Friday, February 27, 2009

"Not Conan" Model Available from Nocturna Models!

I found a post in the Conan Forums linking to this sweet model of what appears to be our very own King of Aquilonia from Nocturna Studios. It looks like they probably did not have the licensing rights to actually call this fellow "Conan" so they just titled it "The Usurper". Still, it's a beauty of a model!

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Take a closer look HERE, but don't expect anything to be in English. So good luck ordering it. ;)

New Conan the Cimmerian Cover by Joseph Micheal Linsner is... ummm... Just Okay.

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Is it me or is Dark Horse letting us down a bit with the covers of the new Conan comic? I've never been a big Linsner fan, so maybe I'm being biased. But all of the covers from this new title have left me missing the grittiness that the Hyborian world deserves.

What do you guys think?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Conan Teaser Poster! Hmmm...

So this poster started making the rounds on the various Conan blogs and forums back in September and I wrote it off as a total fake. But it's still floating around and inspiring people to declare that a new Conan movie is now in the works. Quite frankly, I still think is all hokum. Just look at the amateur Photoshop job! And why would they use the same sword from the original movie if it's supposed to be a new re-telling of the tale? And why by Crom's black beard is the sword stuck in a stone? Is this some Arthurian take of the King of Aquilonia? Dubious, to say the least.

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Let's hear what you guys think! A sign of things to come or some nerd spreading cinematic humbug?

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

New Warcraft Action Figure Looks a Lot Like a Barbarian We Know!

Toy News International released some shots of the new DC World of Warcraft Unlimited action figures and one of the characters reminded me of a certain barbarian destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. So, although not officially a Conan action figure, a little bit of modifying and customization could turn this figure into one hell of a Conan! I'm probably going to have to grab one of these when they hit the stores.

Take a look!

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You can see more pics of the other figures in the line and get more info HERE.

Conan the Adventurer - Episode 5





Sunday, February 15, 2009

Conan Desktop Wallpaper!

Hail all!

I just wanted to link you all to this really sweet Conan desktop wallpaper from the Conan: Dark Axe video game. It Cimmeria-riffic!

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Get the full size wallpaper HERE!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Book Review: Conan the Hunter by Sean A. Moore

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As many Conan fans know, the Conan pastiche novels can really be hit or miss. Some are excellent (Robert Jordan) and some are steaming piles of giant snake poo (anything by Steve Perry). For the most part, the vast majority of the pastiche novels fall comfortably in the middle. None of them will ever please the Howard-purists, and I understand that. But for those of us that can appreciate the different takes an author can give on the Conan character and just like a good rip-roarin' tale of battles, wenches and treasures, the pastiches can often provide.

This is definitely the case with Conan the Hunter, by Sean A. Moore. Like Moore's other Conan novels, Conan and the Grim Grey God and Conan and the Shaman's Curse, this novel read like Moore wrote down all of the more adventurous high points of his latest Dungeons & Dragons campaign, added Conan into the story and then wrapped it all up with tidy, quick-reading prose. Moore is always very mindful of fully developing the other characters in his stories. In fact, there were parts of the novel when the star of the story would shift briefly, going into deeper detail about a supporting character that will become important to Conan's story later in the book. This development just helps the reader better identify with why Conan would befriend this particular person, or instantly distrust this other person. Also, Moore's takes on Conan always seem to have a bit more adventure and fantasy added to them than many other authors', and I always seem to finish his books going, "Phew! What a ride!"

The story in a nutshell starts out with Conan getting set up for a murder and robbery he didn't commit, then he gets his arm broken, then healed, then murders some Brythunian city guards for picking a fight with the wrong barbarian, then battles a hideous one-eyed, pustulent tentacled beast is the sewers, and this is just the beginning of the story!

He later teams up with a Kenzankian hillman and a priest of Mitra to hunt down one nasty, vampiric she-bitch of a sorceress who used dark magic to sap the life from the new King of Brythunia. And this hussy is a piece of work. Part witch, part vampire and all evil.

There are deadly bar brawls, living gods made of molten bronze, silver-tongued demons, razor-clawed gargoyles, talking green-eyed spiders and page after page of broken bones and spilled blood.

So if you want to sink your teeth into a gritty, fantastic Conan novel, read this one as soon as you can.

And that's all I have to say about that, by Crom!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Conehead the Barbituate!

I remember reading this back in the December 1982 issue of Mad magazine and have been looking for it for years. Don Martin's hilarious artwork always cracked me up. I found it a little while back online from a fan site that seems to no longer be there... hmmm. Oh well. Good thing I saved the jpegs when I did!

So sit back and enjoy Conehead the Barbituate! (Sorry about the hard-to-read scans, but again, I just found 'em. And yes, I did notice that they spelled barbiturate wrong, but they're Mad magazine and they can do whatever they want.)

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

New Conan Statue by Clayburn Moore Based on Frazetta Painting

Any Conan fan worth his salt has seen the famous "Conan the Conqueror" painting by the great Frank Frazetta...

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Well, now thanks to the excellent sculpting work of Clayburn Moore of The CS Moore Studio, you can have your very own three dimensional version!

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You can check out even more pics and order one HERE. Feel free to buy and extra one for me as well. ;)

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Conan Birthday Art!

This is so funny. My good friend, Ryan, painted this Conan picture for my birthday and sent it to me yesterday (my birthday was 2 months ago, he's not the most punctual), and I thought it was so awesome that I had to post it here for all to see!

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Thursday, February 5, 2009

Custom Conan Heroclix Figure!

I've never played Heroclix, but I gather that it's very similar to other miniature battle games like Heroscape and whatnot, but I've known quite a few people that were crazy into it (I had one friend years ago that used to go around the country winning tournaments) and so it doesn't surprise me to see people out there are starting to make their own custom Heroclix figures. This figure that I found on eBay (which has since sold) could very well answer the eternal question "If Conan fought [insert superhero's name here], who would win?"

I'm betting on the barbarian. ;)

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Conan the Adventurer - Episode 4