It’s Robert E. Howard’s birthday! Though he’s mostly known for his Conan novels, Howard write in a variety of genres and produced some really great characters (Costigan and Elkins having the added benefit of being downright hilarious).
One of my favorites is Red Sonja, who you probably know through the bikini-armor-clad comics version that bears practically no resemblance to the Polish-Ukrainian hard-fightin,’ hard-drinkin,’ heavily armed gunner whose only overt sexiness comes from a description which says that she was “splendidly shaped” in her baggy pantaloons. She holds the wall during the siege of Vienna and singlehandedly rescues her comrade-in-arms, a Chewbacca-esque German meathead with a five-foot sword named Gottfried, in the story’s climax. I’d like to see more comics featuring THAT version of the character.
I love the Red Sonja one, it’s good that people remember she never wore ridiculous chainmail bikinis until after Marvel started trying to make her more… actually I have no idea what they were trying to do.
– wincenworks