Two-Gun Bob: Mak Morn Meets Kull

The noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook sends in a note with commentary on one of Robert E. Howard’s most famous stories, with additional insight into Karl Edward Wagner (remember, I didn’t think much of Wagner’s attempt at a Bran Mak Morn novel — as detailed in The Dark Barbarian That Towers Over All.) Point of information to bear in mind: Wagner’s second Mak Morn paperback got a cover, but never appeared. Here’s Kevin: I bought and read the First Passage collection with the earlier drafts of well-known Howard stories. It seemed to me that REH was at many times just trying to get the story down in print, and then all the poetical turns of phrase and passages that we remember so well were added only to the final draft. It was especially disappointing to read the first draft of “Kings of the Night,” my favorite Howard story. The passage describing Kull’s appearance at the sunrise, “Against the golden birth of day he loomed colossal; a gigantic god from the dawn of creation” is…