Art by C. C. Senf
Art by C. C. Senf

Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn in the Comics

Robert E. Howard created Bran Mak Morn from flint and blood. The tragic chief of the Picts fights a losing battle against the Romans. Even pulling such heroes as King Kull from the distant past can not stem the tide that will drive these secret people further underground. How could Marvel comics resist adapting these tales for magazines like Savage Tales and Savage Sword of Conan? Artists like Gene Day, Barry Windsor Smith and David T. Wenzel bring their best work to these short but creepy stories from the pages of Weird Tales.

The Lost Race

“The Lost Race” by Robert E. Howard (1927) originally appeared in Weird Tales, January 1927.

Art by G. O. Olinick
Art by G. O. Olinick

Cororuc, a Briton, is traveling from Cornwall back to his home in the north when he sees a panther attacking a wolf. He steps in and saves the wolf.

Continuing, he encounters bandits that he has been warned about. Jumping out of a tree, he kills two of them and flees. The third rouses the others who begin searching for him. He loses them in a set of low hills where he is knocked out and captured.

When he wakes he finds himself bound and inside a series of caves. His captors are a small people Cororuc doesn’t recognize. He is taken to the king of these people, the Picts, who recounts their history. The Picts were driven out by the Gaels and went underground to become the source of all the faery legends.

Cororuc is to be burned alive for punishment of his race but a Pict intervenes. It is the wolf he saved, who is really a man. Cororuc is freed, given weapons and food and sent on his way.

This story is little more than an excuse for Howard to rattle on about the history of the Picts (a subject he loved). His inspiration is the Welsh writer, Arthur Machen. What is interesting about “The Lost Race” is that it is the first tale to outline that history in Weird Tales. This story is usually collected along with the Bran Mak Morn stories though that character doesn’t appear.

“The Lost Race” was adapted by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gene Day and Danny Bulanadi in Savage Sword of Conan #68-69 (September-October 1981).

Art by Gene Day and Danny Bulanadi

Art by Gene Day and Danny Bulanadi
Art by Gene Day and Danny Bulanadi

Men of the Shadows

“Men of the Shadows” by Robert E. Howard (1969) is a poem from Always Comes Evening, 1957 from Arkham House. Text originally appeared in Bran Mak Morn, 1969.

A Roman auxiliary of Viking extract, along with 500 other Romans, ventures over the wall into Pictish territory only to be decimated by the locals. A few men survive and begin the dangerous trek back South.

Art by Frank Utpatel
Art by Frank Utpatel

More men die until the Norseman is alone and facing a horde of Picts. His valiant battle, despite the numbers, ends when he is taken prisoner and nursed back to health.

While a prisoner of Picts he witnesses Bran Mak Morn in a magic duel with an ancient wizard, which Bran wins by steady eye alone. The wizard begins to chant and tell of the history of the Humankind. The story ends on a rather esoteric note about the fire of Pictdom and Bran Mak Morn.

This story never saw publication in Weird Tales. It may have been rejected because it is too diffuse, starting as a tale of a Roman soldier, then moving focus to Bran Mak Morn and then ending with a history lesson. Not Howard’s best work though it does give us a great scene with Bran and the wizard.

“Men of the Shadows” was adapted as a four-parter by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gene Day in Savage Sword of Conan #102-104, #106 (July-September, November 1984). Gene Day does a great job of making the historical info dump into the most spectacular artwork in the entire thing.

Art by Gene Day
Art by Gene Day

Kings of the Night

“Kings of the Night” by Robert E. Howard (1930) originally appeared in Weird Tales, November 1930.

Bran Mak Morn and his Gaelic allies prepare to meet a Roman army marching beyond the wall. Bran needs to convince three hundred Vikings to join his side but their leader Ragnar was slain in a skirmish with some Roman scouts. The Vikings threaten to desert to the Roman side if Bran can’t produce a king worthy to lead them, a king who is neither Pict nor Gael.

Art by Hugh Rankin
Art by Hugh Rankin

Gonar, the wizard, comes to the rescue by calling King Kull from the past, using the magic stone in Bran’s headdress, a stone given to Brule the Spear-Slayer by Kull. Kull appears out of the sunrise. To convince the Vikings he must fight Wulfhere to the death. During the fight Wulfhere bites his arm, making him bleed. The Vikings see he is flesh and blood and not a ghost.

That morning the three hundred Vikings and Kull take positions as the bait in an ambush. Once the Roman’s enter the valley and engage the Vikings, the Gaels and Picts will come from the forests on either side to close the trap. Marcus Sulius arrogantly and foolishly falls for the trap, riding into the valley to assault the shield wall of the Vikings. These men with Kull valiantly hold the Romans while Cormac watches from the side, thinking Bran is late in closing the trap.

The Picts and Gaels do attack and the battle really begins, with chariots cutting down Romans and men dying all over. Bran kills Marcus Sulius himself with a dagger and the battle is over.

Every last one of the Vikings has died but they did not give an inch. Kull is surrounded by a group of Gaulish Romans, doomed but wanting revenge on the Valusian. They watch as he fades back to his time as the sun sets. Cormac is angry with Bran but the king of the Picts explains he knew he was sacrificing the Vikings but it was necessary to keep the Romans from reforming. A hard decision but one he made. Gonar shows up to tell them how the stories tell Kull returned to his time, wounded but survived.

This story is filled with dark magic, brooding history and, of course, plenty of action. The only thing it is missing is a good monster or two. As history it is pretty inaccurate but Howard always dwelt in his own version of time and space. As part of his pseudo-history, from Valusia to Britain, it is a brilliant cross-over (the only one he wrote) of his characters. The three hundred Vikings are quite obviously inspired by the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. The academics have made a lot about the Cormac in the story. Time-wise he simply could not be the same Cormac (no doubt, a relative) that appears in “Tigers of the Sea” and the Offutt books. Those two characters are separated by many centuries.

“Kings of the Night” was adapted by Roy Thomas and drawn by David T. Wenzel in Savage Sword of Conan #42-43 (July-August 1979).

Art by David T. Wenzel

Art by David T. Wenzel
Art by David T. Wenzel

A Song of the Race

“A Song of the Race” (poem) by Robert E. Howard (1969) originally appeared in Bran Mak Morn, 1969.

Bran Mak Morn summons a servant girl to sing him a song of his race, The Picts. She gives a brief history from Atlantis to Bran’s time, saying the Picts were the first race and they will be the last.

Another chance for Howard to feel “… a strange interest in the term and the people [Picts], and …a driving absorption regarding them.” [Introduction to The Worms of the Earth]. He relates some part of this history in every Bran Mak Morn story.

Comic adaptation appeared in Savage Sword of Conan #35 (November 1978). It was drawn by Michael Moyle.

Art by Michael Moyle

Art by Michael Moyle
Art by Michael Moyle

Worms of the Earth

“Worms of the Earth” by Robert E. Howard (1932) originally appeared in Weird Tales, November 1932.

Bran Mak Morn, posing as a Pictish ambassador witness Titus Sulla’s crucifixion of a Pict, wrongfully treated by the Romans. The man dies when a Roman officer, Valerius, is goaded into stabbing him. Bran sneaks off from Roman hospitality but not before visiting Valerius in jail (as punishment for the killing), stabbing him in the throat through the cell bars.

Art by Jayem Wilcox
Art by Jayem Wilcox

Bran plans a terrible vengeance on Sulla, who is locked away in Trajan’s Tower, an impregnable castle. Gonar warns Bran against the plan but he seeks out Atla the Witch-Woman of Dagon-Moor. They strike a bargain: he will sleep with her who has never known the touch of a man, and she will show Bran where he can find the Black Stone, sacred relic of the Worms of the Earth, degenerate remains of the race that the Picts drove underground long ago.

Bran enters the dark tunnels and steals the stone, throwing it into Dagon’s Mere, a lake reputed to haunted a monster. Later Atla takes Bran to another tunnel that leads him face-to-face with the Worms, who he bargains with: bring him Titus Sulla and they can have their stone back.

That night Trajan Tower is pulled down stone by stone from beneath the earth. Bran finds one of the dying legionnaires. He then returns to Dagon’s Mere to retrieve the stone. He thinks he can feel some horrible creature in the waters but it doesn’t attack. Later Bran meets with Atla and the Worms, making the exchange. Titus Sulla proves to be entirely insane. Bran had meant to fight him in an honest duel but puts the mewling creature out of its misery. Bran flees on his horse as Atla’s laughing burns him. She promises the Worms don’t forget and will one day see him again.

Art by Virgil Finlay
Art by Virgil Finlay

One of Howard’s most Mythosian Sword & Sorcery stories. He makes reference to R’yleh as well as The Nameless Ones within the text. The scenes where Bran ventures into the tunnels of the worms must have been inspired by H. G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” and his Morlocks. I can imagine H. P. Lovecraft suggesting this story to REH if he wasn’t familiar with it on his own. More startling is the similarity to Tolkien’s themes such as the creature Gollum and the Lurker in the Lake near the mines of Moria. Had Tolkien read this story or are they universal themes both writers used?

“Worms of the Earth” was adapted Roy Thomas and drawn by Barry Smith and Tim Conrad in Savage Sword of Conan #16-17 (December 1976-February 1977). Read the whole thing here.

Art by Barry Windsor Smith and Tim Conrad

Art by Barry Windsor Smith and Tim Conrad
Art by Barry Windsor Smith and Tim Conrad

Fragment

“Fragment” by Robert E. Howard (1969) originally appeared in Bran Mak Morn, 1969.

Bran Mak Morn is traveling in the land of the red-beards (Vikings) under his alias Partha Mac Othna (which he also used in “Worms of the Earth”). He passes a guard to find a tall woman sunning herself on a boulder by the sea. She accuses him of spying then challenges him to a wrestle. Bran is surprised by her she-cat ferocity. She claims to be the original inhabitant of the land, and sister to the wind and sea.

Art by Frank Frazetta
Art by Frank Frazetta

There is a possibility the woman might have proven to be a goddess figure of some kind. David C. Smith & Richard L. Tierney went with this kind of woman/goddess in their pastiche novel For the Witch of the Mists. The fragment did not have an outline with it so we’ll never know. It seems reminiscent of “The Gods of the North”, the original Conan story published as “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter”.

The Dark Man

“The Dark Man” by Robert E. Howard (December 1931) originally appeared in Weird Tales, December 1931.

Turlough O’Brien takes a fisherman’s boat so that he can pursue Thorfel the Fair who has kidnapped Moira of the O’Brien clan. Thorfel plans to make her his wife, by force if necessary.

Turlough rides into a gale in search of the tiny island of Helni where the pirates are located. He comes across another island where many dead Vikings lie. Also he finds small, dark-skinned people who were protecting a black stone statue of a dark man. Turlough puts the light statue into the bow of his boat and sails on.

He finds the island of Helni by terrific luck and sneaks inland to spy around Thorfel’s hall. Two Vikings approach bearing the Dark Man that they find very heavy. It falls on one man’s foot, crushing it. In his anger the Viking slams his sword into the statue, causing the blade to shatter into the face of the other Viking. They eventually get the statue into the hall.

Art by C. C. Senf
Art by C. C. Senf

Turlough sneaks into the building through a side door. A Viking comes out of the door but he kills him with his bare hands. The door leads to an empty storeroom where Turlough can watch what is going on in the hall. He sees that Thorfel has brought a Christian priest to the island to marry Moira and Thorfel. When given the choice between Christian marriage and death, Moira snatches a dagger and stabs herself in the heart.

Turlough attacks, cutting down many Vikings. He is about to be overwhelmed but a horde of small, dark-skinned men (Picts) show up and help him slaughter the Vikings. One of these is Athelstane the Saxon who has been raiding with Thorfel.

Finally Turlough meets Thorfel and kills him too. Athelstane the Saxon is not actually dead, only slightly wounded, and Turlough saves him from the Picts. They burn Thorfel’s hall. The Picts take their sacred statue back to Scotland.

Turlough, Athelstane and the priest, Father Jerome sail back together. The sea turns red with the setting sun. Jerome asks when all the bloodshed will end? Turlough says, “Not so long as the race lasts”.

Chronologically the first story about Turlough, it appeared after the sequel “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” (two months earlier in October 1931). It is also the last story to mention Bran Mak Morn who appears as a spirit-haunted statue, the Dark Man. The story was strong enough to get the cover for that issue with Moira, daughter of Murtagh killing herself as the evil-looking statue watches. The story has a great battle scene in the Viking hall.

“The Dark Man” was adapted as a Conan story by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Pablos Marcos and others in Savage Tales #4 (May 1974).

Art by Gil Kane, Neal Adams and Pablo Marcos

Art by Gil Kane, Neal Adams and Pablo Marcos
Art by Gil Kane, Neal Adams and Pablo Marcos
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3 Comments Posted

  1. Beautiful and comprehensive article on Bran’s stint in comics. Although, I think you might’ve missed the Kings in the Night adaptation by Dark Horse Comics (with beautiful John Bolton covers) and another Worms of the Earth adaptation by Cross Plains Comics.

      • Oh, didn’t knew that. I thought it was fresh adaptations due to the awesome Bolton covers. Honestly, considering Conan is synonymous with Arnold in the mainstream, A Bran Mak Morn movie, is much safer bet, critically and commercially. Take Kings in the Night, a 50-60 million budget, maybe less, talented actors, and director who have a decent understanding of the source material.

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