Top Five Robert E. Howard Characters
The top five Robert E. Howard characters, presented in order of preference.
1. Solomon Kane
A puritan who obsessively fights evil, armed with only a sword, musket, and his unwavering sense of righteousness. His stories tend toward a darker, grimmer view of the world. Kane has the best sense of style of any literary swordsman — I always played the Witch Hunter character in Warhammer Quest because he is clearly Solomon Kane. The best story is Red Shadows, where Kane travels the world tracking down the killer of a girl he never even knew. (Wikipedia link: Solomon Kane)
2. El Borak
Francis Xavier Gordon was a Texas gunfighter and adventurer who settled among the tribes of Afghanistan and had adventures among the deserts and mountains of Asia. Think Lawrence of Arabia combined with Captain Blood. The best story: Hawk of the Hills. (Wikipedia link: El Borak)
3. Kull
Not to be confused with Krull (and I like to forget the Kevin Sorbo movie ever happened). There were only a few Kull stories, but they were all good. The best: The Shadow Kingdom. (Wikipedia link: Kull)
4. Conan
The best known of Robert E. Howard’s characters. Truly, there have been some great Conan stories, but he also has his share of stories that are just okay, and that’s what marks him down in my eyes (and I’m only counting Howard’s stories; not the lesser Conan stories written by Lin Carter or Robert Jordan or others). My favorite: Red Nails. (Wikipedia link: Conan)
5. Bran Mak Morn
A darker series of tales. Bran Mak Morn is the last king of the Picts, a degenerate and dying race. The best story: Worms of the Earth. (Wikipedia link: Bran Mak Morn)
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| Solomon Kane | El Borak |
Comics:
Most of these characters have appeared in comics at one time or another.
Solomon Kane appeared in an adaptation of Red Shadows in Marvel Premiere #33-34 in 1976, then had a six-issue mini-series from Marvel in the mid-eighties that featured adaptations of existing stories as well as new stories (and some nice Brett Blevins art). A new mini-series from Dark Horse has just started, and so far, seems good.
Conan has appeared in numerous comics published by Marvel and Dark Horse, the majority of which have been quite good.
Kull appeared in a handful of Marvel books in the ’70s and ’80s. I haven’t read them, so I can’t vouch for their quality. Dark Horse has a new Kull series coming out soon.
Bran Mak Morn appeared in several issues of the Savage Sword of Conan in the ’70s. Dark Horse published a two issue adaptation of Kings of the Night in the mid-’80s. It was not their best work.
To the best of my knowledge, El Borak has never appeared in the comics.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Scott, you’re the man - Solomon Kane is a great character, and I loved when he went to Africa and lost himself in the Jungle.
Solomon Kane: “A man dangerouser than a wolf…”
October 7th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
No love for sailor Steve Costigan the bare-knuckle boxing legend?
October 7th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
The husband and I have been waiting for the last couple of years for a Red Nails animated feature currently stuck in post-production hell, but which
I think is supposed to have Ron Perlman as the voice of Conan.
I second the Solomon Kane love - the best part is how he’s really obviously an adrenaline junkie, but as a Puritan he keeps having to tell himself that’s it’s all as a matter of religious duty that he wanders the world hunting down vampires, murderers, etc… and incidentally teaming up with witch doctors:
(Solomon: “You’re a heathen, and I shouldn’t be hanging with you, but, uh, you obviously don’t like demons either….”)
October 7th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
The upcoming Solomon Kane film worries me. They allegedly want to tell the story of how he “became” Solomon Kane. Unnecessary!
October 8th, 2008 at 1:46 am
I have to agree with you. Solomon Kane is definitely Howard’s greatest creation.
However, I think I would placed Dark Agnes de Chastillon somewhere on that list.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I was surprised at how much I liked reading the Solomon Kane stories. Since your opinion of Kane matches mine, your taste is obviously impeccable, so I’ll have to check out some of the other non-Conan stories soon.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Official Comment
Sarah,
I had totally forgotten about that Red Nails adaptation they were supposed to be making. I was really looking forward to it at the time.
But now I’ll probably be wondering why Conan sounds like Hellboy…
October 9th, 2008 at 12:39 am
is it true that Red sonja isnt a real [as in book] character & was created as an extra for the old conan comics? Not that I’m complaining, the bronze bikini thing has always amused me.
[None of my old magazine sized ones survived the last flood. I am very sad :(]
October 9th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Red Sonia (IIRC) was a character in a story set in the middle ages that was adapted to Hyborean age for Marvel’s Conan.
The 70s’ Kull comics had above average writing for the period and great Severin (and later Ploog art). The latter part had more than adequate, though seeming, art and writing that irritated me.
rgl
October 10th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Hey, cool! thanks Rgl! :)
October 10th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Red Sonya (with a y) was a character in the short story ‘Shadow of the Vulture’ set during the Siege of Vienna in the Renaissance (not the Middle Ages).
Roy Thomas, wanting another female character for the Marvel comic series, adapted ‘Shadow of the Vulture’, moving its setting to the Hyperborean Age and changing the spelling of the heroine’s name to Sonja to make it seem more exotic. Supposedly Roy picked Sonya because the other major women in Conan’s life, Belit and Valeria, were a brunette and a blonde respectively.
Most of Sonja’s backstory is entirely Roy’s invention, however.
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