Savage Sword Of Conan #1 Review

 

Writer: John Arcudi, Jim Zub, Patch Zircher

Artist: Max von Fafner, Joe Jusko, Patch Zircher

Letterers: Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt

Cover Artists: Joe Jusko, Gerardo Zaffino, Max Von Fafner,

Publisher: Titan

Price: $6.99

Release Date: February 28, 2024

 

Story

Legendary Hyborian scribe Roy Thomas opens Savage Sword Of Conan #1 with an essay on how Stan Lee’s experimental foray into mature titles with Savage Tales evolved into the legendary Black & White magazine.

 

Conan And The Dragon Horde

Prince Zaahid raises an army to retake the city that exiled him. Conan is his general, and Ineah builds and maintains his war engines. Despite Zaahid’s orders not to consort with Ineah, Conan develops a relationship with her. The prince keeps his plans close to his chest, revealing his wisdom only after danger threatens. His secrecy costs Conan's soldiers their lives. Angered by these unnecessary losses, Conan refrains from engaging Prince Zaahid’s guards, Sussein and Saham.

 

Despite Zaahid’s lack of concern for his men, his preparations propel the army across the Hyrkanian steeps. But after they lay siege to Ul-Dalkhana and Ineah’s engines of war mercilessly pound the city, the army begins to drift away. After several months, Conan's remaining forces number less than sixty. When Conan reports the desertions and requests leave to recruit replacements, Zaahid assures him that their numbers are adequate and his home city will soon fall. At this point, Conan decides to defy the Zaahid’s wishes and discover what the prince is hiding.

 

An air of mystery pervades Conan And The Dragon Horde. Unlike Prince Zaahid, you never know what to expect next. John Arcudi doesn’t lace his dialogue with traditional Conanisms, such as dog, cur, and wench. Conan’s relationship with Ineah proves an equal partnership, as each respects the other’s abilities and outlook. Those seeking the otherworldly dangers that threaten Robert E. Howard's Hyborian world will enjoy John Arcudi’s contribution to Savage Sword Of Conan #1.

 

Sacrifice in the Sand

In his short prose story Sacrifice in the Sand, Conan The Barbarian chronicler Jim Zub introduces readers to a young woman adorned with fine linen and sparkling jewelry. Captain Nkosi and his guards escort Khepri to her date with Destiny. Even more than the women who served Thulsa Doom's snake cult in John Milius' Conan movie, Khepri's sacrifice will honor her people and enhance Set's power. Yet on this dark (and stormy) night, a man will threaten to devalue her sacrifice and risk her family's security. Jim Zub’s contribution to Savage Sword Of Conan #1 portrays our Hyborian hero as a patient man who chooses his battles and recognizes that beliefs often serve temporal authorities more than the divine.

 

Master Of The Hunt Part One

As the rain falls in sheets, Patch Zircher welcomes us inside the Ox Knuckle Inn. Inside this Welsh pub in the Vale of Glamorgan, the aging patron, Gruffud, reminds us that this is All Hallows Eve. Yet before Christianity redubbed the holiday, locals called it Samhain. The barrier between our world and the Tylwyth Teg, or fair folk, thins on this sacred pagan holiday.

 

In Master Of The Hunt Part One, Gruffud regales us with a tale of Solomon Kane. The righter of wrongs has ridden from Devonshire on his steed Nicodemus. Solomon follows the tracks of a giant beast to a farm, where he meets Gwenllyan Maddocks and her son Roland. Gwenllyan tells him that an animal attacked her flock. While her husband Edmund tracks the beast, Soloman helps her hired hand Wilkin shear and butcher the dead sheep. But the following morning, Roland disappears, and Wilkin never returns from the Ox Knuckle Inn.

 

Patch Zircher portrays Solomon Kane as an even-tempered, approachable figure in Savage Sword Of Conan #1. Solomon seems akin to Tolkien's Aragorn, wise in the ways of the temporal and spiritual world, not judgmental or quick to anger. Wily old Gruffud inserts himself and a dissenting patron into this intoxicating brew of pagan beliefs, Welsh mythology, and a humble, brave hero who lives by a strict—but not cruel--moral code.

 

Men Shall Die For This: Robert E. Howard And The Vengeance Of Solomon Kane

Jeffrey Shanks' essay covers Solomon Kane's origin as Howard's earliest recurring hero. Soloman Kane began as a manifestation of righteous justice. As Howard matured as a person and a writer, Solomon Kane's worldview grew more complex. Shanks compares Howard's Solomon Kane stories with tales by Alexandre Dumas, Edgard Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, and H. Rider Haggard. Of those listed, it’s worth noting that Haggard's hero, Allan Quartermain, first appears in King Solomon's Mines. 

 

 

 

Art

Max von Fafner’s art in Conan And The Dragon Horde honors the best traditions of the fabled magazine. His photorealistic art conveys the majestic sight of cavalry, infantry, and wheeled engines that hurl boulders and explosives at a walled city. Zaahid looks stately, Conan determined, Ineah self-assured. Sussein and Saham’s glee in dispatching anyone who disobeys their leader suggests they know more than they're telling. Fafner's detailed panels convey mood, drama, and action while not skimping on small details, such as tall grasses or stony ground.

 

Patch Zircher’s art in Master Of The Hunt Part One has an elegant and historic appeal. While Soloman Kane wears the hat and cloak of a Puritan, the penciling evokes Prince Valiant. Detailed sketches of people and settings convey a lighter, less masculine tone than Fafner’s. Zircher's Black & White images show a varied use of gray for shading akin to ink wash in Savage Sword Of Conan #1. Yet scenes of the beast appearing at night, Solomon Kane entering a pub unbidden or reaching for his sword utilize heavy inking.

 

Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt lay siege to panels with uppercase and lowercase words in dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. Word size ranges through entertaining stories and informative essays. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy of this sword and sorcery magazine for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

After Conan battles monsters, lays siege to a doomed city, and pursues a woman promised to Set, Soloman Kane tracks a creature terrorizing a remote Welsh community in Savage Sword Of Conan #1.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.