only thing I worry about is that MArvel has such big IPs to juggle and Conan isn't really one of them at the moment, no movie coming AFAIK so he might just get shafted. While with a smaller publisher like DH he got proper attention. Although I know the Brian Wood series was quite divisive. I'm currently reading Busiek's run and I'm really enjoying it .
I'm not worried much. I've liked how Marvel has handled their licensed properties for the last few years.
They put their top talent on the Star Wars titles and had good results. They are covering the older material in both Omnibus and Epic format.
When they got the reprint rights to Master of Kung Fu, they committed to collecting the entire series and Deadly Hands of Kung Fu in omnibus and are starting to release it in Epic also.
When Marvel originally had the license, they put high quality creators on the title for decades, as well as having spin off magazine, second title, and various graphic novels and other tie ins. There are plenty of top tier writers and artists interested in Conan so that I'm sure we will get an announcement for the new ongoing title soon.
This will also give Marvel a chance to reprint some of the stories where Conan interacts with the MU, like the What If? issues he appeared in.
It will be interesting to see if Marvel decides to retain the continuity of the old series (including it's place in the MU).
Obviously they put effort into Star wars, it's bloody star wars
As for MoKF it's their property, he is in the main continuity and he can be used in movies or tv series (I think it was also a passion project for someone on the collect. ed. dep. but not sure about this).
I'm not saying they won't handle it well I just don't see a reason for it unless a creative team really wants to do something with it and they would actively go for it no matter what or if there is a movie in production.
And personally I want Conan as far away from the MU as possible. He works very well in his own world.
And Conan is bloody Conan. It's an IP that has an incredibly successful life as a comic. And decades of that was at Marvel.
But it still required extras cost and effort to get the rights to reprint the Fu Manchu stories. The omnibus releases show that Marvel can take the extra effort and time to do it right. MoKF may be their property, but it's never exactly been a hot title or had a large following. It's certainly much less popular than Star Wars or Conan, but it still got the careful planning and execution instead of half assing it.As for MoKF it's their property, he is in the main continuity and he can be used in movies or tv series (I think it was also a passion project for someone on the collect. ed. dep. but not sure about this).
But Marvel did something with it for decades. They have a proven track record for handling Conan. Do you really think they would spend time and money to get the license if they were then going to half ass it? Do you really think that there are no top notch creative teams that really want to work on Conan?I'm not saying they won't handle it well I just don't see a reason for it unless a creative team really wants to do something with it and they would actively go for it no matter what or if there is a movie in production.
And personally I want Conan as far away from the MU as possible. He works very well in his own world.
As far as the MU connections, they were seldom used and did not detract from the appeal of Conan. I just want to get a collection of the few stories that were in limbo due to the MU elements.
Out of curiosity, are there any examples of Marvel mishandling characters that are driving your anxiety? Because I'm looking at their track record for the past few years, and there's not anything that gives me real concern.
you have a point there with them not mishandling their properties lately, I think they had some halfassed attempt with John Carter around the movie but that was public property and Dynamite was doing similarly mediocre things with the character too (also the movie was mishandled too).
It might be just a sour taste in my mouth that Marvel took something from DH again that DH used pretty well. But maybe DH squeezed everything out of Conan they could.
I just don't have the sense of victory here lot of people seem to have that the character went back to them.
I am waaaay behind in modern Conan stories by the DH,so i can not speak about how good they were.(Just bought a couple of floppies issues of Conan by DH a couple of times)
Having said that when i started Reading comics,Marvel had the license of Conan,and thought it was a cool character that Marvel had.
Granted i did not buyed that many comics of Conan by Marvel(my comic books budget was not unlimited so i sticked with comics i was collecting more),but the Marvel comics of Conan i bought were cool (Conan stories illustrated by John Buscema comes to mind)
I do not want to Conan to be a Marvel character that is not used in new stories cough Mirecleman,Angela cough but new licences by Marvel as Star Wars or Shang Chi as Rincewind mentioned makes me think that new Conan stories by Marvel will be good.
Plus i am a fan of Omnibus,so this news makes me look forward to possible Conan omnibuses reprinting the classic Marvel stories of Conan.
Good point.
When Marvel got the Conan license in the 70s they got a top creative team for the stories.
Roy Thomas was like the second best writer of Marvel (only behind Stan Lee) and John Buscema illustrated lots of Conan stories.
John Buscema was like the Jim Lee of the time,he was viewed as a top artist,he was illustrating Avengers and illustrating new series as Silver Surfer before illustrating Conan.
Yeah it was real fresh and a unique title for the time. I hope it still holds up to day.
Pretty sure Marvel will just release with the volumes with around 15 issue per volume like the first one here. Maybe less in later volumes. First one will collect The What if story issue 0, issue 1/2 and issue 1-15
Last edited by Tupiaz; 01-14-2018 at 02:06 AM.
the 70s really was the time for word and sorcery but they might see a potential in it now because of Game of thrones. Not sure about where the movie rights are right now but if this means there is a good Conan movie coming (oh dear the last one was really bad, poor Momoa) and some new comics with top talent then yeah, great, I'm all in. I guess just this all around celebration rubbed me the wrong way, not just here but articles everywhere call it a homecoming like when Spidey went back to them after years of mishandling by Sony.
Also, I was thinking about this yesterday, but I just can't see a logical reason for Conan to be connected to the MU in any way. Sometimes I can see direct link between pulp and superheroes (Shadow/Batman) but while Conan is an archetype I don't think he directly influenced much in the MU.
I might be wrong again
Conan as far as i know have not influenced much the MU,the stories were not linked to the main MU stories.
The exceptions were the What If stories.So i guess the new Conan stories by Marvel will be the same as the stories from the 70s.
Conan being connected in the MU would make for a sword and sorcery comic book in the MU something that would improve the diversity of stories but then again there are other Marvel Super Heroes as Black Knight that can feature in a comic book like that.
I see Marvel buying back the Conan license as cool,because there are many older Marvel comics of Conan that i always wanted to read and this way i can start collecting them in new Tpbīs or Omnibuses.
New stories of Conan by a top creative team would be great as well.But i think it wold be better if the new stories would be as the stories from the 70s without being connected to the MU.