I was a regular reader of the comics CONAN THE BARBARIAN and THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN back in the Seventies and Eighties. I still remember how excited I was when I spotted a copy of CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 on the comics rack in a little convenience store in my hometown. In those days we didn’t know months in advance what comics were coming out. I didn’t even know Marvel had a Conan series in the works. But being a huge fan of Robert E. Howard’s work, I grabbed that issue and thoroughly enjoyed the story by Roy Thomas and the art by Barry Windsor-Smith, although he may have still been billed as Barry Smith at that point. (As an aside, I don’t recall ever purchasing another comic book at that particular store. I didn’t stop in there very often.) When SSOC came out, I bought most of the issues at Lester’s Pharmacy, my main comics source. Great stuff all around, including the articles about Howard and his work by a guy named Fred Blosser, who I’m honored to call my friend all these years later.
When Dark Horse started publishing Conan comics 18 years ago (That long?
Really?) with scripts by Kurt Busiek and art by Cary Nord, I read and enjoyed
the trade paperback collecting the first several issues. My review of it is
here. But I didn’t continue reading that version and haven’t even sampled any
of the issues from other publishers since then. I was out of the loop, as they
say, when it comes to Conan and comics.
But then, having seen several mentions of it, on a whim I picked up a digital
copy of the first issue of a new Conan series from Titan Comics. CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 is written
by Jim Zub, an author I know nothing about, with art by Roberto de la Torre,
another unknown to me, and a main cover (there are numerous variants) by Dan
Panosian, whom I’ve at least heard of. Now that you’ve waded through all the
obligatory nostalgia above, what did I think of this new comic, you ask?
Well, I liked it. Quite a bit, in fact.
Zub’s script finds Conan still a relatively young man but with several years of
mercenary experience behind him, heading back to his homeland of Cimmeria for a
visit. He’s still in northern Aquilonia, stopping over at a tavern where he
gets in a fight with the captain of the mercenary company he belongs to, and
then a Pictish warrior woman shows up with the unhappy news that a horde of
demon-possessed Picts are about to swarm over the place and kill them all. Much
hacking and slashing ensues before the issue ends on a cliffhanger of sorts.
I get the feeling that Zub’s Conan isn’t quite REH’s character, but pretty
darned close. Don’t ask me for specifics, it’s more of a gut feeling, but although
I’m confident that Zub has read the original stories, his Conan seems filtered
through all the previous Conan comics stories by Roy Thomas, Chuck Dixon, and a
dozen or more other writers. But as I said, he comes close, close enough that I
found the character believable and engaging. De la Torre’s artwork is very
influenced by John Buscema, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Buscema’s
Conan is the definitive comics version of the character. Honestly, even when I’m
reading Howard’s original stories, Buscema’s Conan is who I see in my head. So
I’m pleased with de la Torre has done here. The variant covers, many of which
are included with the digital edition I read, are very good, too.
Overall, I found the new CONAN THE BARBARIAN to be the equal of any of the
previous versions not written by Thomas or Dixon, and I enjoyed it enough that
I’ve already pre-ordered the second issue. If you’re a fan of Conan comics, you
definitely should check it out.
