Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Jonas Scharf
Colorist: Jão Canola
Letterers: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith
Editors: Chris Butera & Matt Murray
Cover Artists: Roberto De La Torre, Nick Marinkovich, Patch
Zircher, Max Von Fafner
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 2, 2024
When Professor John Kirowan and his friend John Conrad met
Francis Xavier Gordon at The Wanderers Club, he refused to answer their
questions about the glyph he had drawn in his diary. When they pressed him, he
confided that the symbol haunted him. Then, the glass dome containing a glowing
rock shattered, replaced by a bright green symbol. Gordon's eyes also glowed
green as a fiery figure appeared above them. Green energy ripped through the
man, tearing the flesh from his bones, yet failed to devour him. Who is this
tormented soul, and how is his fate connected to Kirowan, Conrad, Gordon,
Conan, and other adventurers? Let’s leap into Conan: Battle of the Black Stone
#2 and find out!
Story
Writers hunger for inspiration. They plumb the depths of the
soul to craft their magic. In 1936, as Texan James Allison sat before his
typewriter, this heart of darkness took physical form. Whether Allison had seen
the symbol or intuited the hostile spirit behind it, the darkness transported
him through space to The Wanderers Club in Chicago. The power behind the symbol
also linked him across time to Agnes De Chastillon in 1522, Solomon Kane in
1584, and Conan in the Hyborian Age. Like the soldiers in the Army of the Lost
that Conan and Brissa pursued through Cimmeria, the sigil pulls James Allison's
strings, and he utters its message. “We are all dead.”
The power that directs Allison tells Kirowan, Conrad, and
Gordon that it feeds on courageous souls. Just as James Allison battled the darkness
inside him to craft his stories, Solomon Kane tackled terrible forces in the
name of his Lord. Dark Agnes also knows anger and courage. She fought against
those who tried to trap her in marriage and prostitution to become a mercenary.
Anger at such injustices drove her, just as righteous anger drives Solomon
Kane. Both confront Conan when the power imprisoning James Allison transports
them to the Hyborian Age in Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #2.
Ever wary of the supernatural, Conan grows angry when
strangely dressed people appear. Brissa calms him. Conan had thought her gone
forever when Thulsa Doom’s dark citadel vanished. Like him, Brissa fell into
the waters beneath the citadel and spoke with someone from their past. She
doesn’t confront Conan over discarding the ancient Pict sword she once yearned
for. Instead, she wields a spear given to her by the entity that took a
familiar form. Conan has fought his way through more of her lost kin in Conajohara.
Now, James Allison hovers above them, a reminder of that army of lost Pict
souls. And they stand together before another dark citadel, not unlike the one
they rescued captured Cimmerians from in Conan The Barbarian #4. Will this
citadel separate them again?
While Jim Zub’s story brings all these heroes together, El
Borak endures the fiercest challenge in Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #2. A
monster once battled Solomon Kane, Captain Kodaly, and Turkish soldiers in
Transylvania. Now, it tears through The Wanderers Club. Is Francis Xavier
Gordon sufficiently swift to banish the rampaging beast?
Art
Green fire exposes James Allison's teeth and jaw. Jonas
Scharf packs the pages of Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #2 with panels to
show our heroes interact with these supernatural forces. The creature dislodges
stone pillars and fills The Wanderers Club with smoke in a double-page spread
while heat or an exhalation rises toward the skylights. Gordon, aka El Borak,
grabs a sword mounted on the wall near a suit of armor. Then Brissa appears.
Soon, her spear and El Borak’s sword bathe in blood.
Jão Canola contrasts the yellow and green energy with orange
and red, while brown and gray also ground scenes in the stately club. The green
energy turns James Allison’s maroon shirt and brown slacks orange, reminding us
that he is a prisoner to the supernatural force. Yet the yellow fire in his
eyes and the shape of his collar evoke an Undead lord. Brissa shines with her
blue hairband, blue cloth top, and a blue stripe across her eyes. When the
power flings them to the Hyborian era, Robert E Howard’s heroes hurtle out of a
white, yellow, and green vortex. A blue starburst surrounds Conan's face when
he spots Brissa, while a wide shot reveals a yellow bonfire painting the ground
orange beneath the blue night sky.
Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith conjure black uppercase
words into white dialogue balloons and green narrative boxes. A stately font introduces
characters and announces the time and location. No sound effects invade Jonas
Scharf’s art, even when our protagonists battle a monster that will take one
hero’s life in Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #2. Thanks to Titan Comics and
Heroic Signatures for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
A primordial beast inhabits a dark dimension that extends
across space and time. It possesses heroes and hurls them into arenas of its
choosing. But Brissa demonstrates the ability to travel through this
otherworldly realm. She offers to lead the hunt against this great evil. The
heroes must band together or get picked off one by one in Conan: Battle of the
Black Stone #2.
Rating 9.6/10
For another cover and preview art see my preview at The Dragon's Cache.
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