This thread needs more people who have seen the new Deathstalker
Hey hey, I saw your post in the SC thread and actually took the time to try to watch it, but none of my streaming services had it, just Amazon for rent or buy. Then a few days later, the DVD caught my eye on an endcap at Walmart.
I threw it on, but my 11 year old was in the room and I dont think I realized the levels of violence that was in store. Had to turn it off seconds after it started because the opening shot hahaha - but I will definitely make the time to watch it the next time I find myself with time alone at the house lol
The early 2000's run at Dark Horse is the best comic version of Conan ever. But it's not extended Conanverse, since it's adapting the original stories, mostly. Also.. some of the best fantasy-related comic art ever.
You should.
I think the problem that movie had, as much as anything else, was being directly compared (even unintentionally/subconsciously) to something that is very different, and is beloved as much out of nostalgia as for being great. That's a tall building to leap for any film.
I don't think it's even debatable which film has a better Conan. It really comes down to which one you prefer as a film and how important it is to you to have a Conan movie with a legit Conan as the main character. For my money, Momoa's film is more enjoyable, because he felt like Conan on screen, even if the rest of the movie wasn't exactly great. Arnie's version is a great barbarian fantasy movie, but fails utterly as a Conan movie. I don't think that's even controversial.
Realistically, I'd be surprised if you come away from a second viewing LIKING the movie, but you may find yourself nodding along and thinking 'okay, this guy is a great Conan.'
I will for sure, after Deathstalker I suppose. I do remember the tone of the movie was more in line with the Dark Horse comics version, which as you mentioned, the series was amazing (and more true to Howards original version).
My case with exposure the Conan is a bit skewed. I grew up casually reading the Marvel comics, but honestly was too young to understand everything, I was just attracted to "warrior with a sword". The movie came out when I was 11, and I wanted to see it soooooo bad! I begged and begged my mom to take me, and she finally did. But she never bothered to check it out first, so I ended up missing half the movie because she would put her hand over my eyes whenever there was a naked woman or extreme violence. This just made me want to see the movie even more and it kinda became a personal mission to see the flick in it's entirely with no hand over my eyes lol. That movie will always be special to me, seriously.
I dont remember when or how I got to see it fully eventually, but when I did, I fell in even love with the character and just conanverse in general. That led me into an era of just digging in hard on the Savage Sword magazine and some of the Howard works. Then by the time Dark Horse got the license, I was a full on seasoned fan, and I just enjoyed the shit out of those books. Definitely my favorite versions of his stories in the comics medium, by far. As Alt said, Cary Nord was a god on that run indeed.
