Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #2 Review

 

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.