Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast

Conan the Barbarian's first great love was Bêlit, the pirate Queen of the Black Coast. For a thousand days, Conan and Bêlit plundered merchant ships and seaside towns, at the command of her devoted crew of black corsairs, until her tragic death. Her name became legendary. Their story is one of the most interesting and well-crafted sagas in sword-and-sorcery comics. Written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema, the iconic Conan master, their adventures can be found in the original Conan the Barbarian series (issues 58 to 100), published by Marvel, and in more recent trade paperback compilations (Chronicles of Conan, vols. 8-12). Pure rugged adventure and romance, and one of the best female characters ever created by the "House of Ideas." Hopefully, the producers of the new Conan film (I know there will be another one*) will do their homework.

*What did I tell you? This just in: According to the Hollywood Reporter, Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain have been hired to rework the Conan script for Lionsgate.