Best Non-Howard Conan

So, what's the best adaptation of the character:

Thomas/Windsor-Smith/Buscema - Savage Sword of Conan

Busiek/Nord - (Dark Horse) Conan

Milius/Stone/Arnold - Conan the Barbarian

Mamoa - Conan the Barbarian

Not to be the guy that pisses on the parade but I don't think any of them really capture the magic of what makes Conan great. I suppose the one I think comes closest are the Dark Horse comics but even those are missing something.

Conan is like Tarzan. None of the adaptations really capture the source material. (Although in Tarzan's case, the Filmation Cartoon came close).

My first exposure to it was the Arnold movies, so any time I hear Conan, I picture him.

Conan is a great and durable character. I enjoy a lot of Conan stories and feel that his world and the type of fiction that Conan inhabits is really suited to comics story telling. Movies not so much, the serial nature of Conan's stories make a movie a little more difficult even though the first one is pretty great it misses a lot of what I love about Conan. I hate how they have to give him a motivation to become the wanderer he's known as. Wanderlust just isn't enough for them and for me when you take that away you ruin an important part of the character.

But really, look at my Avatar, it's a Cary Nord drawing of Conan cutting my head off. As much as I love the old Marvel comics the Dark Horse ones beat them in pretty much every way (up until Busiek left... way too early). There was a three part series done by Mignola that was beautiful to look at as well but Nord's style was really well suited to the Conan world and Busiek kept the scripts tight and simple. Best Conan since the original in my mind.

I grew up reading SSOC. For me, those comics trump other non-Howard Conan stuff.

Thomas/Windsor-Smith/Buscema - Savage Sword of Conan : Good but not great. Def worth reading though.

Busiek/Nord - (Dark Horse) Conan : WINNER does the best job of capturing the Howard vibe of a multifaceted dude that's out for adventure and glory, and like JJ said, the serial nature works best

Milius/Stone/Arnold - Conan the Barbarian : An amazing film, really crucial in my development as a huge fantasy nerd, but really far off from "Conan"

Mamoa - Conan the Barbarian : I got a lot of heat for saying it at the time, but I still think Mamoa really owned Conan. The way he has a slight smile when he is fighting, dude just lives for the rush of combat. A man of great mirth!

I'll add in:

DeCamp: Not as bad as everyone make it out to be, but not great either.
Jordan: Meh.

Problem with the books is that there is no leeway for adaptation as there necessarily is when transferring mediums. You can hold them up right next to Howard and see all the shortcomings.

I'd also go with Busiek/Nord followed closely by Thomas/Buscema. Definitely interested in the 1200 page Colossal Conan coming out in November (hardcover collection of the Dark Horse issues 0 -50).

DeCamp was fine when I was young but re-reading those Lancer collections now, his work being wedged in between REH's doesn't do it any favors.

Arnold Conan was awesome as a kid after reading the books but I haven't seen it in years. Thanks Dad for taking 10 year old me back when theatres really enforced the R rating!

I am currently re-reading the early part of the Conan run from Marvel, primarily just the issues drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith. Great stuff, and Roy Thomas really did a fine job of adapting even some non-Howard stories into Conan issues. I would eventually like to give the Busiek run a try.

Shellhead wrote: I am currently re-reading the early part of the Conan run from Marvel, primarily just the issues drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith.

Is the the color comic Conan the Barbarian or the B&W magazine Savage Sword of Conan?

How about that Elric?

I am dying inside at that depiction of Elric. Pointy hat, indeed!

I think that hat/outfit is from the cover of one of the old paperbacks (I remember Roy Thomas talking about it in one of the intros to the reprints). I know what I'm dressing as for Halloween!

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Jeff White wrote:

Shellhead wrote: I am currently re-reading the early part of the Conan run from Marvel, primarily just the issues drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith.

Is the the color comic Conan the Barbarian or the B&W magazine Savage Sword of Conan?

How about that Elric?

The color comic was Conan the Barbarian. I recently re-read that two-part story with Elric, and was surprised to see that Michael Moorcock co-plotted the story. The pointy hat is a bit silly-looking, but otherwise those two issues rock.

Also, turns out it probably wasn't Moorcock who co-wrote, but one of his collaborators (can't remember the name off hand).

I prefer the DAW paperback covers for Elric illustration.

Pointy hat Elric.... I dunno...the more I look at it the more I'm feeling a certain badassness.

I think it's those covers Almalik posted. Those are fairly awesome, well besides the overly-large manga sword. Maybe it's because you just don't see character designs like that. It's got that old school vibe I dig.