Some 'Conan' Comics...

When I was in Forbidden Planet the other day, spending some of my hard earned bonus, I saw some 'Conan' comics on the shelves and thought I'd pick them up. No 'Elric' this time, I was too late or too early, not sure which... Either way, waiting for the trade now ;o)

Anyway, three 'Conan' comics is more than enough to be going on with and last night, I finally got the chance to sit down and read them, Quick thoughts follow below (you're going to hear that a lot this week, I just want it to be the weekend already...)

'Conan: Battle of the Black Stone' - Zub, Scharf, Canola (Titan Comics)

So, all that early talk of a Black Stone has expanded into a broader tale, taking in other characters from Robert E. Howard's writings (I really want to call it the 'Howard-verse' but I'm not going to...) I have a passing awareness of these other characters (I really need to read more of Howard's short stories) so it was good not only to see them on the page but also to get that feelings of events and connections being made across history and into pre-history. Howard was good at that and it turns out, so is Zub. And as far as the story itself went... I'm into it :o) Not a lot gets to Conan but a mysterious sigil is doing just that and it swiftly proves to be an intriguing setup for whatever comes next, especially when you see El Borak's reaction to it as well. And story to one side, I enjoyed how all these events play out against the encroaching darkness in the background, makes it even more intriguing. Nice work from Scharf and Canola. Now all I need to do is remember to pick up the individual issues as they come out.


'Conan the Barbarian #14 & #15' - Zub, Braithwaite & Rodriguez (Titan Comics)

Sorry, I could not get those two images to play nice and sit next to each other... Anyway.

'The Frost Giant's Daughter' has become one of my favourite 'Conan' stories and as far as the plot goes in this adaptation, I don't have an awful lot more to add to my original thoughts on the story itself. On the whole, Zub stays very faithful to the main thrust of the plot and given that it's Howard, you can't argue with that. We do get a couple of extras though that I think enhance this tale. Now I love Howard's opening, for 'The Frost Giant's Daughter', but I've also got a lot of time for the way that Zub wraps a little background around this. I like background, especially when it's done as well as this. I also appreciated the way that Zub takes a little bit of the edge off Conan coming across like a predator with Atali. Don't get me wrong, Conan is still being led by his own dick but this time, I got the impression that two games were being played here and that a clash was more or less inevitable.

I will quite happily read comic adaptations of 'The Frost Giant's Daughter' all day, Zub's is definitely one of the better ones.



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