Conan The Barbarian #35 Cover Preview

 

Cover A: Gerardo Zaffino

The Red Brotherhood ruled the seas. But when a storm swept the Briney Wren into its grip, a specter with red eyes attacked Conan during the night. In the morning, Captain Quinn steered his wrecked ship to the shores of a mysterious island where a crystal pillar embedded with Human skeletons met the crew's weary gaze. But that was only the beginning of their problems. 

Now, Conan watches a cult in black robes carry his surviving shipmates through the jungle. Can he rescue Captain Quinn, Valeria, and the rest of the survivors? And why do the servants of Jaggta-Noga want the Cimmerian?

Here's all the info from Titan Comics: 

 

Conan The Barbarian #35 Cover Preview

Writer: Jim Zub

Artist: Fernando Dagnino

Cover Artists: Gerardo Zaffino, Nick Marinkovich, Ashleigh Izienicki & Benito Gallego

Publisher: Titan Comics

Issue Description: 32 Pages, Full Color

Price: $4.99 US

Release Date: September 30, 2026

 

 

Captives on the Island of Death!

 

 

Conan and Valeria are pirates of the Red Brotherhood, living a life of lawless adventure on the Western Sea. But occult forces from the Cimmerian’s past have him in their sights once more. And they will not rest until the barbarian’s body and soul are torn asunder!

 

 

Here are more covers to collect:

 

 

 

Cover B: Nick Marinkovich

 

Cover C: Ashleigh Izienicki

Cover D: Benito Gallego

Cover E: Gerardo Zaffino Virgin Cardstock

Cover F: Ashleigh Izienicki Foil

Cover G: Ashleigh Izienicki Virgin Cardstock

 

Available from local comic shops. For UK & Europe visit Forbidden Planet

 

For more details, visit Titan Comics.

 

 

Thanks to Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures for sharing this cover preview with us.

 

For the Red Brotherhood's first day on the Island of Death, see Conan The Barbarian #34 Review.

 

For Conan's battle with a specter with crimson eyes, see Conan The Barbarian #33 Review.

 

For how this series began, see my review of Conan The Barbarian TP Vol 1.   

 

 

Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1 Review

 

Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1 Review

Writer: Jim Zub

Artist: Jésus Merino

Colorist: Jão Canola

Letterers: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith

Cover Artists: Roberto De La Torre, Utsab Chatterjee, Gerardo Zaffino, Jésus Merino & Stuart Sayger

Editor: Chris Butera

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $4.99 US

Release Date: September 23, 2026

 

Conan has traveled the world. He has faced countless foes. So, when he defends a village along the border between Zingara and Argos, the tide of battle doesn’t faze him. Conan knows how to navigate the ebb and flow of battle and use momentum to achieve victory. Yet he senses a familiar presence casting its shadow over him once more. Conan does not know how Thulsa Doom’s forces will attack him next. Still, Conan senses a familiar darkness once again threatening the Hyborian World.

 

Yet wars are not fought alone. Who will join Conan in his next battle with Thulsa Doom? And after all of Conan's victories, will the powerful sorcerer gain the advantage over the Cimmerian this time? Let's raise our swords, leap into Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1, and see!

 

Story

In the Hyborian Age, Conan sits in a tavern, nursing a tankard of ale. After defending towns from raiders, he forsook his position and pay when the defenders became oppressors. But as he watches the revelry around him, Conan feels like an outsider. He wonders if his sacrifice was worth it.

 

As Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1 follows the Cimmerian’s struggle to find value in civilized society, it also checks in on Steve Costigan. Six years have passed since he fought for civilization in Montfaucon, France. After the Great War ended, Steve wandered. He sought meaning in all the death and destruction. The anguish he endured seeing his comrades die on the battlefield, and how they treated the people they fought to protect, refuses to fade. So, when his footsteps lead him into Chinatown in London, England, Steve accepts the manager's invitation and steps within the Temple of Dreams.

 

As Jim Zub's story ponders the role civilization plays in Human progress, he backtracks to the Thurian Era. Humans tend to think of time as a straight line. Yet for Gonar the Seeker, time is a circle. Sitting cross-legged before a fire in the Thurian Age, Gonar peers past the boundaries of time and space. He sees a cosmic being that Conan and Steve sense through their connection to Thulsa Doom.

 

Conan has triumphed in many wars between nations. Steve Costigan struggles to recover from serving in Humanity’s first World War. Yet a war for the cosmos, ignited by a stellar ravager and Thulsa Doom’s unquenchable thirst for power, awaits both men in Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1.

 

Art

As Gonar sits in contemplation, with horns crowning his head, a cosmic vision overtakes his eyes. A dead space appears amid a sea of stars. Yet a living Black Hole gathers stars with its tentacles to the vortex at its center. In the Hyborian Age, Conan frowns as he regards the crowded tavern. Some drink wildly. Intoxication drives others to rage. A tavern wench smiles as she delivers drinks to other customers. Yet still, Conan frowns.

 

Millennia later, Steve Costigan reclines on a wooden platform. Sweat drenches his features as a wisp of smoke escapes his pipe. Around him, smokers close their eyes and relax as they sink into oblivion. Yet Steve remains restless. Jésus Merino provides readers a glimpse inside Steve's mind. Amid decaying corpses, silhouettes of violence, and explosions, tears stream from Steve's eyes.

 

As a purple cosmic entity devours stars in a blue-and-black sky, the brown trees and ground surrounding Gonar match the interior of Conan's tavern. An orange-and-yellow vision signals Steve Costigan's connection with Thulsa Doom’s resurgence. Jão Canola uses gold to link Steve's pipe and Conan's medallions with a woman each meets. Yet like green, gold also links Steve, Conan, and the mysterious woman with Thulsa Doom in Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1.

 

Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith convey Jim Zub’s strong narrative voice with uppercase black letters in colored narrative boxes. Steve speaks in roughly shaped balloons as he struggles to put the past behind him, and spherical balloons when he recaptures what he lost. The rough balloons link Steve to Conan’s adversary, and a voice that speaks amid roughly shaped beige circles outlined with red. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Raiders killed her parents when she was a child. She grew up as a servant. As Steve Costigan fought to preserve civilization, Zuleika served beneath Thulsa Doom. While Conan and Steve can sense the sorcerer, Thulsa Doom seems ignorant of her extraordinary abilities. Yet like Gonar the Seeker, Zuleika recognizes that time and space are illusions. As Thulsa Doom arrays his forces for another bid to take over the world, Zuleika’s role seems inextricably linked with the sorcerer and the power of the Black Stone in Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1 Preview. 

For more on Zuleika see The Savage Sword of Conan #16 Review. 

Read the Free Comic Book Day issue: Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #0 at Titan Comics. 

 

For Titan's earlier Conan events, see:

Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1 Review & 

Conan: Scourge of the Serpent Review.  

 

Conan The Barbarian #28 Preview

 

COVER A: GERARDO ZAFFINO

 

Conan enjoyed life as a mercenary. There were no big decisions to be made. He fought, he partied, and he earned money. But life had more in store for Conan than following Sumner into battle as one of his Westermark Wolves. Now, Conan is the general of Trocero's forces, and King Numedides has branded him a traitor. Will Conan lead the forces of Poitain against Tarantia? And will King Numedides share King Ferdrugo de Ramiro III's fate?

Here's all the info from Titan Comics:

 

 

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #28 (ONGOING)

Format: Comic book

(W) Jim Zub

(A) Fernando Dagnino

Publisher: Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures

FC, 32pp, $4.99, On Sale January 28, 2026

 

YEAR THREE OF THE TITAN/HEROIC CONAN LEGACY CONTINUES!

 

ALL-NEW CONAN STORY ARC CONCLUDES!

 

THE CONQUERING CROWN: The King of Aquilonia has gone mad, or so the rumors say. A tyrant sits upon the throne and all will suffer until he is deposed or dead. Conan the Mercenary cares nothing for these royal rumors and petty politics, but the Cimmerian’s skill in battle is about to put him in the path of a mad monarch, and his life will be forever changed.

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are more cover options:

 

 

COVER B: SWEENEY BOO

 

COVER C: SCOTT CAMPBELL

COVER F: GERARDO ZAFFINO BW BLOOD VAR

 

Also available:

COVER D: GERARDO ZAFFINO FOIL TRADE ($14.99)

COVER E: GERARDO ZAFFINO VIRGIN

Thanks to Titan Comics for sharing this preview with us.

 

Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1 Review

 

Writer: Jim Zub

Artist: Jonas Scharf

Colorist: João Canola

Letterers: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith

Editors: Chris Butera & Matt Murray

Cover Artists:Gerardo Zaffino; Sedat Oezgen; Stuart Sayger; Samwise Didier; Tony Fleecs,

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 4, 2024

 

Professor John Kirowan and John Conrad arrive at The Wanderers Club late. Speaking the members’ phrase gains them entry, but is the person they wish to meet still there? And how can they advance Professor Kirowan’s research? Let’s leap into Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1 and find out!

 

Story

Adventurers, researchers, and scholars gather in the plush Chicago club surrounded by historic artifacts. But Professor Kirowan is more interested in books. Specifically, he is interested in a symbol Francis Xavier Gordon drew in a journal. Professor Kirowan and his friend saw the symbol in the excavated ruins of a Stygian city. They want Gordon, or El Borak, to tell them more about it.  

 

Conan battled the Aquilonians when they erected a fort in Cimmeria at Venarium. Now, he defends their fort in the Pict-held lands at Conajohara. Valannus, the commander of Fort Tuscelan, views Conan little better than the savages who defy their civilized invaders. Other Aquilonians agree. While Conan is a fierce fighter, a sigil inscribed on stone drives him into a berserker-like rage. He found the disk of carved stone on a dead Pict. So, like the Eye of the Serpent and the Wheel of Pain pendant, Conan slipped it around his neck. As with the emblem of two serpents facing each other, the symbol plagues his mind. Conan’s lapses of control worry him. While others sleep, Conan slips out of Fort Tuscelan and ventures into Pict territory. Perhaps there, Conan will learn why the Pict wore the symbol, and why it drives him into a killing frenzy.

 

 

 

Long after the Hyborian Age, James Alison sits at his desk in Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1. He writes tall tales of warriors and wanderers and sells his stories to magazines. As Alison doesn’t share his stories’ origins, or use the title A Million Little Pieces, his editors assume he makes them up. But every time he writes, an ancient symbol burns in his mind.

 

As they sit together at The Wanderers Club, Francis Xavier Gordon’s good humor fades. El Borak faced his fears as he defended a kidnapped chief’s son in a cursed temple. Now, he dissembles. Then he admits the truth. The symbol plagues him. Unlike Harry Potter, he fears any mention of it will increase its power. 

 

 

 

In Jim Zub’s story, the symbol of the Black Stone calls to people across space and time. It propels them on journeys. It calls them to battle. And it fires their imaginations. Professor Kirowan wants to learn its power. El Borak fears that the symbol will provoke a war to end all wars. He’s already lived through one. He doesn’t want to provoke another.

 

 

 

Art

Fog rises from the car-choked street as rays from the setting sun stream between the stone buildings lining the street. The golden light makes a gargoyle glow as silhouettes ascend stairs in Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1. A woman leads the men into a museum illuminated a skylight-ceiling. The largest artifacts stand on an upper floor. More hang on the wall. The smallest reside within glass globes atop wooden pedestals. Then the richly adorned background fades as El Borak, his black tie hanging loose beneath his white tuxedo, welcomes the black tuxedoed visitors.

 

 

 

Men in monochromatic formal attire make ladies in pink and lavender dresses shine amid the rich yellows and browns of The Wanderers Club. Conan and fellow defenders sport rosy flesh while a yellow and orange fire rages inside the fort. They enter, and as Conan and another brawl before the bonfire, the other soldiers become fade to black. Amid the rich textures and bright colors suffusing Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1, none shine brighter than green. After holding the disk of stone in his hand, green radiates from Conan as he lays beneath a black starry sky. The green symbol hovers above him. Soon, that same green glow will surround other Howardian heroes. And for one, the fire it radiates will threaten to consume him.

 

 

 

Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith conjure black uppercase words into white dialogue balloons and green narrative boxes. Stately white letters announce time and location. No sound effects invade Jonas Scharf’s art, even when Conan wages a fierce battle against those who call Conajohara their own. But the symbol João Canola colors green prompts Conan to utter large colorful dialogue in Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1. Thanks to Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures for providing a copy for review. 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

An ancient symbol speaks to people across space and time. It drives Conan and Dark Agnes into savage rages. It intrigues Kirowan and Conrad, fires a Texas writer’s imagination and sends Soloman Kane on a quest. Conan undertakes the most dangerous journey and makes the strangest discovery in Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

For more cover art and a checklist to ensure you don't miss a moment of the Battle of the Black Stone crossover see my preview on September 4th.

Preview: Conan The Barbarian: Battle Of The Black Stone #1

COVER A: GERARDO ZAFFINO (JUL240354)

If you haven't visited your local comic shop today, Conan The Barbarian: Battle Of The Black Stone #1 comes out today! Here's a preview courtesy of the folks at Heroic Signatures & Titan Comics. Enjoy!

 

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE #1 (OF 4)

(W) Jim Zub

(A) Jonas Scharf

Format: Comic

Publisher: Heroic Signatures & Titan Comics

FC, 32pp, $3.99, On Sale September 4, 2024

 

CONAN OF CIMMERIA IS HAUNTED BY SHADOWS, LIVING NIGHTMARES CONNECTED TO A MYSTERIOUS EYE SYMBOL ETCHED IN BLACK STONE.

 

An unspeakable evil looms over the Hyborian Age and every age connected to it... and it will take more than a lone barbarian to stop its relentless march upon time, space, and sanity.

 

BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE, an epic new CONAN EVENT from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics, begins HERE, from Jim Zub (Conan the Barbarian, Dungeons & Dragons) and artist Jonas Scharf (Dark X-Men, Basilisk)!

 

Here are the covers available. Choose one or collect them all!

 

COVER B: SEDAT OEZGEN (JUL240355)

 

 

COVER C: STUART SAYGER (JUL240356)

COVER D: SAMWISE DIDIER (JUL240357) 

 

COVER E: TONY FLEECS (JUL240358)*

Note: Tony Fleecs is a writer/artist on Local Man and the writer of Army Of Darkness Forever, also reviewed here!

Cover Pack Cover

FOC Cover

COVER F: COLOR BLANK SKETCH VARIANT (JUL240359) 

Lastly, here's a checklist to ensure you don't miss any of this exciting event!

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.