hat Is Best In Life? Not Conan 3D, Barring A Miracle

Borne on the crest of the wind, I hear already the lamentation of women. Women whose dates have dragged them, possibly by the hair, to the late summer picture show. By now many of you know that Lionsgate will soon release a new film entitled Conan The Barbarian. Most of you will also recall a cult classic by the same name from 1982, which marked the breakout performance by a certain Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Predictably, the parties involved claim that this new Conan is not a remake of the Schwarzenegger favorite, but a square-one adaptation of the original stories by author Robert E. Howard. They always say that, but in this case it might not be so hot an idea. Howard’s stories are respectable enough, brimming with imaginative prose and lavish detail that gave rise to the whole sword and sorcery genre. Howard, by the way, was a correspondent of an even more influential writer by the name of H. P. Lovecraft. Sad and weird as both men were, their peculiar talents have granted each a legacy lasting well into the century beyond.