Review: Kull Eternal #3

I“m beginning to think that the title, Kull Eternal is referring to the wait between each issue. It has been seven months since the last issue and I had to read the first two again to remember this story. There is time travel, magic, reptile people and lots and lots of killing.

Kull sits on the throne of Valusia, a kingdom so ancient it is only a legend by the time that the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, where there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars waiting to be conquered by Conan. But Kull learns the same lesson that Conan someday will. It is a great deal of fun and adventure conquering a kingdom, but only hard work and administration to rule one.

After years of the latter Kull again yearns for the former. That where the sorcerer Tuzen Thune tricks Kull into capturing the Turnings that will allow him to conquer New Atlantis/America. The trick is that these turnings are spread throughout history and Kull sneaks to the wizard“s fortress of mirrors at night to capture them without his own countrymen knowing. To ensure everything goes right, the wizard sends his daughter to guide Kull, because he is not supposed to have memories of his life in Valusia when he travels to the far future. The wizard is using Kull so that once Kulls become the once and future king, he can be the power behind the throne.

But, to borrow a phrase from another time travel story, strange things are afoot at the Circle K. When Kull travels to stop a werewolf from taking down Lincoln at Gettysburgh, some of his old memories are seeping through. More troubling back in his own time is that when the king sleeps all day to recover from nighttime adventures, rebellious barons start taking a hand at the game. If Kull isn“t careful, he may not have a throne at either end of this adventure.

If, and that“s a big if, the above made sense to you, that summary took several read throughs of the first three issues which have been spread out since last June. Tom Waltz (Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) has an intriguing idea, but at this point it seems that even he is getting himself lost in parts on the time travels. Maybe he can get this train back on the tracks for the final “annual”“ issue that is promised for this summer, but he has a lot of leads to tie up.

Luca Pizzari (Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original) is clearly having tons of fun with the art in this series as we hop from the cities of prehistory to the near future, back to the American Revolution and somewhere in between in the Civil War. Even in modern times, the adventures have a very sword and sorcery feel to them, which really plays well in these books.

My only complaint is that at times, Pizzari is going heavy with the black inks in the style of Chris Samnee and Alex Toth, but doesn“t have the control that either of them have. It is a great style when done well, which is why people love Samnee and Toth, but Pizzari is not quite there yet. I will love to see it when he masters this style of art.

Kull has long been one of the second tier Robert E. Howard characters. While there are some people who really love him, I“d generally prefer a good Conan story instead. (By the way, am I the only one who remembers that Kull uses an axe, not a sword) Like many Kull stories, Kull Eternal has a number of good ideas, I“m just not sure that reading them month to month (or in this case, biannually) is best. It might make more sense to wait for IDW to put out the trade than to have it on your pull list.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Tom Waltz
Artist: Luca Pizzari
Colorist: Triona Tree Farrell
Letters: Christa Miesner
Publisher: IDW Publishing

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!