Following up on the critical and financial success of Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, FauxPop Media leaped immediately into their next Definitive Film, a feature documentary that digs into the story behind one of the greatest pop culture characters of the 20th century – Robert E. Howard’s Cimmerian warrior/king Conan.

For the last several months, independent Canadian filmmakers Mark Hussey, Isaac Elliott-Fisher and Randall Lobb have been in production on A Riddle of Steel: The Definitive History of Conan the Barbarian.

Taking a detailed look at such a storied and popular franchise has been an enormous, and enormously satisfying job, and the team has enjoyed every minute, in spite of making the movie by themselves, out of pocket and with no distribution deal in place.

“I’ve been a huge fan of everything Conan since I was a kid kicking around in our local used bookstore and first saw those amazing Frazetta covers from the Lancer paperbacks,” says writer/director Randall Lobb. “And now, having the opportunity to spend time with some of the other creators and writers who’ve worked in R.E.H.’s world has been amazing.”

Director of Photography Isaac Elliott-Fisher agrees. “Sitting in the studio of legendary fantasy artists Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell and watching them work was unbelievable!”

And it was only one of many such highlights, with more to come.

“We’ve got a lot of footage already, and we’re not quite halfway through production,” post-production wizard Mark Hussey notes. “But we’re really excited about heading into the next round of interviews.”

“We’ve got Howard Days in Cross Plains Texas, San Diego Comic Con, more shooting in Los Angeles, upstate New York, some shooting in Nevada and right now, who knows what else?” Lobb laughs. “There’s always more to cover, including a number of key actors and filmmakers we expect to get this summer.”

With a new Conan movie in development at Universal, and with the entire R.E. Howard universe under the sole ownership of longtime franchise manager/strategist Fred Malmberg, there is no end of possibility for this documentary.

And hopefully, no end of possibility for wider audiences to be able to see it for themselves some time down the road.