Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A 16th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms. His adventures, published mostly in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, often take him from Europe to the jungles of Africa and back. Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Flynns Detective Fiction from 1941. ... Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936)[1] was a classic American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ...

Howard describes him as a somber and gloomy man of pale face and cold eyes, all of it shadowed by a slouch hat. He is dressed entirely in black and his weaponry consists of a rapier, a dagger and a couple of flintlock pistols. During one of his latter adventures his friend N'Longa, a black African shaman, gave him a voodoo staff that served as a protection against evil, but could easily be wielded as an effective weapon. It is revealed in another story, "The Footfalls Within," that this is the mythical Staff of Solomon, a talisman older than the earth and unimaginably powerful, much more so than even N'Longa knew. In the same adventure with N'Longa, Kane is seen using a musket as well. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Bold text This article is about the weapon. ... Flintlock of an 18th Century hunting rifle, with piece of flint missing. ... The shaman is an intellectual and spiritual figure who is regarded as possessing power and influence on other peoples in the tribe and performs several functions, primarily that of a healer ( medicine man). The shaman provides medical care, and serves other community needs during crisis times, via supernatural means (means... Voodoo (Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, or Vudun in Benin, Togo, southeastern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Senegal; also Vodou in Haiti) is a name attributed to a traditionally uten West African spiritual system of faith and ritual practices. ... For other uses of the word staff, see staff. ... Artists depiction of Solomos court (Ingobertus, c. ... Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. ...

The Robert E. Howard stories

Most of the Solomon Kane stories were first published in Weird Tales. Note: the order of publication does not coincide with the order in which the stories were written.

• "Red Shadows" (first published: Weird Tales, August 1928). Also known as "Solomon Kane." This was the first Solomon Kane story ever published.
• "Skulls in the Stars" (Weird Tales, January 1929)
• "Rattle of Bones" (Weird Tales, June 1929)
• "The Moon of Skulls" (Weird Tales, Part 1, June 1930; Part 2, July 1930)
• "Hills of the Dead" (Weird Tales, August 1930)
• "The Footfalls Within" (Weird Tales, September 1931)
• "Wings in the Night" (Weird Tales, July 1932)
• "Blades of the Brotherhood" (Red Shadows, Grant, 1968). Also known as "The Blue Flame of Vengeance."
• "The Right Hand of Doom" (Red Shadows). Kane plays a minimal role in this story.

Poems

• "The One Black Stain"
• "The Return of Sir Richard Grenville"
• "Solomon Kane's Homecoming"

Fragments

• "Death's Black Riders" (The Howard Collector #10, Spring 1968)
• "The Castle of the Devil" (Red Shadows, Grant, 1968).
• "The Children of Asshur" (Red Shadows)
• "The Hawk of Basti" (Red Shadows)

Ramsey Campbell has completed Howard's fragments, and several compilations contain some of these collaborations. John Ramsey Campbell (born January 4, 1946 in Liverpool) is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. ...

Javier Martin Lalanda has completed Howard's fragments in LAS AVENTURAS DE SOLOMON KANE, the complete Spanish edition of the Kane stories.

Book editions

Howard's stories, poems, and fragments featuring Solomon Kane have been published several times as a collection in book form. Not every publication has been a complete collection.

• Red Shadows, Donald M. Grant, 1968.
• The Moon of Skulls, Centaur Press, November 1969.
• The Hand of Kane, Centaur Press, October 1970.
• Solomon Kane, Centaur Press, February 1971.
• Solomon Kane: Skulls in the Stars, Bantam, December 1978.
• Solomon Kane: The Hills of the Dead, Bantam, March 1979.
• Solomon Kane, Baen, November 1995.
• The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Wandering Star, November 1998.
• The Right Hand of Doom & Other Tales of Solomon Kane, Wordsworth Editions, 2007. (ISBN 978-1-184022-611-9)
• Las Aventuras de Solomón Kane, Ultima Thule, Ed. Anaya, Spain, November 1994. (A complete collection of stories, poems, and fragments featuring Solomon Kane in Spanish translation).

Adaptations

Film

At the 2006 San Diego Comic Con, it was announced that a feature film based upon the character of Solomon Kane was in development at Davis Films, with Michael J. Bassett directing. The film will be produced by Sammuel Hadida and Paul Berrow, and it is currently scheduled to begin shooting in Eastern Europe in 2007. Comic-Con International is an annual comic book convention held in San Diego, California. ... Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange),members of the Warsaw pact (light orange), and other former Communist regimes not aligned with Moscow (lightest orange). ...

A fan film exists at http://www.kanefilms.com/SolomonKane based word for word on the poem, "The Return of Sir Richard Grenville."

Comics

Marvel Comics has published several comic books featuring Solomon Kane. His first appearance in comic book form was in Marvel Premiere #33 (December 1976). He was the lead character in the six-issue mini-series Sword of Solomon Kane, published 1985-6. He also appeared numerous times in Savage Sword of Conan, a magazine format comic starring Howard's most popular pulp character. Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Publishing, Inc. ...

It was announced at the 2006 Comic Con that Paradox Entertainment has completed a publishing deal with Dark Horse Comics for a Solomon Kane comic series. Paradox Entertainment is a Swedish company (now based in Beverly Hills) that owns many intellectual properties, the most famous of which is Conan the Barbarian. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Roleplaying game

Pinnacle Entertainment Group is set to develop a role-playing game based on the character and utilizing the Savage Worlds rules system, titled The Savage World of Solomon Kane. Great White Games is a publisher of role-playing games owned and operated by Shane Lacey Hensley. ... This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ... Savage Worlds is a universal generic role-playing game and miniatures wargame, written by Shane Lacy Hensley, and published by Great White Games doing business as Pinnacle Entertainment Group. ...

Copyright and Trademark

The name Solomon Kane and the names of Robert E. Howard's other principal characters are trademarked by Paradox Entertainment of Stockholm, Sweden, through its US subsidiary Paradox Entertainment Inc. Paradox also holds copyrights on the stories written by other authors under license from Solomon Kane Inc. Since Robert E. Howard published his Solomon Kane stories at a time when the date of publication was the marker, the owners had to use the copyright symbol, and they had to renew after a certain time to maintain copyright, the exact status of all of Howard's Solomon Kane works are in question. ^[1] Paradox Entertainment is a Swedish company (now based in Beverly Hills) that owns many intellectual properties, the most famous of which is Conan the Barbarian. ...

The Australian site of Project Gutenberg has many Robert E. Howard stories, including several Solomon Kane stories^[2]. This indicates that, in their opinion, the stories are free from copyright and may be used by anyone, at least under Australian law. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...

Subsequent stories written by other authors are subject to the copyright laws of the relevant time.

Further reading

• The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane (2004) Howard, Robert E.; Illus. Gianni, Gary (First American ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-46150-9.

External links

• The Solomon Kane Chronology
• Poetry Reading: The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
• Solomon Kane in Marvel Comics