#el borak

[trve-grimdark]

Robert E Howard's "El Borak"

[dirtyriver]

"Death of a Legend", Epic Illustrated #34, February 1986, written by Roy Thomas, art by Sandy Plunkett

[themailedfist-blog]

Pulptober 25th - Lonesome Helper - El Borak

Accompanied almost always by the formidable Yar Ali Khan, who regrettably seldom shows up in any illustrations (thought Tim Bradstreet has given us a Khan, thanks be!)

Jim Steranko, Tim Bradstreet, Ken Kelly. The Ken Kelly one was my desktop background for a while in high school, when I was just getting into REH's stories.

[thehauntedrocket]

The Pulp Heroes Of Robert E. Howard

1) Conan by Roberto de la Torre

2) Red Sonja by Jerome Sayers

3) Bran Mak Morn by Frank Brunner

4) Conan And Kull by John Buscema And Ernie Chan

5) El Borak by Gene Day

6) Solomon Kane by Jeffrey Catherine Jones

7) Conan The Cimmerian by Frank Frazetta

8) Sailor Steve Costigan by Walter Martin Baumhofer

9) Red Sonja by Boris Vallejo

[krinsbez]

The 40K-ify Pulp Project, Part 1

Welp, the Ayes had it, so let's go!

For those not familiar with my poll, this is the first installment of a world/storybuilding project that will function in the following way: I will present a short profile of a Pulp Hero, and those of y'all who are more knowledgeable about 40K try to reimagine this character to fit the setting. Ideally, we'll have enough going on to brainstorm stuff to do with the 40K-ified Pulp Heroes, but we'll see.

We start with a more obscure character:

-Francis Xavier Gordon AKA El Borak, an Irish-American, Wild West gunslinger who left the US to travel the world, ultimately ending up in Afghanistan, where he proceeded to go native. Given the name "El Borak", supposedly from the Arabic for "The Swift", referring equally to the speed with which he draws his weapons (whether gun, sword, or knife), the speed with which he attacks with said weapons (all of which he is thoroughly adept in), or the speed at which he thinks (he is one sharp cookie). While his usual stomping grounds are Afghanistan, where many of the local tribesmen will happily treat him as one of their own (of course there are plenty of others who hate his guts), he is renowned throughout the Muslim world for his martial prowess, his cunning, and his courage. He is particularly feared by those "who would by force or guile take what was not rightfully theirs." This tendency does frequently result in him getting enmeshed in local inter-tribal politics, as well as the Great Game between Britain and Russia for influence in the region. Chronologically, his last story has him deal with a group of rogue Ottoman soldiers who decided to have a go at setting themselves up as warlords after WWI.

Some additional links:

El Borak

Discovering Robert E. Howard: David Hardy on El Borak – The First and Last REH Hero – Black Gate

[karagin22]

[curtvilescomic]

Robert E Howard group shot by Rafael Kayanan 

Howard (1906 - 1936) has been one of my favourite authors for over forty years. Longer than he lived. Amount he created in his thirty years is amazing.  Conan The Barbarian is best known of these, but all are worth reading.

[wearemercs]

by Tim Bradstreet