THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #3 opens with a long Conan story called “Wolves of the Tundra” written by Frank Tieri and drawn by Cary Nord. I’ve seen Nord’s work before and liked it, and his black-and-white art in this tale, while not as lush as his color work, is quite good and very effective. However, after reading a few pages of the story, Tieri’s script takes a turn that came really close to making me say, “Nope,” and not finishing it. In order for the plot to work, the reader has to accept something that I just couldn’t. To say more would be to venture too far into spoiler territory. Despite that, I actually did read the whole story, and while it never worked for me, I have to admit that the ending did give me a little chuckle. I didn’t care for this story, but as they say, your mileage may vary.
Next up is an excerpt from John C. Hocking’s CONAN: CITY OF THE DEAD, followed
by an excellent autobiographical essay by Hocking detailing the background of
the two novels in that collection. I’ll read anything Hocking wants to write featuring Conan, or anything else, for that matter. His work is always top-notch.
There’s a nice Howardian poem by Jim Zub with a good illustration, then the
conclusion of Patrick Zircher’s three-part Solomon Kane story. The wrap-up of
this yarn is just as good as the previous two installments. It’s a very
satisfying conclusion to a fine tale.
A short, wordless Conan yarn with story and art by Alan Quah concludes this
issue. The art is good, the story wry and entertaining. I don’t know anything
about Quah, but he’s done a pretty good job with this one and I’d read more by
him.
Despite my complaints about the main story, I enjoyed reading this issue of THE
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN and I think most Howard fans would, too. I’m looking
forward to the next issue.
4 comments:
I enjoyed Savage #3 but I do think the main Conan story was the weakest they've yet published. The ending did make my chuckle.
I'm trying to remember what Vampire movie it was that had the notion that if you killed the main Vampire that had turned other people to vampires, those people would be cured from the curse. That trope is why I didn't like this Conan story. It's silly and stupid and then the writer adapted the trope for a Conan/werewolf story. If you want a good Conan/werewolf story, check out Chuck Dixon's, Caravan of the Damned. Though not really werewolves, they appear to suit that purpose.
I liked CARAVAN OF THE DAMNED a lot, although I thought Chuck's first Conan novel THE SIEGE OF THE BLACK CITADEL was a little better. I think that along with John Hocking and Scott Oden, he really knows what he's doing when it comes to writing Conan.
I guess in order to placate Titan/Heroic Publishing, Dixon's third Conan novella will be published by them. The novella should have come out in July, but now, who knows. No date has been announced.
Hocking and Dixon are in their sixties. Oden, I think, is in his fifties. I'm beginning to think that age, or should I say, life and maturity, has a lot to do with writing a good Conan story. Although that doesn't explain DeCamp's later Conan stories.
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