Advance Review: King-Size Conan #1

Fifty years of Conan in comics! That is a huge achievement for a character that is steeped as a fantasy pulp character. Created by Robert E. Howard, Conan’s stories displayed a level of continuity that had seldom been seen in other pulps at the time. In Conan, we had a thief, a barbarian, a smuggler and even a King at some point. He was also a bit of a saviour to Marvel Comics. Whilst it is recognised that the company was floundering until Star Wars and KISS specials, it was in fact Conan that had steered the company into licensing. Starting as a monthly black and white comic, Conan the Barbarian spawned a more adult version in Savage Sword of Conan. Through various media, monthly black and white books, color Marvel books and newspaper strips, which also covers alternative publishers, here we are at fifty years.

This book features five stories set throughout Conan’s life. Appropriately enough the first is written by Roy Thomas, who brought the simmering Cimmerian over to Marvel in the first place. Thomas is joined by Steve McNiven and colorist Ive Svorcina, with McNiven pulling out a very good faux Barry Windsor Smith. The opening story looks to show Conan as he was with Svocina’s more modern coloring techniques giving the environment a maturity that suits Conan well. Kurt Busiek and Pete Woods step up to the plate next. This time around its thief Conan that is on show. This then is lighter tale and this is reflected in Woods pencils and bright color scheme. Thirdly, Chris Claremont delivers a script that looks like it is straight out of the 80’s, eschewing current storytelling methods in favour of lots and lots and lots of word boxes. Roberto de La Torre get to swing his pencil arm and lets slips the dogs of chaos and savagery. His art does have a touch of David Finch to it, which isn’t a bad comparison. Colors are returning back to the darker model on Carlos Lopez scheme.

Requiem, the fourth story is written and drawn by TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman. As soon as you see the name, you know the style of art that you are going to see. For Turtles fans, this will come as no surprise. The heavy lines certainly shows a different Conan. Subtitled “Avenger”, this may seem like another savage style story, but Eastman does get to show the honour of Conan’s values and beliefs. Neeraj Menon matches the dark heavy lines with a scheme that is effectively simple in that it is bold rather than textured. Last up is Steven S. DeKnight who has worked on a number of TV shows, such as Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, Daredevil and Smallville. DeKnight has the scope for the big vision and he delivers a tale of possible futures that can scar even the bravest of souls. The art is supplied by Jesús Saiz who also provides colors. Between the pair, they deliver a story that feels like an epic, despite the low page count. All the stories are lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham who keeps a level of consistency during the different styles and parts of Conan’s life.

Over the last year there have been a number of specials, be it Joker, Catwoman, Robin and Detective #1027, not forgetting the 80 Years of Marvel special. This has certainly been my favourite which surprises me as the last Conan book I bought was the Conan Wonder Woman book from DC/Dark Horse. I would have liked to see some pin-up pages, maybe of the original Barry Windsor Smith of John Buscema art, especially the way that Buscema would draw women. Maybe thats too big an expectation; after all, how can you celebrate a character without full endorsing all that went before hand. Still this is a minor quibble for a book that shows how versatile Conan and his savage sword can be!

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, Chris Claremont,
Kevin Eastman and Steven S. DeKnight
Art by; Steve McNiven, Pete Woods, Roberto de La Torre
Kevin Eastman & Jesús Saiz
Colors by; Ive Svorcina, Pete Woods, Carlos Lopez
Neeraj Menon and Jesús Saiz
Letters by; VC’s Travis Lanham
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network