Developments with Robert E. Howard IP other than Conan (Solomon Kane, Dark Agnes, Kull, Valeria, etc)

In the free preview of Titan's upcoming Conan comic there's an illustration of Robert E. Howard IP (above) that indicates an underlying hope to see them receive similar treatment (as, indeed, was attempted at Marvel a few years ago). I wanted to look at what's presented and think about what has potential to succeed. I am a fan of Howard's, but I don't have encyclopedic knowledge of his voluminous writings. What I'm familiar with are his Conan stories (which I've re-read recently), his horror stories (read long ago), the author himself, and a small smattering of things outside of that (mostly read long ago). I have not read the lauded 70s comics (before my time), so my exposure in that format is only via Marvel's recent output (mostly mediocre). I've seen both the 80s films featuring Conan (as well as the terrible Red Sonya movie), but not in a long time.

It's interesting to see who is in this image, because many Howard characters are not. Here's the list in order from the illustration (Note: Howard's Picts are his own synthesis of Native Americans and a now-debunked view of the aboriginal peoples of Scotland; the colour coding: green=currently being published (book/comic) and pushed as a film/show; pink= published/produced after the Howard boom; orange=published during the Howard boom in the 70s/early 80s; red=only published during REH's lifetime or as part of the general publishing of all his unpublished work):

• Ace Jessel (1929; boxing) - There are just two stories and the sub-genre is so specific I'm lost on why he's included (REH had more popular boxing characters, see below)
• Valeria (1935; fantasy/Conan) - from the Conan story "Red Nails"; Marvel (2019) attempted a series by Meredith Finch (wife of the more notable David Finch), which is tedious and bland despite good art
• Grom (1934; fantasy/side character) - from "The Valley of the Worm"; the Pictish Grom interacts with the lead of that story (Niord); it's not clear why he's on this list and Niord is not (representation, perhaps?)
• Bran Mak Morn (1930; historical, Dark Ages) - A Pictish king facing off against Romans among other things (he also has a crossover with Kull, below); had a couple of pastiche novels written for him in 1976 and 1981 during the Howard boom, but other than some adaptations from Dark Horse has since been invisible
• Solomon Kane (1928; historical, 16th century) - the Puritan adventurer fighting evil; Dark Horse published a few mini-series' featuring him in the mid-2000s and there was the 2009 (2012 for Americans) film; more recently there was a planned show at Netflix, but that's been abandoned along with the Conan show
• Cormac Mac Art (1920s; historical, Dark Ages) - an Irish pirate whose stories were published posthumously and gave birth to a pastiche sequel series from Andrew Offutt from 1975-82 and one comic adaptation (from Dark Horse in 1990); there's room for pseudo-historical adaptations
• Wulfhere (1920s; historical/Cormac Mac Art) - His fate is tied to the above
• Kull (1929; fantasy) - from REH's fantastical pre-history, but from an earlier epoch than Conan; while a forerunner to the latter, he's not the same character; his last comic book adaptation was from IDW in 2017 via Tom Waltz, but it only lasted 3 issues; there was a 1997 film, but that was intended to be a Conan movie, so while its existence is interesting I wouldn't call it indicative of interest
• Conan (1932; fantasy) - I won't repeat what I've said in my prior article; the most well-known REH character
• Francis Xavier Gordon aka "El Borak" (1934; historical) - an Indiana Jones type character who, as far as I can tell, has had no resonance since; that said, romping adventures like this is a viable route for the future (especially after the Indiana Jones franchise killed itself)
• Wild Bill Clanton (1936; Western) - the lead in 'spicy' stories of the time (so some bare calves may have been shown); Westerns are essentially dead, so I'm not sure what you can do with him
• Esau Cairn (1939; Science Fiction) - the lead in "Almuric", there was a Dark Horse comic for it in 1991; as an Edgar Rice Burroughs-style adventure (its similar to A Princess of Mars, 1912) I think there's potential in it
• Turlogh Dubh O'Brien (1931; historical, 11th century) - Irishman whose stories sometimes have fantastical or horror elements; he's had no resonance since the Howard boom in the 1970s (like so many others, his stories were used as raw material for Conan), but there are some possibilities given that the era is popular
• Sonya of Rogatino (1934; historical, 16th century) - from the story "The Shadow of the Vulture" (she's not the lead character, as that's Gottfried Von Kalmbach); she feels very modern (almost cliche for female protagonists), which could be a good thing
• Sailor Steve Costigan (1929; boxing/historical, 1920s) - sailor and a boxer (this is not the character of the same name from "Skull Face"); more popular than Ace above, but it's difficult to see what could be done with the character
• 'Dark' Agnes de Chastillon (1932/34; historical, 16th century) - posthumously published in the 1970s, her stories are similar to Sonya's above; plenty of fun to be had, although I think there are limits to what you can squeeze from historical adaptations; Marvel tried (2020) with a series by Becky Cloonan, but it only managed two issues with the same floompy writing seen in Belit and Valeria (above)--the Marvel iterations were disappointingly bland and indistinctive
• Breckinridge Elkins (1934; Western) - a humorous character, making the genre even more difficult to do anything with (Blazing Saddles was a long time ago); he was very popular at the time
• Brule (1929; fantasy/Kull) - a Pictish character I suspect is only here as an echo of that IP

Among those not included is the popular Conan character Belit ("Queen of the Black Coast", 1932), likely because the character does not survive her story and therefore is tricky to do anything significant with. Despite that, Poul Anderson's Conan the Rebel (1980) features her and Marvel tried to do something with her in 2019, but writer Tini Howard missed the point and turned her into a generic Girl Boss which (like Valeria above) only lasted five issues. She is hardly the only character not included, as Howard had so many (James Allison, Dennis Dorgan, Pike Bearfield, Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, Lal Singh, Black Vulmea, John Kirowan, Steve Harrison, De Montour the werewolf, and on and on).

Our list includes 18 characters representing 15 different IPs that can be organized by genre (with El Borak covering two of those):

• Historical: 8 (Dark Ages: Bran, Cormac/Wulfhere; 11th: O'Brien; 16th: Solomon, Sonya, Agnes; Early Modern: El Borak, Steve)
• Fantasy: 3 (Conan/Valeria, Kull/Brule, Grom)
• Boxing: 2 (Ace and El Borak)
• Western: 2 (Clanton and Elkins)
• Science Fiction: 1 (Cairn)

Historical fiction has its place and continues to have resonance on screen, but so much of the modern genre has a heavy emphasis on romance (is there any production about English royalty that isn't a romance?), which doesn't suit Howardian IP. What these need to stand out is a supernatural/fantastic element (which some already include, like Solomon Kane). Beyond that is what time periods attract the public. Vikings remain popular (which covers three of the IP), and Agnes' story crosses paths with the always popular Henry VIII; Bran faces off against Romans (also popular). I believe an Indiana Jones-style approach could work, which El Borak could be used for. As for poor Sonya, as modern as she seems, I don't think there's an appetite for the once popular Muslim Ottoman vs Christian Europe narrative.

The fantasy IP are all solid as-is, even though I remain puzzled by Grom's inclusion without his lead character and why that specific story was picked. For the other two, while Kull inspired Conan, they are different enough to not cause confusion. Ironically, despite the plethora of modern fantasy shows and films, nothing has worked since the early seasons of Game of Thrones, leaving plenty of room for it to be done right (and action-oriented fantasy hasn't been done properly since the 1980s).

I don't see any room for boxing stories (it's simply too niche) and Westerns are functionally dead (one-offs aren't impossible). On the flipside, there's an appetite for an SF story like Cairn's, which the poorly made John Carter botched over a decade ago.

What do I think will happen? Some of that depends on how well the Conan comic (and film, should it happen) performs. I'd expect Titan to do what Marvel tried and take shots at some of the other IP, beginning with those with resonance after the Howard boom (and leaving the possibility of some creative wanting to take a stab at something more obscure). Solomon Kane seems to be at the forefront of what's being pushed, which is understandable as it would be very easy to connect him to Dark Agnes and Sonya as they occupy the same eras. Beyond that it's difficult to say. I'd keep an eye out for new pastiches (like the S. M. Stirling Conan novel) and any further comic announcements as clues for what else might be in store. It's too bad streaming services won't make this kind of IP, as I think much of it is well-suited to TV.

This article was written by Peter Levi