Lin Carter

Circa 1974, Lin Carter lived in Hollis, New York.^[1]

Author[]

Lin Carter was a fantasy, horror, and science fiction writer.

He wrote a number of stories about Conan and Kull, creations of Robert E. Howard, including original works and stories written from unfinished fragments from Howard, some in collaboration with L. Sprague de Camp.^[2] He also participated to the Cthulhu Mythos, pastiching H.P. Lovecraft.

He created his own characters, such Jandar of Callistro (published at Dell Books), or the sword-and-sorcery hero Thongor the Valkarthan,^[2] similar to Conan in many ways.

Marvel Comics[]

Spider-Man TV series[]

Lin Carter was a major script writer for the Spider-Man 1967 animated series, and is credited among the writers of 51 episodes.

Adaptations of his sword-and-sorcery stories[]

Thongor[]

In the end of the 1960s, Roy Thomas looked into licensing other characters, and thought of Conan (though he wasn't a fan at the time). He was given by Martin Goodman $150 an issue to offer as a license to acquire a character. Thomas though the Robert E. Howard estate would not accept such as small sum.^[3] He instead went to Lin Carter for his character Thongor the Barbarian, who didn't accepted the $150 licensing fee.

Roy Thomas finally went to the Robert E. Howard estate, who accepted an offer.^[4] Marvel did only obtain the rights to the REH material, but not for the subsequent pastiches written by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and others.^[5]

Thongor was eventually adapted in Creatures on the Loose 22 (March, 1973) to 29 (May, 1974):

• "Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria!" in Creatures on the Loose #22 and "Where Broods the Demon!" in Creatures on the Loose #23 (May, 1973) were based on the story "Thieves of Zangabal".
• "Red Swords, Black Wings!" in Creatures on the Loose #24 (July, 1973), "The Wizard of Lemuria!" in Creatures on the Loose #25 (September, 1973), "Tower of the Serpent-Women:" in Creatures on the Loose #26 (November, 1973), "Mountain Thunder!" in Creatures on the Loose #28 (March, 1974), and "Lord of Chaos" in Creatures on the Loose #29 (May, 1974) were based on the novel "Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria".

Carter isn't credited for "In the Crypts of Yamath!" in Creatures on the Loose #27 (January, 1974), an original story by Gardner Fox.

Conan and Kull[]

From Savage Tales #2 (October, 1973) to Savage Tales #5 (July, 1974), Lin Carter was credited as a "technical advisor" (later issues of Savage Tales did not include Conan stories, who were now published in Savage Sword of Conan). Unlike Glenn Lord, Lin carter wasn't credited as such in Savage Sword of Conan #1 (August, 1974) nor in subsequent issues.

Conan and Kull works written by Lin Carter or completed from Howard's unfinished fragments, on his own or in collaboration with L. Sprague de Camp, were later adapted:

• "The Hand of Nergal!" (1967), a Conan story by Lin Carter and Robert E. Howard, in Conan the Barbarian #30 (September, 1973).
• "Black Abyss" (1967), a Kull story by Lin Carter and Robert E. Howard (originally "Black Abyss" by Robert E. Howard), in " The Beast from the Abyss", Savage Sword of Conan #2 (October, 1974).
• "Death-Song of Conan the Cimmerian" (1972), a Conan poem by Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #8 (October, 1975).
• "The Curse of the Monolith" (1968), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #33 (September, 1978).
• "The Lair of the Ice Worm" (1969), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #34 (October, 1978).
• "Black Tears" (1968), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #35 (November, 1978).
• "The Thing in the Crypt!", a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Conan the Barbarian #92 (November, 1978).
• "Legions of the Dead" (1978), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #39 (April, 1979).
• "Conan the Buccaneer" (1971), a Conan novel written by L. Sprague de Camp and Carter, was adapted in Savage Sword of Conan #40, 41, 42, and 43 (May to August, 1979).
• "The Gem In the Tower" (1978), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #45 (October, 1979).
• "Moon of Blood" (1978), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #46 (November, 1979).
• "The Snout in the Dark" (1969), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and Robert E. Howard, was adapted in Conan the Barbarian #106 and 107 (January and February, 1980).
• "Conan the Liberator" (1979), a Conan novel written by L. Sprague de Camp and Carter, was adapted in Savage Sword of Conan #49, 50, 51, and 52 (February to May, 1980).
• "The Witch of the Mists" (1972), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in King Conan #1 (March, 1980).
• "The Black Sphinx of Nebthu" (1973), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in King Conan #2 (June, 1980).
• "Wizard and Warrior" (1967), a Kull story by Lin Carter and Robert E. Howard, in Savage Sword of Conan #55 (August, 1980).
• "Red Moon of Zembabwei" (1974), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in King Conan #3 (September, 1980).
• "Shadow in the Skull" (1975), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in King Conan #4 (December, 1980).
• "The City of Skulls" (1967), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, Savage Sword of Conan #59 (December, 1980)
• "The Ivory Goddess" (1978), a Conan story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in Savage Sword of Conan #60 (January, 1981)
• "Conan of the Isles" (1968), a Conan novel written by L. Sprague de Camp and Carter, was adapted, the first part, "Red Shadows and Black Kraken!", published in Conan the Barbarian Annual #7 (1982), and the complete adaptation in Conan of the Isles (Marvel Graphic Novel Vol 1 42; 1988).

Articles[]

Lin Carter also wrote articles for magazines published by Marvel Magazine Group imprint Curtis:

• "Digging Up Atlantis" in Haunt of Horror #2 (August, 1973),
• "Neo Witchcraft" in Tales of the Zombie #1 (March, 1974).
• "Chronicles of the Sword - An Informal History of Sword-And-Sorcery Fiction"
  • Chapter I: "Kingdoms of the Dawn" in Savage Sword of Conan #2 (October, 1974). In this article, Carter developed the influence of Lord Dunsany, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard in the coming of the sword and Sorcery genre.
  • "The First Barbarian - Chronicles of the Sword - Part II" in Savage Sword of Conan #3 (December, 1974). In this article, Carter examines the sword and Sorcery genre birth in Weird Tales in the 1920's and '30's, starting Kull.
  • "Can Any Good Thing Come out of Cimmeria" in Savage Sword of Conan #6 (June, 1975).
  • "The King Is Dead - Part IV of Chronicles of the Sword" in Savage Sword of Conan #7 (August, 1975).
• "Lost Races, Forgotten Cities" (copyright © 1973 by the Estate of Lin Carter, reprinted from H. Rider Haggard's The People of the Mist in its Ballentine Adult Fantasy edition)^[6] in Marvel Movie Premiere #1 (September, 1975; adaptation of the movie The Land That Time Forgot based on the eponymous novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs).

Unreleased adaptations[]

Thongor[]

After the end of the end of the adaptation of The Wizard of Lemuria and of the Marvel series of Thongor's adventures, in Creatures on the Loose #29 (May, 1974), it was stated that Marvel would be taking a break to look at sales figures and the strip itself to see the pros and cons of the run, to determine if the series should be reinstated or not. The readers were urged to write to give their opinion, and if they wanted to see more tales of Thongor, in a color comics format or in black-and-white magazines, etc.^[7]

In the introduction header to the article "Chronicles of the Sword: An Informal History of Sword-And-Sorcery, by Lin Carter" in Savage Sword of Conan #2 (October, 1974), it was stated that more of Thongor's adventures would be adapted soon,^[2] but none have been published so far.

Jandar of Callisto[]

Another of his creations, Jandar of Callistro, was as well announced to be appearing in the magazine World Unknown,^[2] but the title was cancelled after issue #8, and didn't included any adaptations of Lin Carter's stories.

• 201 subjects created by "Lin Carter"
• 59 works that "Lin Carter" wrote
• 39 works adapted from the stories that "Lin Carter" wrote

• The character Len Carson, creator of Starr the Slayer (a trial run for Conan the Barbarian), both appearing in Chamber of Darkness #4 (April, 1970) by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith, was possibly named as a reference to Lin Carter, creator of Thongor of Lost Lemuria,^[8] another barbarian quite similar to Conan.
• "The Star of Khorala" (Savage Sword of Conan #44; September, 1979) was erroneously credited as being adapted from the story by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, instead of de Camp and Björn Nyberg.