Review - Conan The Cimmerian # 3 - Dark Horse Comics

Issue # 3 of Conan The Cimmerian by Dark Horse Comics written by Timothy Truman, the artist is Tomas Giorello and Richard Corben, colorist Jose? Villarrubia, letterer Richard Starkings and Comicraft, cover artist this go around is Frank Cho, Dave Stewart as the cover colorist.

A young Cimmerian woman Caollan and Horsa cross paths with Conan as he makes his way across the frozen mountain passes en route to his homeland in Cimmeria. During the flashback section of Conan?s grandfather, Connacht, we see how he rescues a wealthy merchant from thieves and for a reward he is employed as a blacksmith. It appears Connact is happy with this life in the city and catches the eye of a young slave.

Moving at a dynamic pace the story pits Conan against nature as much as it does the enemies he encounters. The relationship between Conan and Caollan has sexual tension and hints of unrequited love.

The cliff hanger ending of both stories hint at sacrifice and Black magic. Conan faces a evil witch that is preparing to cast a spell, and Connacht sees the young slave he fancies being led to stake prepared for burning.

The artwork by Tomas Giorello is top notch shows the intricacies of the story line in detail. As the story goes on, I?m becoming more comfortable with how Giorello draws Conan, and his presentation is beginning to take hold as the quintessence of a Conan caricature.

I really enjoy the artwork of Richard Corben, where Tomas is fluid and evocative. Corben hits you like a left to the stomach and a right to the jaw. You know you have been hit by something powerful, but you aren?t quit sure where it came from. The pictures tell the story in a two fisted way, that Robert E. Howard would have been proud of.

CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #3

Review | Conan The Cimmerian #2 Dark Horse Comics

Issue #2 of Conan The Cimmerian by Dark Horse Commics written by Timothy Truman, the artist is Tomas Giorello and Richard Corben, colorist Jose? Villarrubia, letterer Richard Starkings and Comicraft, cover artist this go around is Frank Cho, Dave Stewart as the cover colorist.

The story continues where issue #1 left off. Conan is listening to the tale of his grandfather, Connacht, as told by the hermit. The tale has Connacht taking care of the two boys he rescued, and stopping at a farm house during their travels. During the night the farmer questions Connacht at the end of a pitch fork, Connacht easily disarms the farmer, and agrees to help him look for his missing daughter.

Connacht finds the bloody remains of the farmer?s daughter and is attacked by a huge man like wolf, he fights with it, and is about ready to be killed by the beast when another one comes in and defends him but looses an eye in the fight. Connacht is able to get the better of the first wolf that attacked him and cuts the beast in half at the waist. The beast turns into one of the boys who Connacht had rescued the other wolf turns into the other boy, but is now missing an eye.

The story jumps back to Conan who takes the rapping from the hermits face and realizes he is the boy his grandfather rescued years ago. The hermit goes out to be with his brothers the wolves and leaves Conan looking out onto a frozen wind swept valley.

The story arc was ok. It gave some back story about Conan?s grandfather Connacht, showing that he has a heart for kids in harms way, and is a competent fighter. It also show that there are werewolves in Conan?s world. But overall the back story about Connacht tells us very little one how it makes Conan who he is.

The art work is truly the best part of this issue and the story arc in general. The vistas displayed are sparse, desolate, foreboding and cold, relaying the true experience of living in this world. Corben?s artwork is easily identified and gives the gritty look of history in the telling of Connacht.

All in all I would give this a 4.2 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale. I encourage anyone that hasn?t started reading this series to start, and to pick up the previous issues, particularly issue #0. The rolling banner overhead takes you to where you can order the issues through Amazon.

Review | Conan The Cimmerian #1 Dark Horse Comics

Ok here is the real first issue, which is #1, not a psych of #0 but a real first issue of Conan The Cimmerian by Dark Horse Commics. It is written by Timothy Truman, the artist is Tomas Giorello and Richard Corben, colorist Jose? Villarrubia, letterer Richard Starkings and Comicraft, cover artist this go around is Dave Cho, Dave Stewart as the cover colorist, and if you happen to have the alternate cover the artist is Joe Kubert.

This starts up where the last issue ended. Conan is helped by an old hermit, and once in his cave he begins to the story of Conan?s grandfather. The story centers around two boys he rescues from being murdered by their tribe. In addition to the story of the two boys, the reader learns more about Conan?s grandfather, particularly that he was not from the North originally, but has wandered all around the world. His grandfather is a hunter, and a very adept hunter, but nothing on the level of Conan. The art work is good; I still don?t count it as being exceptional, but good none the less. The art sets the mood of the story very well; it is somber and depressing, like the land the story is taking place in. However; the art does not change when the mood of the story changes.

I give this issue a 4.2 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale.

Review | Conan The Cimmerian #0 Dark Horse Comics

The first issue, which is #0, of Conan The Cimmerian by Dark Horse Commics, is a special issue. It is written by Timothy Truman, the artist is Tomas Giorello (who also did the cover), colorist Jose? Villarrubia, letterer Richard Starkings and Comicraft, and Dave Stewart as the cover colorist.

I must say I really enjoyed this first special issue. Here come the spoilers, I?m going to tell you how the comic is set up and just about everything about, so if you just want to pick it up and read it, then stop reading this review. Otherwise read on.

The comic shows Conan returning to Cimmeria some years after he had left and traveled the south lands. He is attacked by a group of Vanir, and easily kills them. This would be an incredibly short story if not for one thing; the battle is played out with the back drop of Cimmeria being explained by the poem written by Robert E. Howard, ?Cimmeria.? Each page has a few words from the poem or large sections in entirety, the backdrop is somberly depicted to be harsh and cold, and a feeling of despair lurks on these pages. The artist changes style and color brightens when the poem tells of Conan?s travels, thereby changing the mood. I am very pleased that the authors and Dark Horse, preferred to bring Conan?s world to light by using the full text of his poem ?Cimmeria?, thereby rooting the series on Howards? model instead of just their own interpretation,.

To further link this comic to Howard, the first page of the comic shows a small room with a desk an old manual typewriter and a few issues of Weird Tales sitting on it. A few other items lead the reader to enter not Conan?s world but the world of Robert E. Howard. Boxing gloves hang on the wall; a book on the crusades sits on the desk. These are pieces of Howard?s life that made him who he was and coalesced in his mind that which would become the most famous Barbarian of all times, Conan. Once again at the end of the comic, the author and artist transitions from the world of Conan back to that of Howards Texas with a depiction of him writing the poem ?Cimmeria? on a wind swept Texas hill about Frederisksburg.

Lastly on the letters page is a short piece called ?The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob; True Stories from the Life of Robert E. Howard.? Here is text taken from Howard?s correspondence with Clark Ashton Smith, regarding the writing of Conan.

As I said I am pleased with this comic and the background it provides on Conan?s creator Robert E. Howard. The art and color are very much in keeping with the mood one gets in reading the words of ?Cimmeria?. If there is one complaint it is with the artists rendering of Conan himself, which to me looks to be to much caveman like and not enough intelligent barbarian. When I read the description of Conan I see some of the noble savage, but more to the point I see a very intelligent brooding fighting machine, of supreme confidence, neither arrogant nor whimsical. All in all I would give this a 5.0 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale.

Adding a new review topic - Conan the Cimmerian Comics

In addition to reviewing the Conan Stories written by Robert E. Howard, I will also be reviewing Conan The Cimmerian comics produced by Dark Horse Comics. Some Robert E. Howard purist may find the comics distasteful and not worth the paper they?re printed on. For all I know that thought may be an accurate accounting for the comics, but I will read through them and give you my opinion, biased in one way or another, on what I think of the comics.

I hope you enjoy my reviews of the Conan The Cimmerian comics. Please feel free to leave comics, and let me know what you think, whether good or bad, or if you would like to like to add your two cents ? two dollars when corrected for inflation ? that is fine with me.