Does it count as “Conan the Barbarian conquers Titan” if it was all done with lawyers? After a suitable amount of time had passed from the announcement that Marvel would no longer be publishing books with Conan the Barbarian in them, Titan Comics released the news yesterday that they had struck a deal with Heroic Signatures. That being the company name for the entity that owns Conan and apparently most, if not all, of Robert E. Howard’s creations.
It makes sense. As was once said to me by someone high up at a major publisher, “I’d rather publish things we can leverage ourselves.” And with so much of their own IP available through the purchase of 20th Century Fox, Disney never needed to have Conan back at Marvel. Though Titan grows in its eminence every month, it’s wheelhouse right now is doing excellent books based on licensed properties (their original titles are no slouch either).
As it’s an anniversary year coming up for everybody’s favorite Cimmerian, they’ve got far more going on than just comics. I admit that it took the press release to remind me there’s still a major MMORPG going on. That’s just the tip of the Hyborian iceberg…
With Titan being a U.K. based publisher, the interesting wrinkle is that much of Howard’s work is public domain outside of the US. If you’ve noticed, Ablaze Comics reprints European stories about Conan as [amazon text=The Cimmerian&asin=1950912205], though their reach is nowhere near that of Marvel or Titan.
The only thing I know for certain is you can’t keep a good barbarian down.
From Titan:
Global publisher Titan Comics and entertainment studio Heroic Signatures are excited to announce a new co-publishing venture for the Robert E. Howard publishing program of comics, graphic novels and re-mastered archives including the omnibus program previously published by Marvel Comics.
The new line of originated comic books kicks-off with Howard’s most famous character, Conan the Barbarian, in a brand-new ongoing series launching in May 2023 – and will be part of Titan Comics Tenth Anniversary celebrations. In addition, several mini-series’ are in development that will feature Robert E. Howard’s rich tapestry of iconic heroes.
This news follows last year’s announcement that Titan’s book division are continuing the legacy of Conan with Heroic Signatures in all-new novels, short stories, and illustrated art books – beginning this Fall 2022, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the character. Conan: Blood of the Serpent novel – the first in a series of new standalone adventures – hits bookstores from October 18, 2022, followed by Conan the Barbarian: The Official Story of the Film – a behind-the-scenes hardback retrospective book – on November 1, 2022.
In 1932, visionary pulp writer Robert E. Howard ushered in a new genre of sword-and-sorcery with Conan, in the pages of American pulp magazine, Weird Tales. In the fantastical Hyborian Age, the Cimmerian’s wandering adventures featured many thrilling, often vicious, battles with his fearsome enemies. In 2022, the character of Conan – now celebrating his 90th anniversary – continues to captivate audiences across all areas of popular culture including movies, video games, novels, comic books, TV, and soon the streaming world, as a new Netflix series is currently in development.
“We have been working with Titan for a year on the prose side and established a good foundation for expanding our business together. When it became clear that Heroic Signatures would publish our own comics it was natural to partner with a team that we have known for decades. Their expertise in publishing is stellar and we couldn’t be more excited to launch a barbarian horde of titles like Conan, Solomon Kane, Dark Agnes, and many more together.” said Fredrik Malmberg, President of Heroic Signatures.
“Following on from the Conan fiction and illustrated books Titan Books is publishing this year with Heroic Signatures, we are very excited to be extending our relationship with our longstanding colleagues, Fred and Jay and their incredible team, to include Comics, Graphic Novels and Archive Editions through Titan Comics, for all the Robert E Howard properties which we will be launching in 2023.” said Titan Comics and Titan Books co-Publishers Vivian Cheung and Nick Landau.
The comic publishing program will begin in May 2023 with the launch of Conan the Barbarian. This program will be supported by book distribution through Penguin Random House, in comic shops through Diamond Comic Distributors and day-and-date on all major digital platforms.
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