When you see a Conan book on the shelf, what do you usually expect to find? Blood? Sand? Barbarians? Yeah, me too. Lucky for us, writer Cullen Bunn delivers on all fronts. However, instead of the same boring monologue that has plagued this franchise lately, Cullen adds his own flare of poetry into the narration. Which, to me, made for a far greater read than I had originally anticipated. And like almost all Conan books, since the days of Barry Windsor Smith, the art was fantastic. Sergio Dávila’s penicls and inks were dark and gritty, capturing the true essence of the Conan Universe. All of which was accented perfectly by Michael Atiyeh’s color palette.
My one big complaint for the book, however, was in the overall story. The trope of a king, brought down to earth by his hubris, searching for absolution is overdone. This same exact plot can be found in Captain America, Thor, X-O Manowar, Dejah Thoris, the list goes on. Redundancy such as this can lead a book down a dark path of uneventful predictability. Even in this issue, I knew half-way through that Conan would find a tribe that would give him sanctuary once they realized they were on the same side. BORING! Which is a real shame too, since I loved Cullen’s narration of the issue.
Like I said, though, at least the art was great. The double-splash of the battlefield, where Conan lost everything, was gorgeous. Not to mention the fight scenes that were packed with movement. Sergio also did a great job with pacing; he knew exactly what needed focus and the duration that focus needed to last. I also enjoyed Michael’s contribution this issue. In particular, I loved his choice of color between the past and present scenes. While most creators will do a sepia scheme for past tense, he chose a beautiful teal. Which synced perfectly with his oranges and reds in the present tense. His rendering of the grass also deserves some notice, since it made a few background-less panels pop out.
It is because of the art that I have to give this issue a 3 out of 5. Sergio and Michael did such a good job, they deserve the recognition. Same with the letterers Richard Starking and Comicraft. And while the story was bland, I also have to credit to Cullen for trying to bring out the beauty in an otherwise barbaric world. I wouldn’t buy it myself, but if you really need some Conan… go for it I guess.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Writer:Cullen Bunn
Artist:Â Sergio Davila
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh, Dave Stewart
Cover Artist:Â Lee Bermejo
Author Profile
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I just graduated from MSUD with my BAS in Mathematics. I live in a small 1 bedroom apartment with my girlfriend, and our two cats. I work full time for NTIA-ITS as a Computer Scientist. All I really do is engineer mathematical models and write code all day. I took up this second job at Comic Crusaders as a way to become more involved with the comic book community. Since I was a child I have loved comics. I grew up reading Spider-Man, Shi, New Mutants, Spider Woman, and Gen13. As I got older, however, my tastes started to shift from almost exclusively Marvel to various independent labels. Now I read a huge variety of comics: Valiant, Black Mask, Aspen, Avatar, Image, Dynamite, Boom, Aftershock, etc.. If anyone wants to know, my favorite publisher, hands down, is Valiant.
I am also working on writing a few comic books myself. I have about 4 ideas in the fire, but only 1 of them is really getting anywhere; I have 6 of the 10 books finished. In addition to writing, I am also a practicing colorist. If you want to checkout any of my writing samples, or coloring samples, please check out my DeviantArt and let me know what you think.
dirtgrubdylan.deviantart.com.
Some more about me? I love black metal and video games. I usually spend most of my time hanging out with my girlfriend. We have been together for 6 years, so at this point she is basically my best friend. But when I am not with her, I get together with my friends to drink some beer and play some Magic, the Gathering. And, as pretentious as this is, I am also working on starting my own engineering firm. So that involves me reading a lot of textbooks on Mathematics and Computer Science.
So yeah, if you have made it this far thank you very much! I am crazy excited to start my career in writing. Let's see what I can do with this.
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