CONAN THE VICTORIOUS (PART 2)

CONAN THE VICTORIOUS (PART 1)

The story beginning here today marks a historical point in the ongoing saga of Conan the Barbarian. Authored by Björn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp, it is the first original Conan tale written as a pastiche, that was not based on any of Robert E. Howard's stories, notes, outlines or rough drafts.

Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, Sept. 1957.

Original acrylic on board painting by Virgil Finlay.

First published in FANTASTIC UNIVERSE SCIENCE FICTION September 1957 as "Conan the Victorious", it would again be used the same year in chapters 2-5 of the novel, "The Return of Conan" for the Gnome Press edition. When Conan was revived and revitalized eleven years later in 1968, it was included in the Lancer paperback, "Conan the Avenger".

Frazetta's reworked painting for Conan the Avenger (aka Sacrifice).

While entertaining, the absence of the verve and dynamism that was the bedrock of Howard's Conan is lacking. But then again, there was only one Robert E. Howard.

Continued tomorrow.