fine tribute marking the fifth year of his absence. I still miss him. I wonder what he'd think about everything that's happened over the past five years: what would he make of the new Howard collections, the Conan games and comics, even things like current affairs in his home country and the continent. There was so much we could have talked about even before - fiction, adventure, history, art, all sorts. Maybe next life.

I stepped away from a more active involvement in Howard fandom for constitutional reasons. In retrospect, perhaps it was more than that too. We were reminiscing over Steve's passing mere weeks before we got the news of Miguel's death. The memory of Patrice & me sharing a quiet moment in memory of Miguel is one that will stay with me forever. For a while, to be part of Howard fandom felt like being in the Company of Death, waiting for the next to fall, dreading to hear about someone's ill health.

Yet the Company of Death does not care what you're doing with your life. Death visited my family in the last month: my grandfather is now the last of his generation following the passing of his two surviving siblings, mere days apart. Relatives, friends, all fled - all done. The price of having a large extended family is the dry cleaning bill for your best suit.

Yet we live, and through us, their memories live. In Taoism, there is no past or future, only the present, which is in a constant state of change. When someone dies, they don't proceed to an "afterlife," but transpose themselves to the other side of the Universe (think of the Yin & Yang). Your body has simply outlived its usefulness, & your spirit carries on in some other form which we mortals cannot perceive. Sometimes the spirit dissipates & joins the Tao, sometimes your spirit is transported back to our side of the Universe in a "new life." In the meantime, those who were left behind retain some contact, as all life is connected with the Tao.

As I say: maybe next life.

The Immortal Memory of Steve Tompkins

Here at TC Central a schism wider than the Hyrkanian steppes has long separated me from site-founder Leo Grin and Silver-Key–wielder Brian Murphy. Is John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian Li’ Abner versus the Moonies, as Karl Edward Wagner discerned so many years ago, or the most stirring sword-and-sorcery epic ever filmed? Well now Al Harron, who posts as “Taranaich” at the Conan.com REH Forum, has graciously given us permission to run El Ingenioso Bàrbaro Rey Konahn de Simaria, an attempt at reconciling the Howard and Milius Conans that far surpasses the L. Sprague and Catherine Crook de Camp CtB novelization. Mr. Harron is clearly the greatest Scotsman since Sean Connery, and Gordon Brown should knight him forthwith:

- Steve Tompkins, “Wheel of Pain, Tree of Woe, Throne of Tinfoil, Or, The Daze of Highly Insulting Adventure”

This, aside from an email to Deuce Richardson enquiring about my wee parody (“my day, she is made!”), is the only personal contact I had with SteveTompkins, at the time editor of the twice World Fantasy Award-nominated fantasy blog The Cimmerian. I can't tell you how thrilled I was: Steve Tompkins – editor of The Cimmerian, as well as The Black Stranger and Other American Tales, contributor to some of the finest critical anthologies on Robert E. Howard's work from The Barbaric Triumph to The Robert E.Howard Companion, whose online 'zine Visions, Gryphons, Nothing, and the Night was no small inspiration for me to get into blogging in the first place – liked something I wrote!

I had been posting feverishly on the Robert E. Howard Forums, conversing with serious Howard critical scholarship and fans who just enjoy good stories for being good stories. From talking about the literary and historical influences of Conan's world, to Howard's own authors & life, all the way to arguing over what Howard would make of his creations' impact on the world today - all discussions were welcome. I looked to The Cimmerian, Two-Gun Raconteur, REHupa, and other sites as “the big leagues,” something that “real” scholars and writers get involved in, not simple fans from Scotland who hadn't so much as contributed to a fanzine yet.

But Steve republishing that daft pastiche gave me that boost of confidence: this guy thinks my writing's good enough to go on The Cimmerian. From then on, I started thinking about writing about Howard more seriously. “Scholar” has all sorts of connotations which, naturally, rankled some among Howard scholarship, so I was constantly battling feelings of imposter syndrome in deigning to debate with the likes of Rusty Burke, Damon Sasser, Rob Roehm, & others. With the help & encouragement of Deuce Richardson, I began writing articles in the hope that, perhaps one day, I'd see my name on the byline of a site like REHupa, or REH: Two-Gun Raconteur, or even The Cimmerian. Less than a month after I made my unofficial debut on the site which would be my home for the three years until its closing, Steve died. My second post on The Cimmerian was a euology to him.

Steve left behind an incredible volume of scholarly explorations, from including essays in Howard collections like Del Rey's Kull: Exile of Atlantis and The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume II: Grim Lands. His essays on The Cimmerian are still available to read, including personal favourites like “The Conscience and the Kisses of a King,” (an exploration of Bran Mak Morn) “What a Mummer Wild, What an Insane Child,” (which compares motifs in the seemingly unrelated The Dark Knight to The Hour of the Dragon) “After Aquilonia and Having Left Lankhmar,” (a look at Sword-and-Sorcery fiction since the 1980s) and the “Something to Do With Deathlessness” and “Derleth Be Not Proud” trilogies. As well as Visions, Gryphons, Nothing, and the Night, several of his other essays are collected in this thread in the Swords of Robert E. Howard Forum, the spiritual successor to the Robert E. Howard Forums.

There are some essays which I always return to. The first I ever read, “The Chants of Old Heroes, Singing in Our Ears” is one of the most concise, compelling, and eloquent treatises on why Howard's original work, free from the editing and censorship of folk who think they know better, is so powerful, and worth preserving. “The Shortest Distance Between Two Towers” is perhaps the best piece of scholarship comparing Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien I've ever read, and unlikely to be topped any time soon. While some Tolkienists sneer at the perceived low-brow, low-culture Howard, and some Howardists similarly dismiss Tolkien as overrated or airy-fairy, Steve respected both authors immensely, and treated them as the dual Argonath of 20^th Century fantastic fiction. Similarly, while many speculate what new stories Howard may have written had that fateful day in June 1936 gone differently, few offer the convincing & exhaustive extrapolations Steve produced in “Newer Barbarians,” one of the best essays in The Cimmerian print journal. In the end, it's impossible to find a Tompkins essay that I didn't find rewarding, illuminating, or worthwhile. Like the works he so expertly analysed, they're always good to return to, and reward repeat readings.

On this tenth anniversary, I drink to his shade: always present, never obscured even in brightest day or darkest night.

Regarding Disappearing Articles

As of yesterday, all my articles have been removed from The Cimmerian website. This was by my request, following editorial changes made by the editor and owner Leo Grin. It is his right and prerogative to run the site as he sees fit, and it is my right and prerogative to respond to those changes.

I will keep you updated as the articles find a new home.

EDIT: Messrs Finn and Shanks have written fuller explanations of the situation as they see it on their respective blogs. My position can be summed up in the last paragraph from the email I sent to Leo Grin:

If you are going to expel and erase any contributor to The Cimmerian blog five years after it closed due to personal disagreements on political matters, then I must ask that you do exactly the same to me.

EDIT 2: I have decided to discuss the matter in greater detail on my political blog. I endeavour to keep The Blog That Time Forgot as free of politics as I can, so I would appreciate comments respecting that.

80 Years of Conan at Pulpfest

Coming up next month is Pulpfest, the annual shindig dedicated to all things pulp: a celebration of Tarzan's and John Carter's centennials, former Cimmerian blogger Bill Maynard and Howard art extraordinaires the Keegans and Mark Schultz will be in attendance, and dozens of events and panels will take place.  As with Howard Days, Conan's 80th is high on the agenda, with a panel on the Cimmerian on Saturday the 11th:

On Saturday, August 11th, PulpFest will celebrate the eightieth birthday of Conan and the sword and sorcery genre with a panel presentation hosted by Rusty Burke, the editor of the highly acclaimed Howard reprint series published by Del Rey Books, the president of the Robert E. Howard Foundation, and a member of REHupa (The Robert E. Howard United Press Association).

Joining Rusty for Robert E. Howard’s Conan and the Birth of Sword and Sorcery will be Don Herron, editor of The Dark Barbarian (Greenwood Press, 1984), the first book to treat Howard’s work seriously, and its sequel The Barbaric Triumph (Wildside Press, 2004). For a quarter century, Don has been leading San Francisco’s Dashiell Hammett Tour, the longest-running literary tour in the United States. Also on board will be Brian Leno, an award-winning Howard scholar whose essays have appeared in The Cimmerian, REH: Two-Gun Raconteur, and Up and Down These Mean Streets, and John D. Squires, an Ohio bookseller whose knowledge of fantastic fiction is broad and deep. John is an expert on the work of M. P. Shiel and publisher of JDS Books and The Vainglory Press.

Rusty Burke and Don Herron,* of course, need no further introduction. I'd mentioned Brian Leno's "Atali, The Lady of Frozen Death" in 80 Years of Conan, but that's barely scratching the surface of his decades of work. "Lovecraft's Southern Vacation," a look at "Pigeons from Hell" which previously appeared in The Cimmerian v3 n2, can be read online. Most recently he's been doing great work on Howard and his admiration of Arthur "Kid" Dula at the Two-Gun Raconteur blog (parts one, two, three, four, five and six).

Were I a rich man, I'd take my private dirigible over to Columbus, Ohio, set anchor above the Hyatte Regency, and parachute down to enjoy what will undoubtedly be a fantastic and informative panel. Then steal all the books, because who's going to tangle with a man who has his own airship? Nobody, that's who.

*The site mispelled him as "Heron" in the tags: I can sympathise, having been misidentified at various points as Harrow, Harn, Harren and indeed Herron, but them's the digs.

Three Years Gone

Now it really is three years since Steve Tompkins' untimely death.

Once again, I'll be looking back on his posts on The Cimmerian blog, flicking through the journals graced by his essays and comments, and really wishing he was still around to see what he thought of everything that's happened in the last three years.  I particularly wonder what he'd have thought of John Carter, "Game of Thrones," Imaro: The Naama War, and of course the other film.  I guess I won't know in this lifetime.

Skål, sláinte, prost, and many, many cheers for Steve Tompkins.

The War on Procrastination: Keith Taylor on Almuric

I devour every piece of work produced by my fellow Cimmerian Blog alumni, but Keith Taylor's essays are a particular joy.  Not only is he up for a Cimmerian for his work on the blog, he's the well-deserved recipient of a Hyrkanian Award nomination for his fantastic dualogy, "Donn Othna in 'The King's Service'" and "Uther Was A Black Bearded Madman," which really play to Keith's strengths in the realm of historical adventure.

Here are both series:

"Donn Othna in 'The King's Service'"
"Donn Othna: From Chalons to the Gulf of Cambay"
"The Foreign Raja of Nagdragore"
"Robert E. Howard's Lost Kingdom of Nagdragore"
"A Double-Edged Sword of a Sinister Blue"

"Uther Was A Black Bearded Madman: Part 1"
"Uther Was A Black Bearded Madman: Part 2"
"Uther Was A Black Bearded Madman: Part 3"
"A Bloodstained Map of Britain"
"Uther Was A Black Bearded Madman: Part 4"
"Uther Was A Black Bearded Madman: Part 5"

And now I find he's continued his great work on Damon's Two-Gun Raconteur Blog with an article on... Almuric.  Dern it, as if I don't already have a backlog of reviews, articles, essays and artworks (and a book) to be getting on with...

Wandering the Wertzone

Well, this is interesting.  I've posted my response, but as always, I'll provide it here in case Blogger eats it.

The problem with the essay is that its author has fundamentally misread Tolkien and Howard.

On the contrary, I feel that the problem here is that you have misread his position.

For one thing, you are missing one extremely salient point: that both Tolkien and Howard differ from the nihilists Grin mentioned because there is genuine heroism, hope and exultation in their works.

Tolkien is full of loss, sorrow and decline, but it's also full of great men doing great things, be they humble Hobbits, or heroic Kings of Men. Howard's stories are full to the brim of similar examples.

THAT is what Leo is talking about which is missing in the stories of which he speaks. There are no heroes, no beacons of humanity to show that while the universe is a dark, cruel, unforgiving place, there are those who defy it with shining beacons of optimism, altruism, and bravery. How can anyone describe anything like that as Nihilistic? Surely if a work is nihilistic, then there would be no victories, no heroism, no hope?

There are no Frodos, Aragorns, Theodens, Balthuses, Solomon Kanes or Kulls in the works Leo is decrying. In short, there are no heroes in these particular works. You say The Lord of the Rings isn't a happy ending: true, but vastly preferable to the alternative. It is an ending I can happily call bittersweet: victory and peace at great cost. Nihilistic? Certainly not.

Your mention of Grin's dismissal of Wheel of Time, and your similar argument that Grin seeks a more "black versus white" approach, is also inaccurate, in my opinion. I read his argument as being that there should be more distinction between the shades of grey going on. Black, white and grey, not just lighter and darker shades of grey.

I'm actually not sure if my rebuttal was sufficient: doubtless someone like Brian would do a better and more articularted job of explaining how, no, Leo did not misread Tolkien or Howard.  I'm convinced that the blog author has simply misread Leo's argument, not that he disagrees with his points.  Either that, or he really thinks Tolkien's a nihilist...

Special mention should be given to Maurice's comment, which is the most profound misinterpretation of a Conan story since Unhappy "Conan threatened to rape Yasmina in the burning ruins of her palace" Anchovy:

I remember also thinking about characters like Conan being chivalrous until a friend of mine told me to actually read an original Howard, The Frost Giant's daughter, where he basically chases and kills a woman's family of giants just so he can rape her.

I'm impressed with how easily you colour that story by the choice omission of several extremely important details to give a completely fallacious and disingenuous impression of the plot in order to make Atali and her brothers out to be the helpless, innocent victims of a brutish Conan.

You miss out the extremely important detail that the woman in question was hypnotically compelling Conan to follow him to his death. She has done this to unnumbered men through the millennia, appearing to dying men on the battlefield, luring them to their doom through sexual manipulation and supernatural compulsion. Men may be bleeding to death and exhausted, but a "strange madness" forces them to walk leagues upon leagues far from civilization in pursuit of a mocking, taunting goddess. Said family of giants, by the way, were lying in wait in preparation to murder him - once again, as they have done to COUNTLESS others - and sacrifice his heart to their father-god.

The guy who wrote the article must have never read one of Howard's works.

Leo Grin is one of the most respected Robert E. Howard scholars out there. His journal, The Cimmerian, is highly regarded, and twice nominated for the World Fantasy Award. He most certainly has controversial opinions not all Howardists agree with - many Howardists disagree on multiple subjects - but to allege he has never read Howard's work, or that he has misread them, is simply preposterous.

Given your grotesque misreading/misrepresentation of "The Frost-Giant's Daughter," I have to question how on earth you came to such a conclusion - or even if you've read the story at all.

In fairness, the near-rape aspect of "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" is often misunderstood: however, the way he implies that Conan just raged into a peaceful giant's town and slaughtered an innocent girl's family as a counterpoint to Conan's chivalry is actually rather nauseating.

Return of "REH Word of the Week"

The longest-running series on The Cimmerian blog, and one of the most popular, was Barbara Barrett's REH Word of the Week.  With The Cimmerian gone, some might be concerned that they'll lose their periodic dose of Howardian vocabulary.  Fear not, lexiophiles: Word of the Week is back!

I shan't spoil the word for the rebirth: suffice to say, it seems Babs is right back on track.  With William Patrick Maynard finding a home at Black Gate (an ideal home for the pulp-lover), hopefully the rest of the Cimmerian alumni will land on their feet.

Triangulation: The Final Week

This is it, the penultimate Triangulation post.  It's been fun, lads & lasses.

Sunday has two: my sort-of Farewell to The Cimmerian blog, and a bit of news on The Hobbit situation (I'm sure fans of JotR will want Jackson to just step in, but given my general antipathy, I'm not really that bothered about who replaces Billy of the Bull). I might put up a second "goodbye" post closer to the blog's closing, but really, I think I've said all I could say.  I recommend everyone check out my Venarium buddy's farewell, too.

There was a gap of a few days, before I embarked on my last series: a history of The Cimmerian blog.  Thursday was Year One, Friday was Year Two, Saturday was Year Three.  Years Four and Five will naturally follow today and on Monday.  I wasn't sure whether to add a cute subtitle, but they're already long enough.

So, one more week until the end of The Cimmerian blog, and Howard Days.  In between getting my final four posts up (I'll just give you some clues: Barbarians of Middle-earth, Hyborian Age Gazetteer, a Howard review, and a non-Howard review), I'll be making sure everything's ready for Cross Plains.  I'm taking my laptop on the flight, so I can spend the ten+ hours productively working on stuff before I arrive in Abilene.  I'll be taking a video camera with me, which I might put up on my youtube account after some jiggery-pokery.  "The Scottish Invasion: Al Harron at Cross Plains" or some such.  Hey, if Leo can be in a video...

101,355

That's the final number of page views for the month of May, and the best page-visits-per-month The Cimmerian's ever achieved. Obviously a lot of it was due to Miguel's Conan scoop and the Frazetta news/tributes (many thanks to John J. Miller in particular), but even without those, analysis of the site's growth indicates it would've been a pretty comfortable 60-70,000.  Our best day was 8,812, on 17th May. Total views as of this writing are 797,469: I'm positive we would've hit 1 million by at least the end of the year.

All things considered, I think it's a fine swan song for the site to breach the 100,000 mark, however much those two news items may have contributed.  We still have another ten days to wrap up loose ends (appropriately, the site closes up shop on 11th June), but I'm immensely proud that we broke that milestone.  I can't thank everyone who read the site enough.

Not bad for a niche blog.

Looking to the Future

I spent a lot of my free time on The Cimmerian, and it's daunting to think what I'm going to do without it.  So, I have a few ideas.

Triangulation: Lang, Lawsuits, Bakshi, Moorcock, Tolkien Art, Frazetta & REH,

Obviously, before the big news broke, I had a lot of plans for The Cimmerian. However, those plans will not be in vain, as will become clear soon. For now, a double-dipping of Triangulation, since I seem to have forgotten last week's.

On Tuesday the 18th, I link to Stephen Lang speaking on the Conan film. Comparisons to Jason & the Argonauts have me worrying about a certain other Harryhausen film, or rather its remake... Thursday the 20th, Paradox & Orion have settled their hash. Maybe now we can get Conan's Brethren, huzzah! Saturday the 22nd is right in the middle of the internet blackout, so in an absolute panic I just did a post on Robert Rodriguez announcing Fire & Ice.

Wednesday the 26th brings Moorcock back into The Cimmerian's sights, possibly for the last time. Thursday the 27th yet another short post, this time to a link of Tolkien artists. Finally, on Saturday the 29th, I get the big guns out, and go on with The Art of Frank Frazetta & Robert E. Howard, Part 1. Here I discuss the first iconic Conan picture. I've no doubt people will call it pretentious and snooty, but given I rarely feel like I'm clever in comparison to established Howard scholars, I'll take what I can get.

Again, I'll fully address the situation on The Cimmerian soon.

Well, the Sabretooth Cat's out of the bag.

In the second week of June, The Cimmerian will end its five-year tour of duty as Shieldwall for Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien.  The domain name will go, the old posts will be archived at a new site, but the days of new scholarly material and news is over.

I can't blame Deuce or Leo for their reasons, nor do I intend to (were I in their shoes I'd do the same), but I'm still very frustrated at the way events have conspired. Since Deuce took over as Managing Editor, Cimmerian readership shot from 10-20,000 views a month to the region of 50,000. May isn't over yet, and we might actually hit 100,000 within the next few days.  It's just over a year since I made my official debut (23rd May) and in that time I haven't missed a single week. Considering how difficult a time of it I had leaving college, I'm immensely proud of that achievement. Now The Cimmerian has no option but to drift into the night in its hour of triumph?  Damn right I'm angry.

I'll probably talk more about it on The Cimmerian itself, but man, I hate this.

Triangulation: Momoa and Frazetta

Well, I certainly did more than last week. I just wish it was under better circumstances.

Monday comes the minor news of the first pictures of Momo as Coco, and the infinitely more important news of Frazetta's passing, followed by tributes on Tuesday and visual ones on Wednesday, with a personal one on Thursday. It was just a matter of time given his health and age, but it's still tough. On Saturday, I decided to pull the trigger on my "Frazetta and Howard" series, where I look at the illustrations in more detail.

First of all, there's this weird undercurrent in the internet that asserts Frazetta's Conan "doesn't really resemble Howard's" or some variation therein. I really don't think this is the case: the only thing that I don't think Frazetta did get was the hair, which was too straight for Conan's "unruly," "tousled," "lion-like mane." Not crimped or wavy like Momoa's or Moellers, nor straight like Frazetta, but somewhere in between that and the Bettie Page do. Something like Oded Fehr's, IMO. But apart from the hair, there's the clothing - and really, given how many costumes Conan goes through, it isn't like giving Superman or Batman the wrong costume. Everything else - dark skin colour, rough skin texture, hairy chest, musculature, proportions, facial features, scars, hair colour, eye colour - all present and correct.

Secondly, there are people who say Milius did a good "Frazetta Conan." Again, I can't say I agree. Arnold's Conan had moderately tanned skin with an oily sheen, brown flowing hair, green/grey eyes, different facial features, and different bodily proportions: a bodybuilder's physique instead of a warrior's. Arnold's Conan looks strong as an ox, sure, but Frazetta's Conan looks like he could believably hold off an army on his own. I never felt that with Arnold. It didn't help that he was subdued by a paltry minimum of two big dudes.

As an aside, I love all the comments on places like Superhero Hype, Comic Book Movies, IGN and whatnot saying that Ahnold would break Momoa in half, when his actual fighting prowess is so utterly laughable when one looks at it. He has some nice moments, like the Battle of the Mounds, but most other fights, he moved like a tranquilised sloth. If Momoan is anything like Ronan, Momoan would freaking eviscerate Ahnold. Does it matter how big your muscles are when your opponent is moving in x4 speed and slicing your limbs off before you know what's happening? (Whoops, getting dangerously close to defending the remake there...)

Then we get into the whole idea of Milius making Conan the Barbarian "an ode to Frazetta and Wagner" - I can't help but think he's too obsessed with the details to get the big picture. He goes for Frazetta's details - the sword design, costumes, architecture, whatnot - but he doesn't do the stuff that made Frazetta Frazetta, as opposed to his myriad imitators and students. He doesn't do the sweeping dynamic colours, the almost expressionist blurs and tones, the stark relief, the composition, the classicism. It's like dressing some street bum in lavish Macbeth costume on the side of a street, and expecting to get Sir Ian McKellan at the RST. Ralph Bakshi did a better Frazetta pastiche: heck, even Nispel did a better job bringing "Frazetta" to life (albeit in only one or two really cool shots).

The first picture in "Meditations" is one of my favourite tributes. It has Luana, which was my first exposure to Frazetta, leading Frank through his gathered creations to the gates of Heaven, and a silhouette waiting at the threshold... Man. Normally I find this indescribably cheesy, but this one just works. It helps that Luana has special significance for me. I might post some of my favourite Frazetta pics with a word about why on an off day, when I'm not so busy.

Anyway, getting myself geared up for Howard Days. Less than a month away! BTW, Drag Me To Hell is totally "Casting the Runes"/Night of the Demon with a different ending, setting and characters. Since Raimi infused it with a lot of his daft humour, it's probably best he didn't make a full remake, since Night of the Demon is one of the finest horror films ever made.

What Hideous Cosmic Junction...

... That we have the first underwhelming shots of Jason Momoa as "Conan" leaked on the same day that we learn of the astronomically more important news, that of Frank Frazetta's passing?

Naturally, the first story has all the numbskulls whose knowledge of Conan begins and ends with a vague recollection of the film through marijuana smoke. Some hilarious fellows out there engage in some questionable humour: "I guess he saw the new Conan, and died on the spot."

To all those masters of subtle, nuanced black humour making such comments:

Go to hell.

Goodbye, Frank.

When summer goes and autumn comes
To paint the leaves with sombre fires,
I feel, like throbs of distant drums,
The urge of distant nameless sires.

--"One Blood Stain," Robert E. Howard

I've broken the news on The Cimmerian, but this news undoubtedly deserves more. Frank deserves more. When I can get my thoughts sorted out, I'll be posting a tribute on The Cimmerian to this legend.

I rarely call any one person my favourite writer, director, poet, or artist. Frank was an exception: he was my favourite illustrator. I'd always wanted to meet him, though in retrospect, the man I would've met wouldn't have been the same man who painted all those masterpieces. Part of me is sad, but another part is relieved. His pain, be it physical or mental, is now over. He's reunited with his love Ellie, and whether they're together in heaven or peaceful black oblivion, they are at peace.

So long, Frank, and thanks for being the greatest fantasy illustrator of them all.

Triangulation: Sword Woman and Missed Opportunities

I feel like a right dunderhead, as I wasted two perfectly good opportunities for Cimmerian posts this week. Blame it on Facebook.

Anyway, just the one this week: A snippet about the upcoming The Sword Woman And Other Historical Adventures. I'd love to finally read the "Mistress of Death" fragment in its original form. I've always loved Dark Agnes the most out of Howard's female heroines: in addition to being a fascinating character, she's the single best antidote to the "Howard was Sexist" misconception.

So in future, while I'll still talk about REH and Tolkien, the more detailed excursions will go on The Cimmerian in future. Luckily, there's still plenty of Conan to go around: Conan the Adventurer, the live action Conan, Conan & the Young Warriors, what have you. Expect a lot more about dinosaurs, Transformers, games, comics and the like in future.

Triangulation: Revenge of the Mill, African Mythology, Hawks, Dinosaurs, and Momo!

A few more posts this week rounding out April...

Sunday sees that damned mill return, and a fairly lengthy one given my opinions on everything. I still can't get over Lang bringing up Shakespeare in reference to Zym. I've made a habit of posting Patrice's approval of Momoa whenever someone brings up how Momoa "can't live up to AHNOLD" elsewhere. I really think when we see Momoa with the blue eyes & black hair, grizzled makeup and extra muscle, people might finally shut up about Momoa. I admit, I was taking a "wait and see approach" bordering on the skeptical, but as soon as he lost the dreds & goatee in more recent pictures, I was starting to see it. Indeed, it was getting to the point that I'm starting to feel sorry we wasted Momoa in this film. Now I am starting to wish it was Lutz or Padalecki.

Triangulation: Roy Thomas, Blood & Thunder, and A Personal Note

There were two pretty big pieces of news this week.

First off, Roy Thomas is returning to Conan. While I have many, many problems with Thomas' myriad adaptations, there are a number of considerations which make me cut him some slack, in comparison to the likes of Busiek and Truman. For one, Thomas was wrestling with the Comics Code Authority, the draconian institution dedicated to making comics safe for tiddlypeeps, and as a result, perpetuating the "comics are for kids" fallacy. (No medium can be restricted to a demographic, people.) He also had the De Camp juggernaut to contend with, where he pretty much had to use De Camp's existing pastiches for many stories, including the maligned "The Hand of Nergal" and "The Treasure of Tranicos."

Adaptations of REH's Work on Wikipedia

About bloody time.

It isn't half bad: neutral, accurate enough. Good job.

So far, the only actual REH adaptations I see on the page are the HPLHS's "Casonetto's Last Song," and Thriller's "Pigeons from Hell." Obviously I'm not counting the theatrical films, because I walk the line between angry young man and ornery old coot. I would happily include "The Return of Sir Richard Grenville" and "Cimmeria" on that list, even if they aren't quite on the same production scale as "The Hunt for Gollum" or "Born of Hope." Better adaptations, though.

Comics is fine, though it clearly needs further expansion. There is one glaring omission: Richard Corben's Bloodstar, an adaptation of "The Valley of the Worm" in all but name. I think a mention of the first graphic novel to refer to itself as such is worth a mention. There should also be mention of Kull, and the the various non-Conan/Kane Savage Sword adaptations.

Music seems to be the most comprehensive, with plenty of Manilla Road's discography, as well as Domine, Bal-Sagoth, Cauldron Born, Mad Minstrel and Rosae Crucis. The Sword's "Black River" should get a mention, as it's had quite a lot of popularity since appearing in Guitar Hero: Metallica. Man, what I wouldn't give for Manilla Road to do a whole Howard concept album...