Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Doug Braithwaite
Colorist: Diego Rodriguez
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith
Editor: Chris Butera
Cover Artists: Jae Lee, Rebeca Puebla, Doug Braithwaite, Stuart Sayger & James Harren
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 21, 2024
Conan traded his native Cimmeria for the frozen north. After several days alone, three Aesir discover his campsite. Will they slay the foreign youth for encroaching on their land? And what about the flame-haired siren who observes the confrontation from among the trees? Let's grab our swords and battle axes, shout “By Crom,” venture into Conan The Barbarian #14, and find out!
Story
After the Battle of Venarium, Conan leaves the southern border and heads north through Cimmeria. Perhaps he intends to return home. Instead, Conan keeps walking. He searches for something. Crossing into neighboring Asgard, he traverses a new land. Conan makes an abandoned camp his own. He fights wolves to claim his territory. He battles a bear, believing the meat will sustain him for many weeks. Instead, the trio of Aesir finds him. They disapprove of his wanderings. They'll teach him a lesson, perhaps worse. Besides, their people can use the meat.
In Conan The Barbarian #14, the Cimmerian’s ferocity surprises the Aesir. Two more Aesir arrive on horseback. One, Niord, halts the fight. He offers Conan a deal. In return for the bear and a week’s service, Niord will grant Conan free passage to the border. Conan sought the truth of his soul in solitude. Yet he agrees. At their camp, Niord admits he also yearns to know that his god hears his prayers.
In The Daughter's Gaze, Chapter Two of Jim Zub’s story Frozen Faith, Conan is an unwanted stranger. Yet he soon becomes their friend. The Cimmerians banded together to repel the Aquilonian invaders. The Aesir tribes fight among themselves. The tribes vie for land and supremacy, only banding together to repel the continual Vanir raiding parties. Conan distinguishes himself through his character and how he fights. While he gains Niord’s respect, the flame-haired siren follows his movements. Conan may be just another inconsequential mortal who fights and dies in the blink of an eye. Yet she cannot look away.
Art
The Aesir men attack with a knife and an axe. Conan sent wolves packing with his fists. The Aesir deserve no more. Like the Aesir, the dark-haired youth wears a fur cape and wraps his hands. Still, he prefers a loincloth to the clothes and armor of his bearded opponents who braid their long, blond hair. The flame-haired woman watching the encounter wears little more than a gossamer gown. The sheer fabric attached to her neck and waist covers little. As her hair and gown flutter to unseen wind, she does not exhale vapor like the men wrapped in clothes and armor.
Trees and people break the dominant blue-white snow and ground fog. Red overtakes panels of fighting. When Niord takes Conan's prize to his tribe, a roaring yellow-orange blaze rises like a pillar amid the people gathered before a snowbank. Conan's fur bears brown and crimson stains. The blaze of colors hailing the approach of night fades, painting the sky and nearby mountains blue. Brown colors Conan’s interactions with Niord’s tribe as the men sit on fallen logs around the campfire. Soon, more orange and yellow will dance and rage in the night. And later, Conan will face red-haired warriors. Perhaps they remind him of his father's friend, who taunted him as a child and urged his father to regard Conan as a lost cause.
Amid Doug Braithwaite’s lifelike art and Diego Rodriguez’s restrained coloring, Richard Starkings adorns Conan’s adventure among the Aesir with black, uppercase lettering in white dialogue balloons. The flame-haired woman's thoughts inhabit blue lowercase letters in white narrative boxes. The utterances and musings embolden for intonation, occasionally enlarge, and never shrink. Shouts deform balloons and change the font color to match the blood spilled in this tale of warriors and gods. Thanks to Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Conan befriends the Aesir in Conan The Barbarian #14. He demonstrates his amusement at those who would rouse his ire with barbs. While Conan assists his neighbors to the north, fights alongside them, and wonders if the gods exist, the daughter of one studies him. The flame-haired siren notes the Cimmerian doesn’t waste energy trying to impress others. Instead, Conan inspires them.
Rating 9.5/10
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