The Return of Robert E. Howard

I remember when Robert E. Howard wasn’t hip.

I remember when the only Conan most people knew was the movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and if they had, by some chance, read the books, it was the old Lancer/Ace paperbacks that were revised, rewritten, and otherwise altered or added to by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp. And I can certainly remember when no one had heard of Solomon Kane or Bran Mak Morn.

Now, though, we seem to be in the midst of a Robert E. Howard renaissance. There’s a successful Conan comic from Dark Horse that’s on its sixth or seventh collection (not counting spin-offs and one-shots). There’s another Conan movie in the works, as well as a rumored film version of Bran Mak Morn. And later this year we’ll be getting a Solomon Kane movie and a new comic series (also from Dark Horse). There’s even a comic adaptation of Howard’s horror short story “Pigeons from Hell” coming out, written by Joe R. Lansdale (again, from Dark Horse). And that’s not even getting into the various role-playing game supplements, and an MMORPG.

Admittedly, this isn’t the first time Robert E. Howard’s work has seen an upsurge in popularity -- the last time probably culminated in the aforementioned Schwarzenegger flicks -- but this time people seem to be sticking truer to the source material and to Howard’s original visions. Gone are the altered texts, replaced with fully illustrated collectible editions of Howard’s own blazing, dynamic prose (from Del Rey). Even the adaptations seem to be sticking closely to Howard’s style, atmosphere, aesthetics, and themes, and jettisoning most of the traditional fantasy baggage that Conan and Howard’s other characters acquired through the 70s and 80s.

There’s some great talent associated with the various Howard projects, too. From Joe R. Lansdale mentioned above, to Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord on the Conan comic, to Scott Allie writing the forthcoming Solomon Kane series (and after his work on The Devil’s Footprints I couldn’t think of anyone better). I don’t really know the director of the Solomon Kane movie, but anyone with a weird war story in their filmography probably isn’t a bad choice, and James Purefoy is a perfect pick to play Solomon Kane. There’ve been a lot of directors mentioned in association with the new Conan movie (including names as exciting as Neil Marshall and as weird as Rob Zombie), but there’s been nothing that could actually qualify as news, and last I heard Peter Berg was still attached to direct the Bran Mak Morn movie, which could be interesting. (I hope, futilely, that it’s based on “Worms of the Earth.”)

Full disclosure: I myself didn’t become hip to Howard until this recent explosion in his popularity. I saw the old Conan movies, of course, and liked them because they were fantasy movies with monsters in them (and great music). Looking back I think the first one was probably okay, and the sequel probably garbage, but it’s been a long time. (I remember liking the monster at the end of Conan the Destroyer). My brother had all those old Lancer/Ace paperbacks, and I remember reading them when I was a kid. The famous Frank Frazetta covers stuck fast in my imagination, but the books themselves didn’t grab me much. It wasn’t until I was able to read Howard’s unexpurgated prose in the new Del Rey editions that I became a convert. I guess I had good timing.