Not quite Conan ~ "The SAVAGE AXE of ARES"

Sounds a lot like something CONAN would say if he were surrounded. Under the Christmas tree this year in a shirt box was a bunch of comic books my wife went down to the local shop and purchased at random to present to me on Christmas morning. In that little pile of comics was an issue of "CHAOS WAR ARES" the cover was absolutely an HOMAGE to CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 1 from way back when.

Now I noticed a little something about the use of ARES in comics as of late and could not help but notice the CONAN-ESQUE style in which he was portrayed. Last year or perhaps the year before Marvel put out a bunch of 70's style black and white comic books designed to look like their line of magazines from that era.  OF COURSE...they no longer publish CONAN ....so they cleverly came up with something else.

THE SAVAGE AXE OF ARES...we all know that the name itself is a tribute to the long running and awesome magazine series THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN (all available in reprint form from Dark Horse comics who currently publishes our favorite unabashed barbarian hero).

I of course have one of the SAVAGE AXE comics. It is a bit lackluster and does not really have the bite of what one would expect from a title with SAVAGE in it.  But for all intents and purposes I went ahead and purchased me a copy anyway. Hell it's an Homage to SSOC!!! A must have in my humble opinion. Included here are copies of the covers for said mentioned comics. If you like go hunt 'em down.

Borrowing the Not quite Conan introduction in an Homage of my own to Reis and Cromsblood.  Enjoy the little gallery here of THE SAVAGE AXE OF ARES! By MARVEL comics.

You Can Own Conan's Actual Sword!

It was reported on the website Cool & Collected, that the premiere Hollywood movie props auction company, Profiles in History (who have their very own show on Syfy, titled Hollywood Treasure, which I strongly suggest checking out just to see all of the cool movie props, although the people on the show are cringingly smarmy and unlikable) are going to be auctioning one of the actual "Atlantean" swords used by Arnold himself during the filming of Conan the Barbarian!

The auction takes place this weekend, Dec. 17-18, and includes all kinds of hero (props used in close ups during filming) pieces, like one of the evil rocket-firing penguins from Batman Returns and Marty McFly's hoverboard from Back to the Future II.

But if you're still in the mood for swords, you may want to get your hands on this movie-used William Wallace sword from Braveheart.

To read more about all of this sheer awesomeness, click the links above. Happy bidding!

Just a Little Conan Art...

I just saw this little piece of art, done in an inspired Kubert-ian style in watercolor, on deviantART and simply had to pass it on here. It never ceases to amaze me how artists continue to be inspired by Conan. Enjoy...

You can see more art by Cinar on their deviantART gallery right HERE.

CONAN writer - Sean A. Moore...RIP

Hello, My name is Mike and I am proud to be a part of CROM the Ultimate CONAN fan blog. I've been following CROM since I discovered it in late 2008. I've sent Reis and Cromsblood many items that were used here and there and directed them a time or two to some interesting CONAN stuff which they used. I was thrilled to say I was happy just to be recognized and to have some of my art and comments here on the blog.

This is my first posting and I hope it will be informative and enjoyable or entertaining in some way. I am going to tell you about Sean A. Moore a writer who produced three official CONAN novels.

I was reading an issue of Savage Sword of CONAN and on the inside back cover was an ad for CONAN the HUNTER. I ran out the next day to my local book store and found it in trade size. A good size. Easy to hold and turn the pages. As I read along I got immersed in the story and found Moore's writing style was very similar to REH's. While many people do not care for overly descript writing I find it artful and thought to myself..." Wow Moore is really capturing the spirit of REH in his writing style. " I finished that book and went on to search out other Sean A. Moore CONAN books and at that time could only find that he wrote one prior to The HUNTER. "CONAN and the Shaman's Curse " it was out of stock and nobody could order it for whatever reason. So I went on a used paperback book store search . No luck I never found the book.

Then One day..."CONAN and the GRIM GREY GOD" was staring me in the face at the book store. A third Moore CONAN novel. WOW!! I picked it up bought it and ran home to begin getting lost in the world of CONAN once more. I was immediately taken back to the first time I read an REH story and finished the book in record time..OVERNIGHT.

Sean A. Moore weaved words in his CONAN stories that would make REH proud. STATUES , GARGOYLES , SORCERY , NECROMANCERS , Walking skeletal giants whose flesh grew back with each step across a desert wasteland. I finally recently found "CONAN and the SHAMAN'S CURSE" on EBAY in a lot of CONAN BOOKS and needed to purchase them all in order to get my hands on the book. I have not read it. But soon I will hunker down and rip through that book in one night as I did with The GRIM GREY GOD!

It is terrible to have to tell you that Sean A. Moore died in a car accident. I recommend that you find these books and you read them. By hook or by crook or wheel and deal on EBAY if you must get hold of these books and read them. If you love CONAN as we do here at CROM ( so cool to be able to say that. ) BUY THEM BOOKS.

I looked up Sean A. Moore on the internet and found a Wiki page for him. I have copied and pasted some of his bio here. ( See Below ) Along with some pics of the covers of the books you should get. Read on and enjoy.

"Sean A. Moore (April 20, 1964 - February 23, 1998) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer, and computer programmer. His primary significance as a writer is for his three pastiche novels featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan and for his work on the screenplay of the movie Kull the Conqueror, and novelization of the same film.

Moore was a resident of Boulder, Colorado, where he worked in the field of computer programming in a number of different capacities, including programmer, systerms operations specialist, and writer of computer games. He was employed as a programmer by Aspen Systems, Inc. He was also a designer of board games. His hobbies included paying computer games and fencing.

Moore died in a car crash. He was survived by his wife. Services were held five days after his death.

Moore was active as both a fan and a professional writer in the community of Colorado fantasy and science fiction enthusiasts. Initially writing part-time, he had become a full-time writer at the time of his death, primarily for Tor Books. His last work was an unfinished science fiction horror novel, provisionally titled Diggers. He was a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Among Moore's works are three Conan novels and the novelization of the film Kull the Conqueror, all published by Tor Books. He also contributed in an uncredited capacity to the screenplay of the film, and wrote the novelette "10585," published in the anthology " It Came from the Drive-In ".

Moore has been both praised for his "strengths ... in crafting a clever, dense plot with immense, epic scope, and populating it with an imaginative flood of action and monsters," and criticized for "overwrit[ing] to an incredible degree" and "choppy ... start-and-stop structure."

Long live CONAN .....Long live REH and Long live Sean A. Moore.

Custom Conan Heroclix: Temple of the Serpent Edition!

I was going through my Conan folder (oh, like you don't have one) and I came across these shots of this badass little custom Conan Heroclix game figure that I spotted on eBay ages ago. I love how this is the war-painted Conan from the first movie's Temple of the Serpent scene.

Enjoy...

CROM! Welcomes Mikeyboy!

Hail you Hyrkanian dogs! I just wanted to drop a quick note to officially welcome long-time CROM! reader and commenter, Mikeyboy, to his new position here on the blog as a full-fledged CROM! contributor!

So, expect to start seeing even more Conan news, reviews, art and whatever else Mikeyboy has up his sleeve.

And speaking of what's up his sleeve, anyone who has this tattooed on them...

... just has to be worthy enough to join our team!

So join me, everyone, on welcoming Mikeyboy the Mighty! HAIL!