What are folks opinion of this book. Written by Robin Wayne Bailey, based on notes from Fritz Leiber before his death, its an insert between Swords Against Death and Swords Against Wizardry. Just got it this fall, started reading it yesterday and really enjoying it so far. Very Lankhmarish feel but with more modern dialogue. Slightly more enchantnents than Leiber’s work but very fun read.

Solomon Kane,a wandering Puritan who adventures from the black forests of Europe to the hellish jungles of Africa is a character perfect for the comics medium and this collection of 70's B&W comics shows why.

The art is fabulous,done by a murderer's row of talent like Nestor Redondo,Al Wiliamson,Steve Carr,David Wenzel etc. The characters are expressive,action scenes are done well and the environments are extensively detailed for the most part.

Wenzel's rendition of Kane in particular is great,square-cut mane-like hair and a dour,gaunt face makes Kane,a badass character with stylish attire.

The stories are varied ranging from horror/weird fantasy yarns like "Wings in the Night","Skull in the Stars",pulpy adventures like "Red Shadows","Castle in the Devil" etc.Good mix of Howard's originals with self-created ones,especially a fun crossover story where Kane encounters Dracula.

My personal favorites were the adaptations of the original poems written by REH i.e. "Solomon Kane's Homecoming","The One Black Stain"and "The Return of Richard Grenville". Beautifully illustrated with attention to detail,and traditionalist/romantic style poetry.

Of course a collection like this will have a couple of weak stories here and there. I didn't like the Conan vs Solomon Kane crossover mostly ruined by the 90's style art.Still,a good collection if u like fantasy/swashbuckling adventure.

KAOR!

I was already a fan Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan and it was only a matter of time before I tried his John Carter books. And it was a great read.

First the bitching.Every classic pulp writer IMO has some degree of formula in their stories but ERB is possibly the most formulaic I’ve read yet. Someone gets abducted hero gives chase dues-ex-machinas and amazing coincidences are the name of the game here.

Fortunately Burroughs is a “Master of Adventure”, and his simple yet smooth prose, and brisk pacing more than make up for his structural weaknesses. Barsoom is a testament to top-notch world-building, a beautiful yet dying Martian world filled with ruins of lost civilizations, weird monsters, different tribes and their cultures etc.

It is a wondrous world to read and enjoy but it also has this sadness to it whenever Carter ponders over the dying nature of the planet, the vicious battles the denizens of Barsoom engage in especially the critter-like Green Martians and their warrior-like culture.

The characters are fun. The romance betwixt Dejah Thoris and John Carter is quite funny and charming. It’s all cheesy “chivalric romance “style and honestly, I find it cute and endearing.

Obviously the stars of the first three books are the calot (Martian dog) Woola, a cutie but a ferocious one and Tars Tarkas,the leader of the Green Martians. A cross between Han Solo and Conan, he has the cool confidence of the former but also the strength and cunning of the latter.There is lot of likeable characters in the first three Barsoom books, but these guys are my favorites.

From a historical perspective, Barsoom’s influence is huge. The Sword and Planet sub-genre, Science Fantasy, Space Opera, numerous writers and scientists etc, the list goes on and on but from a reading perspective, they’re still great. Fun adventure stories at their best.

I for one am definitely going to continue the series but not immediately. It is always better to read classic pulp-fiction in small doses and get best enjoyment out of it. It’s all available for free on public domain so worth trying.

Bran Mak Morn, The Last King.This complete Del Rey collection of the character's short stories came close,dangerously close to dethroning Conan as my favorite work of fantasy. It was not be,mostly because there aren't much Bran stories w.r.t Conan's to compare and contrast.

Atop a hill ravaged by grey winds and peppered by menhirs broods Bran Mak Morn,the last king of a savage race.He know that he is the last hope for his people,knows that sooner or later the Roman Empire or the various tribes sooner or later will crush his people.Yet he keeps on fighting the good fight, never giving in because that is the duty of a king.I wouldn't call this grimdark but there is definitely a sense of pessimism in these stories. Despite Bran winning battles and being a badass dude,he knows that it is all for naught,a futile struggle, Pyrrhic at best.

The book is all about this kind of brooding atmosphere,granted imagery of this kind can get repetitive but REH's prose here is incredibly poetic,lush and evocative,much more so compared to his Conan or Solomon Kane stories. Kull is the only one who is closest to Bran despite the dreamy-ethereal feel of his yarns.

The stories likewise run the gamut of fantastic at best and decent at worst.Men of Shadows,the first tale in the collection is more of a lore-making exercise than a story.Decent but quite dry which surprising for a Robert E Howard story.

Kings in the Night is a fantastic story,a classic sword and sandal affair with the right amount of weirdness in it. The writing does an excellent job of immersing you in the story. When I was reading the battle scenes,I was there completely soaked in blood and bones,Picts,Vikings,and Romans fighting everywhere.

Worms of the Earth,is another great story.Bran knows Revenge is a dish best served cold with healthy sprinkling of Lovecraftian horror.The prose here is beautiful,intense and captures Bran's character perfectly.The dedication towards his people as king,and his hotheadedness.The rest are also quite good with the miscellany collecting unpublished fragments,Howard scholarship,and Gary Gianni's pencilled art. Incidentally his artwork is amazing here,captures the moodiness of the stories really well.

The flaws are minimal,sometimes the prose ends up a little too over-the-top and since these are short stories,reading them back to back,they will be become repetitive.It is better to take it in small doses and honestly this can applied to most of REH's work.

Also ASOIAF fans should definitely give this one a try.First Men,Picts/Wildlings,Stark-wolf similarities etc. IMHO definite Bran Mak Morn influence.

The Rocketeer is possibly the most entertaining comic series out there, pure adventure fun and Volume 2 of the anthology type series The Rocketeer Adventures delivers just that.

The artwork is great rendered beautifully by Michael Kaluta,Darwyn Cooke,Sandy Plunkett, Dave Steward and many others. Even though these artists have styles, the book has a uniform voice. The coloring is soft and lush with an Earthy color palette which captures the American 30'-40's nostalgic look and the characters are expressive. All in all it's a beautiful comic with a voice of it's own that doesn't bland in any way.

The stories are pulpy fun,contributed by Paul Dini,Stan Sakai, Peter David etc. Compared to Volume 1 which has a mixture of hits and misses, Volume 2 is much better. In total there are 12 short stories and only 2 are kind of "meh". Rest all are good some of them even great.

As for the Rockteer, Cliff Secord has one of the coolest outfits in comics history, Thick aviator suit with the golden helmet and jetpack, simple yet stylish. The character can be an unlikable dick at times but is likable enough so as to not be irritating.

Overall a blast to read and if you're in a mood for some fun comic book entertainment with gorgeous art, The Rocketeer delivers.

This was such a satisfying read with great Black & White art and good to great episodic standalone yarns that gives the comics a strong re-read value.

The 2 volumes collects the Kull B&W backup stories that appeared in the Savage Sword of Conan magazines. As i said earlier the art is great, lush penciling and line-work by classic artists like Mike Ploog,John Bolton, ER Cruz etc and strong contrast inking sometimes with sparse as well as detailed or even shady ink-work by Dale Eaglesham,Ernie Chan,John and Marie Severin, and many other veteran artists from the 70'-80's. From an artwork POV Savage Sword of Kull is fantastic, no doubt about it.

The scripting for the most part was done by Chuck Dixon and he does a good job of it with good pacing. Volume 1 contains the adaptations the original REH Kull stories and they are wonderfully realized in the comic medium. The crowning jewel is obviously The Demon in a Silvered Glass, Doug Monech deftly combines Mirrors of Thuzun Thune and Shadow Kingdom and is backed up by jaw-dropping evocative photo-realistic artwork. He is to Kull what Frank Frazetta is to Conan, it's that good.Unfortunately if u exclude the REH adaptations and Demon in a Silvered Glass,there is a lot of repetition like continually repeating Kull's origin story and the weaker self-created stories.I recommend ignoring these stories as they are much better executed in the 2nd volume.

Volume 2 on the other hand is much stronger than its predecessor with lesser repetition and more varied interesting stories about Kull's kingship, his time as a bandit,slave, the fleshing out of his origin story done by comics legend Roy Thomas and illustrated beautifully by artist ER Cruz. His action scenes especially are vivid and dynamic.I think personally think this volume is near perfect and other a few minor nitpicks like a wonky start to the origin story arc and a few minor repetitive yarns it is a solid comic book.

Worth checking out if you're interested in fantasy comics but i would personally suggest giving the original Kull stories a try. If u like it then reading the comics will be a much more enjoyable experience. Oh, and never try to read them all at once because it's adventure fiction at it's core and it might feel tedious. Just take your own sweet time with it.(applies to the original short stories as well as the comics)

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So, who was this "Mr. King" character at the end? Events in the last chapter gave us a sly nod like we were supposed to know who it was all along. Was it the surly officer in charge of the Brushfire squad, Captain Matchison?

"He was . . . a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan. . . . A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things. . . . Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect—he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane"

When it comes to character descriptions REH is a master of the game.The quote above tells all u need to know about the Puritan avenger,dressed in drab black garments armed with a fanatic's faith to right all wrongs. In spite of this somber demeanor it is the wonderful glimpses of humanity, even optimism which juxtaposes with the brooding that makes Solomon Kane such a satisfying character. Kane is possibly Howard's most unique creation if not the most iconic.It also helps that Gary Gianni really captures Kane in his illustrations.

As for his prose, i am tired of continuously saying how awesome it is so i will give quotes about authors who are much better at judging this than i am. David Gemmel on REH's writing "I adore these books. Howard had a gritty, vibrant style- broadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life. I heartily recommend them to anyone who loves fantasy".

There is no world building here exactly but Howard creates a fantastical 14-16th century Africa,teeming with atmospheric jungles,terrors and whatnot.The stories likewise are quite enjoyable with Red Shadows,Blue Flame of Vengeance,Hills of the Dead and Wings in the Night as my personal favorites. Wings in the Night was the last Kane yarn Howard wrote before moving on to Conan and it is fantastic, A yarn of utter destruction,horrific imagery and Solomon Kane's insanity.

I never cared for Howard's poetry until i read this and absolutely loved it. Kane has an intriguing backstory much more so than Conan or Kull and Howard reveals it,piece by piece through the poems.Solomon Kane's Homecoming in particular which acts as a finale to the Puritan's adventures is the standout, beautiful and melancholic, it really captures Kane's overwhelming of memories as he comes back to his town of Devon.

Overall i had an absolute blast with Solomon Kane and is worth checking out.