'Conan Volume 8: Black Colossus' – Truman, Giorello, Villarrubia (Dark Horse)

I wasn't originally planning on reviewing 'Black Colossus' but my foray into Marvel's new Conan books, a few weeks ago, got me a little nostalgic for the Dark Horse books and eBay very kindly pointed me in the direction of this one... Sometimes, you just can't argue with eBay ;o) It has been years since I last read 'Black Colossus' so thought it might be fun to revisit it and see if I still feel the same about it as I did last time.

The big difference, between 'Dark Horse Conan' and 'Marvel Conan', is that the Dark Horse run generally preferred to adapt the original Robert E. Howard stories while Marvel are just going ahead and doing their own thing (up to and including teaming Conan up with the Punisher for one issue of 'Savage Avengers, more on that another time though...) Don't get me wrong, I liked the Marvel books but this time round, my 'Conan' reading needed to go back to the source, as it were (look it's Christmas, lets save the taxing stuff until next year eh?) It was a good trip.

Conan, once a wandering thief, tries his luck as a professional warrior, joining Amalric's mercenary forces to live as a rank-and-file soldier. However, something much more than luck will lead Conan on a collision course with the strongest, strangest army he's ever faced! Princess Yasmela-the city of Khoraja's remaining sovereign-has been haunted by terrifying apparitions of the wizard Natohk, and when Natohk threatens to bring his demonic hordes to Khoraja, Yasmela prays to the god Mitra for help. Mitra actually responds and tells her to place the fate of her entire kingdom into the hands of the first man she meets out in the city streets-and that man is a drunk, hesitant barbarian! Conan may turn out to be Khoraja's best hope for survival, but his distrust of the soft upper classes and their disdain for his common station may derail any possibility of working together to halt Natohk's bid for world domination.

Lasttime round, I spoke about how Truman and Giorello took little steps outside Howard's original story to give us a more detailed view of Conan's life. The story is still the gem, just with a little extra polish. The good news is that my opinion hasn't changed with the re-read. The bad news (for me) is that I need to find something else to talk about, from this book, otherwise I'm just repeating myself... Before I do though, I can't say anything new about Giorello's art (and Villarrubia's colours) that I haven't already said. The combination of both is just a joy to experience and the closest I've come yet to what I imagine Howard must have seen, in his minds eye, when he wrote his tales. It's amazing, that's all I've got. Now, lets see if I add something a little dfferent to what I wrote last time round.

In a world where we need our heroes to be have more to them, than just a sword arm and an eye for the ladies, it can sometimes feel like Conan has to play catch up a little if he's to have a place in that conversation. I think that's a little unfair actually as there's a lot more to Conan, as a character, than you might think. A more careful reading of the original short stories will show this as does this version of 'Black Colossus'. Here, Truman takes time and care to show us that Conan isn't a character that's set in stone; not only is he constantly developing as a person but he is ferociously intelligent at the same time and able to apply what he has learned to any situation. Like being given command of the royal army, he turns things round very quickly and is able to win the first part of the battle as a result.

As a natural loner, Conan is also able to play the political game, with Yasmela's courtiers etc, very well and as a result, mould his army into the shape that it needs to be. He's not just Conan the barbarian from the hills and forests of Cimmeria, this new statesmanlike Conan is becoming (if not already) a major player in the affairs of kings; almost llike he is getting ready to become one himself...

And that's what I love about this book. You get a real feel for how Truman and Giorello take what should be a fairly generic moment in Conan's life (seriously, just count how many times he does something like this, you know what I mean) and turn it into quite a pivotal moment for him. Truman is stepping out of the original stories again, this time to build bridges to comics that, at the time, were yet to come. It's good writing that makes the story come alive even moreso than it was already.

The Dark Horse version of 'Black Colossus' is a gorgeous piece of writing and art that not only stays true to Howard's vision of Conan but also adds a little meat to the bones in ways that I suspect Howard would have been only too happy with.

If you're a 'Conan' fan then I'd imagine that you have this book (and the rest already). If you don't then I suggest that you get on it and sort that out right away? You'll be glad that you did.