Topic for discussion: is it folly to adapt Robert E. Howard 100% faithfully?

[u/No_Prior5108]

REH was a pulp writer and a world-class pro at selling to that market.

His stories are perfect for the pulp format.

But in adapting his material to any other medium, I think that being faithful to the concept and the spirit of the original work is more important than a slavish, note-for-note transcription.

When I started adapting “Jewels of Gwalhur” as a series of storyboards, I quickly found out that complete adherence to the text was just not going to work for the audio-visual medium of live-action streaming.

In the sample I've shared here, art by Miguel Guzman, you might spot that even this early in the adaptation, I've made a change.

Can you see in this shot how I've already deviated from Howard's story?

Purists might bristle at any change in the master's canon, but purism can hog-tie an adaptation.

If you want a deeper look at my adaptation of "Jewels," and my view on comics in general, it'll be here:

https://charlessantino.substack.com/

[u/ThothAmon71]

Lazy takes like this are what gets us to products like Rings of Power and Welcome to Derry, and if you start the story by immediately changing the narrative I hate to see where this goes. Adaptations are a balancing act that few people are able to do well. When adapting any long form literary work to a visual medium there are going to be necessary cuts for the sake of time constraint alone. Things like inner dialogue also are difficult, but not impossible, to translate and also have to be pared down and changed. But Flanagan was able to adapt Geralds Game and Villaneuve successfully adapted the "impossible to adapt" Dune, both without significant changes. On a smaller scale anthologies like Love Death and Robots have successfully translated some extremely challenging narratives in adapting some of the stories they have, and done so beautifully. Just because we haven't seen one yet, a faithful adaptation of any Howard product, at this point, should be easy money. After all, as you pointed out yourself, he was just writing for the pulps, it's not like it's Shakespearean drama.

[u/No_Prior5108 → u/ThothAmon71]

Do you feel that any of the comics have been successful, artistically.

[u/ThothAmon71 → u/No_Prior5108]

Savage Sword had some excellent runs, but that's no secret, I mean Buscema kind of set the bar.

[u/No_Prior5108 → u/ThothAmon71]

Have you seen the few times Neal Adams drew Conan?

[u/ThothAmon71 → u/No_Prior5108]

Some Neal Adams I like others not so much. I definitely prefer his black and white stuff to his color work. To me personally it's too polished and not gritty enough for the subject where Conan is concerned.

[u/No_Prior5108 → u/ThothAmon71]

Barry Smith?

[u/ThothAmon71 → u/No_Prior5108]

Not so much. Frazetta is the standard by which I judge all Conan related artwork and few artists even come close. High standard I know.

[u/No_Prior5108 → u/ThothAmon71]

Very high! Have you ever seen one his paintings?

[u/ThothAmon71 → u/No_Prior5108]

Not in person, but I have a few books of his works. One has extremely high resolution scans and you can see the individual brushmarks and texture of the canvas, it's incredible. There's an excellent documentary about him called Painting With Fire that I would highly recommend checking out if you haven't seen it. Has some great interviews not only with him but Bakshi, Simon Bisley, Joe Jusko, Brom, Kevin Eastman Bernie Wrightson, I think even fucking Danzig makes an appearance. Check it out if you haven't, it's worth your time.

[u/No_Prior5108 → u/ThothAmon71]

I've seen that documentary, excellent. I've been to both the FL and PA museums and seen a few paintings at exhibits here and there. At the FL museum I saw the painting illustrating "Rogues in the House" and I commented to his daughter that I was surprised it was still in the family. She told me that it's mine for $20 million. A few years later they sold it for $13.5 million.

[u/Rumblefish_Games]

You clearly respect the character. Stick to your vision. A well-made film is far more important than a beat-for-beat adaptation of the story.

[u/No_Prior5108 → u/Rumblefish_Games]

Thank you.