Al, thanks for the thoughtful comment and straight up schooling me. My memory is admittedly blurry from my junior high days when I was reading Conan books. I never read the “Queen of The Black Coast” story so I honestly couldn’t tell what was from the original and what parts were adapted. Looks like I have some homework to do!

You’re obviously a fan, have you read the comic? Aside from the slight mis-characterisation of Conan did you have any other issues with it? What did you think of the art?

In fact, this story is a direct adaptation of one of Robert E. Howard’s most celebrated short stories: much of the things you give praise to the comic (Conan being more intelligent, wily, etc) were straight from the original. “Have you silver to pay for your passage/I pay with steel” is almost verbatim, for instance. There are lots of little differences, but the basic sequence of events is the same.

The only thing which I do have issue with is the “likeable, self-aware rogue” characterisation of Conan: this is consistent with a more mature, confident Conan, but at this stage in his career (in the original story) he’s a bit more guarded and self-conscious, though still with a sense of entitlement and very brash. You see this more gregarious, charismatic, fun-loving Conan in later (chronologically) stories like “The Pool of the Black One” and “The Devil in Iron.”