Conan the Barbarian literature, are they worth reading and where do I start?

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I am itching to delve into a new fantasy/sword and sorcery franchise and I feel I need to delve into the Conan books because after watching the movie I want to know more, and I feel this franchise is greatly underappreciated and deserves my attention.

So where do I begin becuase there is a lot of things to read, not only books, but Comic Books aswell.

To anyone who has actually delved into this franchise, where should I start and where should I stop?

And before you ask, yes I am aware that the books and comics are nothing like how Arnold's movie is. The character of Conan is vastly different than Arnold's portrayal.

 

[FalloutJack]

I don't know, because I never read 'em, but will you be hearing Mako doing all the narration in your head?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Funny that, they're showing the Jason Momoa movie on Space right now.
Anyway, the Conan mythos is mostly contained in short stories published in magazines such as Weird Tales back in the day. I'd look for an anthology or compilation of those stories. Author Robert E. Howard. I'm sure others picked up the characters after he died, as you did with pulp fiction, but I'd start with Howard.

 

[the December King]

Funny that, they're showing the Jason Momoa movie on Space right now.
Anyway, the Conan mythos is mostly contained in short stories published in magazines such as Weird Tales back in the day. I'd look for an anthology or compilation of those stories. Author Robert E. Howard. I'm sure others picked up the characters after he died, as you did with pulp fiction, but I'd start with Howard.

Seconded. Howard's work is seminal. He wrote about a lot of other characters though, Like Conn of the Gaels, and Bran Mak Morn, the last Pictish Chief- a personal favourite character of mine.

 

[Doctor Atomic]

Be sure to read the original versions by Howard and not the ones that were edited and re-written by later authors like Lin Carter and L Sprague de Camp. Ballantine Books/Del Rey released collections based on Howards original manuscripts maybe ten years ago, you should be able to find them.

 

[Queen Michael]

There's an excellent collection called "The complete chronicles of Conan," which conveniently collects Conan completely chronologically. Recommended reading!

 

[RedRockRun]

I am itching to delve into a new fantasy/sword and sorcery franchise and I feel I need to delve into the Conan books because after watching the movie I want to know more, and I feel this franchise is greatly underappreciated and deserves my attention.

So where do I begin becuase there is a lot of things to read, not only books, but Comic Books aswell.

To anyone who has actually delved into this franchise, where should I start and where should I stop?

And before you ask, yes I am aware that the books and comics are nothing like how Arnold's movie is. The character of Conan is vastly different than Arnold's portrayal.

Start with only the original stories by Robert E. Howard:

"The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian"
"The Bloody Crown of Conan"
"The Conquering Sword of Conan"

And yes, they are very much worth reading. Howard's influence on fantasy is immeasurable.

Speaking of the movies vs the books, they have such little in common it's like two nearly separate worlds. I'm amazed as to why there haven't been proper adaptations of some of the original stories. Granted, many of them would not work well as modern blockbusters, but others (one in specific) has all the right components:

-Evil sorcerer awakening from a centuries-long slumber.
-The prophecy of a god.
-Conan as an initially unwilling anti-hero.
-A female hero and love interest.
-One kingdom standing between the villain and rest of the world.
-An epic clash of armies.

By the way, keep in mind that the stories in these three collections are arranged in order of their publishing and not chronologically within the setting. Therefore there will be a story with Conan as a king followed by a story where Conan is a lowly thief. Don't let that throw you off. Each story is supposed to be a vignette which shows a piece of Conan's epic life.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, they tend to be very samey, so I don't know if you'd need to read them all. Also, the continuity is a bit odd, everywhere he goes he's likely to run into the remnants of some all-powerful ancient empire that used to run the world millenia ago, but it's always different all-powerful empires with no connections to each other.

Conan often wins just by being stronger than the opponent, which is a bit dull. And, the author has issues.

Still, I'd recommend giving them a go...they might be public domain by now, not sure.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I am itching to delve into a new fantasy/sword and sorcery franchise and I feel I need to delve into the Conan books because after watching the movie I want to know more, and I feel this franchise is greatly underappreciated and deserves my attention.

So where do I begin becuase there is a lot of things to read, not only books, but Comic Books aswell.

To anyone who has actually delved into this franchise, where should I start and where should I stop?

And before you ask, yes I am aware that the books and comics are nothing like how Arnold's movie is. The character of Conan is vastly different than Arnold's portrayal.

Start with only the original stories by Robert E. Howard:

"The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian"
"The Bloody Crown of Conan"
"The Conquering Sword of Conan"

And yes, they are very much worth reading. Howard's influence on fantasy is immeasurable.

Speaking of the movies vs the books, they have such little in common it's like two nearly separate worlds. I'm amazed as to why there haven't been proper adaptations of some of the original stories. Granted, many of them would not work well as modern blockbusters, but others (one in specific) has all the right components:

-Evil sorcerer awakening from a centuries-long slumber.
-The prophecy of a god.
-Conan as an initially unwilling anti-hero.
-A female hero and love interest.
-One kingdom standing between the villain and rest of the world.
-An epic clash of armies.

By the way, keep in mind that the stories in these three collections are arranged in order of their publishing and not chronologically within the setting. Therefore there will be a story with Conan as a king followed by a story where Conan is a lowly thief. Don't let that throw you off. Each story is supposed to be a vignette which shows a piece of Conan's epic life.

Maybe once Game of Thrones has concluded, one of the other channels will option up the Conan mythos for their crack at the wheel.

 

[Tanis]

I like the comics.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I don't know, because I never read 'em, but will you be hearing Mako doing all the narration in your head?

I like to imagine I am reading with this guy's voice:

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Surprised noone mentioned the Savage Sword of Conan run that Marvel did in the 70's. I'd personally reccomend giving those a try after getting the creator's take on it. Granted, that's personal bias at play since John Buscema is my favorite comic artist ^^ (and Barry Windsor Smith a close second for his work on the same series).

 

[Kenneth E Deming]

I like the lancer/ace 12 book series. All of Howard?s stories are scattered throughout the set. A lot of people hate on the other authors who finished some of Howard?s stories but nit this guy. ?Maybe? there not as good but I enjoy all of those just as much. The thing in crypt is a great story and they used parts of it in the first Arnold movie. The city of skulls is a great tale. Then there?s a set of 43 books under Tor publishing that are a little more hit and miss. The 6 by Robert Jordan, 7 if you count the movie adaption of Conan the Destroyer, are really good with Conan the magnificent being a personal favorite. Now some people like to read the actual paperback novels. Two problems with that, 1 these novels are all about 50 years old, and 2 hard to find and my set is falling apart. The Tor set is newer and a little easier to get ahold of. The best thing would be if somebody was able to make/find digital copies of all of them for everyone to enjoy.