Christopher Priest and Conan

[Roquefort Raider]

I was a big fan of what Christopher Priest (under his nom de plume of Jim Owlsey) did when he wrote Conan the barbarian back in the 80s.

For those who may not know, Conan had been written by Roy Thomas for more than a hundred issues since its first appearance in comic-book form. Roy had crafted excellent tales, and his attention to detail when describing the pseudo-historical world of Conan made the book really stand out.

Then Roy left the book, which fell into a rut that lasted for about five years. The comic had no continuity anymore, no supporting characters, no verisimilitude. Just month after month of generic monster-killing. It's a miracle that the book wasn't cancelled: it was really, really bad.

Then came Priest, and with him a continuing storyline with an actual plot, recurring and fully fleshed-out characters, suspense and an actual knowledge of what Conan's world was supposed to look like.

Strangely enough, Priest left after a few years when he was at the height of his success; at the time, I assumed he had decided to move on to other things.

I learned yesterday, thanks to his own website, that Priest was fired (http://phonogram.us/comics/conan.htm) from the book by the new editor, Don Daley. Under that editor, the book became so bad so fast that even I, a lifetime collector, dropped it after a few months. (Thanks to quarter bins I learned later that Conan was then rebooted to a "year one" format, with childish stories and very poor art by an overworked Ron Lim). The only good thing that came out of this debacle was that it paved the way for Roy Thomas' eventual return.

Still, I feel cheated by Daley's decision to fire Priest. The man had been doing greatwork, and it's very disappointing to see how he was thanked for it.

[InfoBroker]

<*pulling out his comic history vacumn pump*>

Hey R2, thanks for some details on a period of Conan comics history that I not familar with. I had stopped my steady buying of Conan comics shortly after issue #100, for various reasons. The Conan of the 80s I have very casual knowledge of. I never even heard of editor D2, or anyway I never bought any comics he was responsible for, that I remember.

I do have a run of Christopher Priest's Black Panther that were a solid intrepetation of that character. A few years back, myslef, several fans and a couple of pros spent some time on usenet chatting with him about the books and the dual history of vibranium in the silver-age history of Marvel folklore.

Is there any other CP work that you enjoyed?

I remeber a point (early 80s?) when Roy decided to do secondary intrepretations of REH material with different artists. That was mainly in Savage Sword, which had always jumped around Conan's lifetime. Do you remember when that first happens, and the artist invovled. Also, when did the main comic break the in-order chronology?

Thanks again for the tidbits of trivia. We Information Brokers are like sponges for that kind of stuff.

<* turning off pump *>

- jb the "hyborian age" ib :cool:

[Roquefort Raider]

I never even heard of editor D2, or anyway I never bought any comics he was responsible for, that I remember.

Roy was his own editor for most of his run, and the book was better for it. After his departure, Larry Hama was editor for a long while but I'm afraid I think that the only good thing he did was bring Priest onboard. Hama liked straightforward action stories and wasn't overly bothered by continuity. "Conan smash!" seemed to be his philosophy about the character. Don Daley I know little about, except that I disliked his "Conan: year one" reboot and now dislike him even more for having given Priest the boot. What a daft move that was.


Is there any other CP work that you enjoyed?

I loved his run on "Conan the king". I also liked his Spidey stuff and his Power Man /Iron Fist, and although I missed his tenure on Black Panther I heard nothing but good about it.


I remember a point (early 80s?) when Roy decided to do secondary intrepretations of REH material with different artists. That was mainly in Savage Sword, which had always jump around Conan's lifetime. Do you remember when that first happens, and the artist invovled. Also, when did the main comic break the in-order chronology?

Savage Sword of Conan actually started in the 70s. At first it featured adaptations of prose stories by Robert E. Howard that wouldn't be reached for decades in the regular Conan the barbarian book... The idea was that when the chronologically ongoing comic reached the point where a story had previously been adapted in Savage sword, it would be adapted again.

The situation never really presented itself. Most Howard tales featuring Conan as a young thief and mercenary soldier had been adapted in Conan the barbarian; his next chronological adventure, "Queen of the black coast", was adapted in two parts (CTB#57 and CTB#100). All the adventures of Conan as a pirate, as a kozak, as a desert chieftain, were never reached in the regular Conan the Barbarian comic.

(Actually, during his brief run, J.M. DeMatteis just skipped over three adventures in a one-page recap. I felt betrayed!!! )

When Roy came back to CTB at the end of its run, he mostly ignored such moves and set the clock back. "Black colossus", first adapted in savage sword of Conan #2, was re-adapted in CTB around issue 247. Apart from "Tower of the elephant", which had first been adapted in CTB#4 and later re-adapted in SSoC#24, I think it's the only case of a story having been adapted twice.

I loved Savage Sword. Because each issue of the magazine was more than any penciller, even the very efficient John Buscema, could do on a constant basis on top of regular assignments, many artists got a chance to illustrate Conan stories (Tim Conrad, Neal Adams, Frank Brunner, Alex Nino...)

Early issues of the mag feature simply gorgeous art by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala; in black and white, this team could do no wrong.

The fan base was also very involved in the success of the mag: it often presented essays on the Hyborian world by enthusiastic "scholars" of the Conan world.

Savage sword stopped adapting prose stories when Roy left, and for five years or so all it featured were formulaic stuff that often contradicted what had been previously established, or that clung to the movies rather than either the Howard stories or the previous Marvel comics. The essays vanished as well. The art was never actually bad, and Mike Docherty and Gary Kwapisz in particular gave us a very good demonstration of their skill witha pencil; but storywise, almost everything was disappointing.

The mag became good again when Roy returned, but by then the industry was about to undergo its early-90s implosion. The whole Conan line from marvel was halted and restarted as a "Conan smash!" incarnation yet again, with such inspiring covr blurbs as "Wolverine is a wuss! So says Conan!"

As you can tell, I've still got that one stuck in the craw!

[InfoBroker]

"Queen of the black coast", was adapted in two parts (CTB#57 and CTB#100).

At the time they came out, some of those inbetween-issues were not too well received by me. In later years, I have a much higher appreciation for them. It was the excellent prior material that made these seem a bit pale by comparision. In recent reads of the past 15 years or so, my feelings mellowed as I realized these comics are really very well done material.

(Actually, during his brief run, J.M. DeMatteis just skipped over three adventures in a one-page recap. I felt betrayed!!! )

I'm sure when Kurt Busiek gets to them, there will be no betrayals.

re: Roy's return, re-adaptions of Black Colossus and Tower


I wasn't there for Roy's return, in fact I only bought a handful of Conan related material after the late 70s. I do remember purchasing the retelling of Tower. Thanks for jarring my memory on it being the start of the restart. That would have been close to the last Savage Sword that I bought. I gave up on SS much too soon. I have seen pieces and parts of material published afterwards that I wish I had access to now.


... many artists got a chance to illustrate Conan stories (Tim Conrad, Neal Adams, Frank Brunner, Alex Nino...

...and Gil Kane's work on Hour of the Dragon. I was sorry to see it get rushed at the end, after all the Giant-Size comics, including GS Conan, were cancelled. I loved big comics. They stuffed it into parts of SS 15 and 16 or thereabouts.

Early issues of the mag feature simply gorgeous art by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala; in black and white, this team could do no wrong.


The allure of a fantasy title like Conan is that sense of being their, or some racial-memory that triggers a deja-fu sensation. Barry Smith did it the most for me, especially his version of Tower, and the lead-in to Rogues in the House. He made those ancient cities seem so real to me.

John Buscema triggered it for me in a very early issue of Savage Sword. I think 7 or 8. There was a sequence early in the story with Conan trying to get into a walled city. I could almost feel the dust at his feet, and the the bright sunlight causing the hear to shimmer off the wall. It wasn't that he overtly rendered this stuff. Just the opposite. The economy of scenery and how he presented it, merely suggested, and let me, the reader, fill in the rest. Shamash-Shum-Ukin was the villian in that piece. A powerful wizard with ambitions beyond my liking.

[Total Trivia Warning Alert!]
But I did send Roy a letter saying he would make a great character for a back up feature for a handful of issues. He mentioned it in the letters pages later, promising that he probably would turn up again, but he slaughtered my name and the spelling of the town I was living in at the time. But I didn't hold it against 'em. Especially since there was another Johnathon Scott Bacon (NOT me- I was never a Johnathon) who was also from Iowa, that he mentioned relating to some comic fan project in that same issue. Maybe he was doing a reprint project, or was the first marketing rep for the Frazatta posters that were just starting to crop up in that timeframe. I remember he had several ads in the early issues of Comic Buyers Guide and/or The Nostalgia Journal (nee: Comics Journal).

[/TTWA]

[After Roy Left]The art was never actually bad, and Mike Docherty and Gary Kwapisz in particular gave us a very good demonstration of their skill with a pencil; but storywise, almost everything was disappointing.


A bad story will sour me to a comic. A good artist might keeping me around for another issue or so, but eventually, bad story will kill my interest in the comic completely. It then takes a long spell of good material and word-of-mouth before I will try the comic again. Sad pattern to why my comic collection has so many holes in it.

- jb the "rendered in black and white" ib :cool:

[InfoBroker]

And just to swerve back to the main subjects of this thread...

Can you provide the issue numbers for the Priest Conan comics? And maybe a pointer to the ones that you liked the best.

Thanks

- jb the "wandering thread" ib :cool:

[Roquefort Raider]

Can you provide the issue numbers for the Priest Conan comics? And maybe a pointer to the ones that you liked the best.


Priest started with issue 172 and stayed until issue 212. Val Semeiks began pencilling with issue 191, and as Priest stated in his blog he brought a very young and enthusiastic energy to the art.

The entire run was one continuing storyline with many developing plotlines, so it's hard to pinpoint anj absolute favorite... But among the many story arcs of the run, the climactic ones that stand out are (a) the end of the feud between Conan and the devourer of souls, which happened in #200, and the Heku trilogy that saw print in #206-208. The latter, I gather, is Priest's favorite.

I agree with you on Kane and "the hour of the dragon". That was very good work indeed, and I miss Giant-sized comics that cost a mere 50 cents!!!

[dan bailey]

Especially since there was another Johnathon Scott Bacon (NOT me- I was never a Johnathon) who was also from Iowa

back in the mid-'70s or thereabouts there was a *jonathan* bacon who, as head of some sort of program (student activities, judging from a quick google search) at an iowa junior college (evidently in a town called lamoni, or something like that), helmed one or more fanzines related to "heroic fantasy," most prominently a title called fantasy crossroads. i've still got the first (only?) issue of a pretty impressive poetry zine with that genesis, omniumgathum.

[InfoBroker]

...fantasy crossroads.

That's the memory nudger. That's the guy. I think he also was selling books, fanzines and posters at the time. As I remember it, there were several issues.

- jb the "visualizing old CBG pages" ib :cool:

[Sam A. Robrin]

Incidentally, I recently read something that indicated that Christopher Priest the comics writer was not the same person as Christopher Priest the sci-fi author. I'd always presumed they were the same guy. What's the scoop on that?

[Sir Tim Drake]

Incidentally, I recently read something that indicated that Christopher Priest the comics writer was not the same person as Christopher Priest the sci-fi author. I'd always presumed they were the same guy. What's the scoop on that?

They aren't the same person. The comics writer Priest usually goes by just his last name, in order to differentiate himself from the SF writer Christopher Priest.

[Sleeper]

They aren't the same person. The comics writer Priest usually goes by just his last name, in order to differentiate himself from the SF writer Christopher Priest.

They even share a domain (http://christopherpriest.com/) to help people find the right Priest for them.

[abbas.khan]

i loved the ray by christopher priest. i think he also did quantum and woody. im not sure about that one though.

[Sir Tim Drake]

i loved the ray by christopher priest. i think he also did quantum and woody. im not sure about that one though.

He did.

I have to include this sentence so that this post will be at least ten characters long.

[Roquefort Raider]

They even share a domain (http://christopherpriest.com/) to help people find the right Priest for them.

That's pretty funny!

It's cool to see that two writers who probably meet very infrequently (if at all) went through that trouble on our account.

[Sleeper]

Premature talks (http://www.newsarama.com/deadpublishers/PriestQ_W.htm) sounds as if the world's worst superhero duo might be making a comeback.

[Greg Hatcher]

I loved Savage Sword. Because each issue of the magazine was more than any penciller, even the very efficient John Buscema, could do on a constant basis on top of regular assignments, many artists got a chance to illustrate Conan stories (Tim Conrad, Neal Adams, Frank Brunner, Alex Nino...)

Early issues of the mag feature simply gorgeous art by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala; in black and white, this team could do no wrong.

I adored Savage Sword. I didn't much care for the regular color monthly Conan book, but I was just generally a big fan of Marvel's black-and-white magazine line and that particular one was my favorite of the lot; it was my gateway to Howard and the prose Conan books. In fact, they published a letter of mine in #30, and though all the ones I had in my youth are long gone, I managed to score a copy of that issue on a trip to Portland a year or so ago, and in February at the Emerald City Con I actually was able to get Roy to sign it for me. He remembered answering it -- "Oh, I did all the lettercols for my books, I remember that, sure...." and went on to detail the background behind his answer and the various licensing things going on with Marvel and the Howard estate. It was a hoot.

This little nerd moment actually reawakened my inner Hyborian geek and I've spent the last month or so tracking down affordable copies of my old Savage Sword books. I'm a purist, though -- if it's not Roy, I don't care. Sadly, most of them are priced way out of my range and I'm settling in some cases for Conan Saga magazines that reprinted the SS stories; they don't reprint the articles, damn it, but they do have little reminiscences from Roy as well. This bookstore (http://www.cellarstories.com/cgi-bin/cellarstories/scan/tf=title/se=COMICS/sf=location/cs=no/st=sql/em=yes/tf=author/tf=title) has the Saga books separated out into sets of 10 issues for $15 which is a pretty good deal. I took a couple off their hands but they seem to have quite a few left -- scroll down a bit and you'll see.

[Sir Tim Drake]

This little nerd moment actually reawakened my inner Hyborian geek and I've spent the last month or so tracking down affordable copies of my old Savage Sword books. I'm a purist, though -- if it's not Roy, I don't care. Sadly, most of them are priced way out of my range and I'm settling in some cases for Conan Saga magazines that reprinted the SS stories; they don't reprint the articles, damn it, but they do have little reminiscences from Roy as well. This bookstore (http://www.cellarstories.com/cgi-bin/cellarstories/scan/tf=title/se=COMICS/sf=location/cs=no/st=sql/em=yes/tf=author/tf=title) has the Saga books separated out into sets of 10 issues for $15 which is a pretty good deal. I took a couple off their hands but they seem to have quite a few left -- scroll down a bit and you'll see.

Talk about your odd coincidences... I was at that bookstore today! I bought SSoC #160 and Conan Saga #9, reprinting both parts of "Red Nails," for 50 cents each. I also bought Conan #202 and 204-206, again for 50 cents each, so I guess I'll see whether Priest's Conan is as good as Ben claims. :)

I saw some other issues of SSoC, but I didn't buy them because they were written by Chuck Dixon.

[Greg Hatcher]

Talk about your odd coincidences... I was at that bookstore today!

Really? I wondered if they were near you. They seem to have a lot of very cool rarities. (Apparently I do too, judging from some of their Stephen King pricing. Those of us who couldn't wait for the paperback in the 80's are now the proud owners of some pretty serious first-edition investments, from what I can see.) I am currently corresponding with a nice lady named Michelle to see if she'd be willing to reshuffle some of those CONAN SAGA lots so as not to duplicate the ones I already bought -- and for those who are interested, Here (http://www.math.ucla.edu/~alee/conansaga.txt) is a site indexing what was reprinted in CS so you can shop around for yourselves.




...hm? Oh, yeah, I like Christopher Priest's writing quite a bit and should check out his Conan. Sorry, the whole collector-geek-on-the-hunt thing is occupying most of my thoughts at the moment.

[Sir Tim Drake]

Really? I wondered if they were near you. They seem to have a lot of very cool rarities. (Apparently I do too, judging from some of their Stephen King pricing. Those of us who couldn't wait for the paperback in the 80's are now the proud owners of some pretty serious first-edition investments, from what I can see.) I am currently corresponding with a nice lady named Michelle to see if she'd be willing to reshuffle some of those CONAN SAGA lots so as not to duplicate the ones I already bought -- and for those who are interested, Here (http://www.math.ucla.edu/~alee/conansaga.txt) is a site indexing what was reprinted in CS so you can shop around for yourselves.

Cellar Stories is the only good used bookstore within walking distance of the Brown campus. (While walking there I visited another interesting bookstore called Symposium Books, but they had mostly scholarly books, with one shelf of Drawn & Quaterly comics.) I went there as a reward for finishing my thesis. They have thousands of 50-cent comics, most of which suck, of course. But I found some that were worth buying, as well as a cheap copy of Harold Bloom's Western Canon. It was worth the trip.

Okay, back to the subject. :)

[Cei-U!]

Waitamiinit! Priest is his real name and *Owlsley* is the pseudonym?? I would never have guessed that, let alone that there'd be more than one Christopher Priest. It's such a phoney-sounding, even pretentious name.

Ah well. Old dogs, new tricks 'n' all that.

Cei-U!
I summon the humbling moment!

[Roquefort Raider]

I saw some other issues of SSoC, but I didn't buy them because they were written by Chuck Dixon.

Chuck Dixon wrote decent SSoC stories... they had a plot, they had tension, they had good dialogue. Unfortunately, they were pretty similar from one issue to the next; furthermore, they basically ignored the history of the Hyborian world and that of the characters (his Valeria was particularly offensive, being described as a sex-starved bitch). For a purist or even for an ordinary fan, dropping names like "Hyrkania", "Poitain" and "Khitai" once in a while just isn't good enough... Especially if it's done out of context.

I think it was Chuck who wrote a story about a border dispute between Aquilonia and Vanaheim. Good plot, except that the two countries do not share a border. I know that even a big name like Arthur C. Clarke once said "who cares? They're only stories", but I expect writers to show respect for their material.

Don Kraar was another O.K. SSoC writer, and although he stayed clear from anything resembling continuity he did get his hyborian facts right. Kraar put the emphasis on how BIG Conan was (character-wise) and that usually worked nicely.

Nothing will ever beat the early Roy Thomas issues, of course... at least in my book.


- Ben