CONAN THE BARBARIAN #10 (2023)
TITAN COMICS/Heroic Signatures
STORY: Jim Zub
ART: Roberto de la Torre
COLORS: Diego Rodriguez
LETTERS: Richard Starkings and Tyler of Comicraft
EDITOR: Chris Butera
COVER: Alan Quah
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: E.M. Gist; Roberto de la Torre; David Aja; Alan Quah
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (May 2024)
Suggested for mature readers
“The Age Unconquered” Part II: “Far Shores & Fearless Men”
Conan the Cimmerian was born in the pulp fiction of Robert E. Howard (REH), first appearing in the magazine, Weird Tales (1932). In 1970, Marvel Comics brought Conan to the world of comic books via the title, Conan the Barbarian. With only a few pauses, Conan comic books have been published for the better part of five decades.
Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures are the new producers of Conan comic books, and they launched a new Conan the Barbarian series in 2023. The current story arc is written by Jim Zub; drawn by Roberto de la Torre; colored by Dean White and Diego Rodriguez; and lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft. Entitled “The Age Unconquered,” this arc finds Conan's body and/or soul transported 80,000 years into the past
Conan the Barbarian #10 (“Far Shores & Fearless Men”) opens in the dreams of Kull of Atlantis (also known as “Kull the Conqueror”). Once awakened, Kull must confront the blind rage and mania that caused him to turn on his his loyal Pict fighter, Brule the Spear-slayer, and also caused him to engage Conan in fierce battle.
Conan! Kull! Brule the Spear-slayer! How can this be when tens of thousands of years separate the time of Conan from the time of Kull and Brule? Well, the result of Conan's encounter with a shard of the “Black Stone” has thrown him thousands of years into the past and has him currently located in Kull's capital, Valusia, “the City of Wonders.”
Now, Conan finds himself swept up in Kull's journey to find the source of the darkness that threatens his kingdom. Kull believes the source of the darkness is in Atlantis, the land of his birth. It will be a hard journey, however, and Conan, Kull, and Brule may find death before they reach their destination.
THE LOWDOWN: Titan Comics has been providing me with PDF copies of their publications for review for several years now. Conan the Barbarian #10 is one of them.
Writer Jim Zub has moved the Conan the Barbarian comic book series in a new direction. Zub has transported Conan out of “the Hyborean Age,” the age in which Conan's creator, Robert E. Howard, set his adventures. Zub has moved Conan into the past to “the Thurian Age,” the time in which Howard sets the adventures of Conan's precursor, Kull of Atlantis, another of his creations.
It is a big change, but it allows Zub to make Conan a stranger in a strange land, and that itself presents new opportunities for conflict and tension. This tenth issue quickly resolves the conflicts of issue #9 and Zub begins to hypnotize his readers with an alluring journey into darkness. Great action, great mystery, and great darkness and sorcery: Zub makes it hard to stop reading.
I must admit that artist Roberto de la Torre, with his haunted storytelling, is the big star on this creative team. Mixing elements and graphical styles of Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, and John Buscema, de la Torre guides this second chapter from the mists of lost time and gleam of shining cities into darkness, death, and sorcery. It is nice to see de la Torre recall the Conan comic books of yesteryear in telling this fantastic story, and it is nice that Diego Rodriguez's colors enrich the shadows and gloom. Richard Starking's stark lettering is the pounding audio track to this fine opening chapter.
“The Age Unconquered” may end up conquering us, dear readers, as it carries us to a new direction for Conan the Barbarian.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Conan comic books will want to try Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures' Conan the Barbarian.
[This comic book includes the essay, “Kull of Atlantis: Barbarian King of an Antediluvian Empire” the tenth installment of Conan/Howard essays by Jeffrey Shanks. It also includes a Q&A with Roberto de la Torre.]
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Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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