Sunbow
Productions, Jetlag Productions, Graz Entertainment (season 1), Créativité et Développement,
AB Productions (season 2)
Michael Beattie – Needle
Scott McNeil – Zula, Greywolf, Misha, Wrath-Amon, Ram-Amon, Yang Doo, Erik the Flame-Lord
Janyse Jaud – Jezmine
Kathleen Barr – Sasha, Mesmira
Garry Chalk – Snagg, Gora, Conan’s father, Torrinon
Alec Willows – Falkenar
Doug Parker – Dregs, Skulkur, Windfang, Kari Dragon, Zogar Sag, Jhebbal-Sag (corrupted)
Richard Newman – Set, Conan’s grandfather, Dong Hee, Jhebbal-Sag
After a trip to the Rio Grande in
1932, Robert E. Howard
fully conceived of his latest character: Conan the Barbarian. Upon his return,
he rewrote his rejected story “By This Axe I Rule!” and replaced the star
character, Kull, with Conan to
call it “The
Phoenix on the Sword”, as well as wrote an original story called “The
Frost-Giant’s Daughter.” He submitted both to Weird
Tales magazine, and after some editing “The Phoenix on the Sword”
appeared in the December 1932 issue.
 |
| The first appearance of Conan. |
Series editor Farnsworth Wright
had Howard write a personal essay detailing the world of Conan for his own
personal use and future reference. Conan is a Cimmerian, a tribe descended from
the ancient Atlanteans based on the Celts or Gaels. He was born the son of a
blacksmith and became an adept fighter by the age of 15. Living in the
fictional Hyborian Age (which was the title of Howard’s essay), Conan began
wandering the lands and spent time as a thief, outlaw, mercenary and pirate
until he eventually sized his own kingdom in his later years. While often
depicted as an incredibly strong, muscular man, Conan has intelligence to back
up his skill making him an excellent commander as well as a skilled warrior.
Originally, Conan was depicted as having a keen sense of humor, although in
future adaptations of Howard’s work that was largely downplayed or removed.
 |
| The beginning of Marvel's 30-year relationship with Conan. |
Howard published 17 out of 21
completed stories, with numerous others left in unfinished fragments before his
suicide in 1936. Since then, other writers have taken up the Cimmerian’s
adventures in pulp and book form. In 1952, Conan made the leap to comics in the
Mexican anthology series Cuentos de Abuelito from #8
through #61, featuring adaptations of Howard stories as well as original works
(and Conan as a blonde, rather than a brunette as Howard intended). In 1970, Marvel Comics acquired the license to the
character and consistently published him in various
titles, primarily written by Roy Thomas, and crossed
over with their other characters until 2000. Some of the comics were also
adapted into daily newspaper
comic strips.
In 1982, Conan made the transition
to film with Conan the Barbarian. Directed
by John Millus and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the film
featured Conan escaping enslavement by Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) and seeking
revenge against him for the death of his family and people. Despite mixed
reviews, the film was a box office success and led to the 1984 sequel Conan the Destroyer. Directed
by Richard Fleischer, the
film had a less positive reception than the first but was still a box office
success. A third film, Conan the
Conqueror, was planned, but with Schwarzenegger committed to Predator and unwilling to negotiate a
new contract with producer Dino De
Laurentis, the film fell into development hell. In a bit of history
repeating itself, the script was repurposed for Howard’s other character Kull
in 1997’s Kull the Conqueror starring Kevin
Sorbo.
 |
| Conan and his horse, Thunder. |
In 1992, Conan entered the world of
animation in an American-French-Canadian adaptation. Developed by Christy Marx, who also served as sole
story editor, the series focused on the discovery of star metal made from
meteors that fell from the sky. Conan’s father (Garry Chalk) would forge the
metal into tools and weapons that would never dull, break or rust; including a
sword for Conan (Michael Donavan) that he placed in a sealed crypt for Conan to
claim when he was strong enough to open it. The evil wizard Wrath-Amon (Scott
McNeil) learned about the metal and laid siege to Conan’s village to get it,
turning his parents into stone. Conan began a quest across Hybornia to find a
cure for his family’s condition and prevent Wrath-Amon from building pyramids
needed to unleash his Serpent-god Set (Richard Newman) upon the world.
 |
| Snagg, Zula, Conan, Jezmine and Greywolf. |
Conan was joined on his quest by
several allies; Thunder, Conan’s willful and loyal horse with star metal
horseshoes who often tossed Conan from his back rather than enter a city; Needle
(Michael Beattie), a phoenix who resided on his shield, spoke in the third
person, and was often required to disguise himself as a parrot (which he
resented); Zula (McNeil), Prince of the Wasai who wielded star metal bolas that
the later reforged into a more useful boomerang; Jezmine (Janyse Jaud), a circus
performer and thief who wielded star metal throwing stars and had strong
feelings for Conan; Greywolf (McNeil), a wizard from Xanthus whose staff was
eventually given the star metal Claw of Heaven topper that increased his power;
Snagg (Chalk), a Viking-like barbarian with a sense of humor who wields a star
metal axe and grapnel and is often at odds with Conan because of their opposing
cultures; and Falkenar (Alec Willows), champion of the kingdom of Kusan armed
with a star metal whip who is able to fly using the Mantle of Wind. Sometimes
joining them were Greywolf’s older brother and sister Sasha (Kathleen Barr) and
Misha (McNeil), who had become transformed into wolves by Mesmira (Barr).
 |
| The demon Set. |
The primary villains of the series were
the Snake Cult that worshipped Set. The Snake Cult was comprised of Serpent-Men
who could take the shape of ordinary humans, hiding amongst the populace. Only
unprotected exposure to star metal could reveal their true identities or cause
them to be banished to an alternate dimensional limbo known as the Abyss (a way
of sanitizing enemies being killed for the benefit of the cartoon-viewing
audience). Wrath-Amon was the leader of the Cult. Originally a gila monster
transformed into a man-like creature, Wrath-Amon overthrew his master, Ram-Amon
(also McNeil), to become the high priest of the Cult. His Black Ring protected
him from the more harmful effects of star metal.
 |
| Wrath-Amon. |
Serving Wrath-Amon was his assistant, Dregs (Doug Parker), a sneaky Naga
who was essentially Needle’s opposite and nemesis; Skulkur (also Parker), an
undead warrior empowered by the Black Ring that could animate skeletons to
fight for him; Windfang (Parker again), an enslaved four-armed winged dragon
man that could breathe fire and sought his freedom from Wrath-Amon; Mesmira,
the evil queen of Stygia and a powerful sorceress; and Gora (Chalk), Zula’s
cousin, a Prince of Wasai and a sorcerer who worked as a spy for Wrath-Amon and
sought to eliminate Zula in order to inherit his throne. Yang Doo (McNeil) was
an exiled warlord who frequently joined Windfang on his own independent
schemes.
 |
| Ready for sacrifice? |
Produced by Jetlag Productions
and Sunbow
Entertainment, Conan the Adventurer premiered in syndication on
September 12, 1992. Although it was criticized for the taming of the Conan
character and the world in which he lived, the series proved popular with fans
of the character and general audiences. It was also highly praised for staying
close to Howard’s original material. The series ran for two seasons, written by
Marx, Buzz Dixon, Roy Thomas, Carla Conway, Roger Slifer, Lloyd Goldfine, Katherine Lawrence, Larry DiTillio,
Bridget McKenna, Doug Booth, Jean Chalopin, George Bloom, Richard Mueller, Marv Wolfman and Richard Merwin. The first season
ran on Saturday mornings produced by Graz Entertainment, while the
second season ran daily and was produced by AB Productions and Créativité
et Développement. Animation Korea Movie
(AKOM) Productions handled the animation duties throughout. The series’ music
was composed by Chase/Rucker
Productions.
In 1992, Hasbro produced a line of action figures
based on the series. Included was Conan in four different outfits, Greywolf,
Skulkur, Wrath-Amon, Zula, Thunder and a horse for Wrath-Amon. Each figure came
with a pull-cord battle action. In the United Kingdom, Maximum
Entertainment released several
episodes in 2004 and the complete
first season in 2008 on DVD. Maximum also released episodes as part of a
three pack in Action
Man/RoboCop/Conan the Adventurer. Force Entertainment released the complete
series in Australia in 16 single-disc volumes of four episodes per disc. From
2011 to 2012, Shout! Factory released
the complete
first season followed by second
season across two volumes.
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