Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons Review

 

Writer: Walter Simonson
Artist & Colorist: Jerry Ma
Letterers: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith
Publisher: Titan Comics & Heroic Signatures
Price: $3.99 (digital only 1-shot)
Release Date: May 21, 2025

Hungering for luxury, Conan bribes a guard for a night in the king of Ophir's seraglio. But when the Cimmerian awakens, he fears tongues will wag. Conan takes his horse and heads toward the city gates. But before he can leave Ianthe, a beggar grabs his wrist. What does the man want? And how will he influence the Cimmerian's plans? Let's get our swords and battle axes, leap into Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons #1, and find out!

Story
Instead of trying to steal from Conan, the man gives him a gold coin. Between coughing fits, the man explains that he has waited for someone like Conan by the Eastern Gate. He mentions gold, dragons, and a princess before he collapses and dies. Conan wonders if the man has the plague. But the foreign coin overrides the Cimmerian's fear of sickness or capture. So, before he leaves Ianthe, Conan visits a scriptorium.

In Walter Simonson's story, legends about fabled cities of gold inspired Conan to leave Cimmeria. When Yaktan compares the coin with an old map, he mentions ancient legends involving cities of gold. With the royal guards likely searching for him, Conan opts to seek the cities that prompted him to leave Cimmeria and explore the Hyborian world.

Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons follows Conan's journey into uninhabited lands. As Conan encounters mysteries and discovers the truth behind the dying man's oracular pronouncement, the Cimmerian demonstrates his morals by protecting the endangered.

Art
Jerry Ma's style thrusts closeups into scenes. After beginning with Conan riding his horse through the air before the royal palace, he later interposes cutouts of Yaktan reading his scroll and Conan fingering his chin before a vision of a city carved into a rocky hill. As he rides his tall, densely muscled horse past barren trees and sandstone hills, Conan encounters soldiers who recall the Mongols that swept across ancient Europe in Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons.

Ianthe features impressive ivory and gray buildings. Gray birds fly through grand arches while people enter and leave the palace guarded by stone lions. Jerry Ma hints at Conan's speed and one of Conan's nicknames by showing an image of him cast in the same gray of the lions behind Conan battling a thief.

Jerry Ma's palette also features bright colors. Red fills the background as Conan strikes a man. Pink fills the skies and tinges the clouds over this unexplored region. Light and shade flow across faces and skin like fluids of differing density in a fish tank, giving faces and muscles an ever-changing, organic appearance in Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons.

Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith fill dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with uppercase black lettering. Conan's thoughts appear in old school clouds, while the dying man's tiny words fill balloons with a curving arrow. Mauve and maroon sound effects accompany spraying crimson, yellow letters arise from the gold encircling Conan's wrist, while a click and a hiss conjure a creature rarely seen in a Conan story. Thanks to Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures for providing a copy for review.

Final Thoughts
Walter Simonson delves into the history of the Hyborian Age, mining forgotten gods, legendary cities, and magical creatures to create a strikingly original tale in Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons.

Rating 8.5/10 

To look inside see my preview of Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons.