Edited by Leo Grin | Illustrated by Dalmatius
40 pages

This issue was printed in two editions. The deluxe edition, numbered 1–75, uses a black linen cover with foil-stamped gold text. The limited edition, numbered 76–225, uses a gold cover with solid black text.

DELUXE COPIES DESTROYED: 16

LIMITED COPIES DESTROYED: 55

Features comprehensive coverage of the historic 2006 centennial edition of Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas. Includes sixteen thousand words of reminiscences, full reports on all panels and activities, pictures, and more.

EXCERPTS:

“We’re here as Robert E. Howard fans,” President and CEO Sederowsky announced to everyone at the library. “We’re now encompassing the entire world of Robert E. Howard.” Malmberg explained how Paradox found out about Howard and got the rights to Conan. “It started about 1975, when I read Tolkien books and got hooked on fantasy. I discovered Conan in British editions with Frank Frazetta covers. The Frazetta covers really jumped out at me. I got into gaming, and Howard was always prominent in gaming circles. In the early 1980s our company published about fifty fantasy books in Swedish, such as Moorcock, Leiber and Conan. The company grew and did a lot of games. We worked with video games and created Paradox. But we didn’t really enjoy making video games.”

They decided in 2001 that they needed a top notch brand or character. They listed characters that they thought were poorly represented, and came up with a list of fifty different characters. Many on that list were Howard’s, including Conan. And it was after that they got the rights to Conan.

Both men said that they thought of Howard as a “classic American author.” One reason they were able to bring all of the Howard material under one roof is that the Baums were impressed with what they did with Conan. “I think you won’t be disappointed,” Malmberg said in regards to their future plans with Howard material. “We listen to the Howard scholars and know the stories. Conan is actually more popular in Europe than he is here. So we’re talking about a global journey.”

— from the Q & A panel with executives from Paradox Entertainment, current holders of the REH copyrights

When the lights came up, Myers treated us to more behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the film. He explained that his original script was 160 pages long, which he cut down to 106 pages before shooting began. Vincent D’Onofrio was asked to play Howard because he physically looked like the author. Myers noted that D’Onofrio actually met with Novalyne and talked to her about Howard, and she told Vincent to play Howard powerfully.

Michael did admit that “I watch it after all these years and there are still things I don’t like in the movie. I think the best things are the interaction between Howard and Novalyne, especially when they’re talking about writing.” One part he did not like was the passionate first kiss between Howard and Novalyne. Myers said that the kiss on screen was not what he wrote. “I wanted it to be a more gentle first kiss. The director liked it the way it’s on screen.”

— from the screening of the REH film The Whole Wide World, featuring screenwriter Michael Scott Myers

Roy went on to tell us that the book was so different for its time that Stan Lee, Thomas’ boss and the main man at Marvel Comics for many, many years, was kind of puzzled by the comic. “Stan Lee didn’t know anything about Sword-and-Sorcery. He told me ‘When you find an issue you know is a good issue, let me know’.”

Thomas chose Conan #4 — “The Tower of the Elephant” — as that good issue, and gave it to Lee to read. Roy shared his reaction with the audience: “He read it in fifteen minutes, came out, dropped it on my desk, and said ‘Not my kind of thing, but if people like it, OK.’ To my knowledge, that is the only Conan comic that Stan Lee ever read.”

— from the panel “The Coming of Conan,” featuring comic book legend Roy Thomas