Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Roberto De La Torre
Colorists: Dean White & Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Richard Starkings of Comicraft
Map Illustration: Francesca Baerald
Editor: Matt Murray
Cover Artist: Dan Panosian
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $17.99
Release Date: February 14, 2024
Eight years have passed since Conan left home. Yet Conan has lived a lifetime. Gone is the young man seeking the meaning of his soul. Conan has become a tactician who knows when a leader deploys his soldiers effectively or uses them to shield him. Still, the urge to return home proves irresistible. What will Conan find when he sets course for Cimmeria? Will the kin of his native land welcome his return? Let’s grab our swords and battle axes, leap into Conan The Barbarian TP Vol 1, and find out!
Story
When Conan joined his Cimmerian kin at Venarium, he defended his homeland against Aquilonian invaders. Now, an Aquilonian landlord offers him a warm meal and a room while a one-eyed woman offers him a hot kind of hospitality. But an enjoyable evening gets moved to the back burner when the sky darkens, and a Pict scout rides into Hauler's Roam.
The villagers and visitors disregard Brissa’s claim that an unbeatable army is heading their way in Conan The Barbarian TP Vol 1. So, when it arrives, Conan and Brissa fight while others die. Then, they watch from the shadows as the army eschews valuables for corpses. The Cimmerian and the Pict scout follow the lifeless, decaying troops dragging the fallen toward Conan’s homeland.
While Conan seeks a homecoming he cannot receive, Brissa grasps at any link with her lost kin. For these are her people who have become mindless, slaughtering abominations. Reeling with loss, Brissa latches onto anything she can call her own. At first, she claims Conan’s sword is a Pict artifact stolen from her people. Later, Brissa finds more value in friendship with Conan than a reminder of her culture and history.
Conan must also face the specter of his people’s transformation. Some have died. Others are near death in Jim Zub’s story. Perhaps he wonders if his absence led his people to this plight. Yet the great evil that hangs over Cimmeria threatens the Hyborian world in Conan The Barbarian TP Vol 1. To defeat it, Conan and Brissa must brave the horrors of a dark citadel, inhuman magicians, and an otherworldly realm that sucks the life of all who descend into its depths.
Art
Roberto De La Torre reintroduces Conan to 21st-century readers with art that evokes the classic Marvel series. He spices up panel-packed pages with vignettes, one-page scenes, and the occasional double-page spread. He fills Conan The Barbarian TP Vol 1 with dramatic encounters and action-packed panels that portray people living and facing death amid the rugged beauty of the frontier. Two pages of character sketches show Brissa’s development as a friend and compatriot of Conan.
Like the blue stripe that crosses Brissa’s features, Dean White & Jose Villarrubia breathe vitality into De La Torre’s iconic art. Conan and Brissa’s skin may fade to gray at night when they face the undead or watch zombies drag their victims toward an ethereal green light. Crashing swords and flying scarlet amid historic dwellings and undeveloped nature recall the glories of the 1980s four-color comics. After Jim Zub’s story about Conan, Brissa, and the Black Stone concludes, a four-page gallery shows all the colorful covers created for the first four issues of this new series.
Richard Starkings delivers black uppercase lettering in dialogue balloons and boxes. He also dips his quill into various inks and writes his block script in backgrounds. Sound effects heighten confrontations between Conan, the Hyborian undead, reptilian creatures, and a priest who orders victims flung into a deadly emerald pool. Jeffrey Shanks provides four pages of insightful commentary on Robert E Howard's worldbuilding, fascination with the Picts, and why Conan has leaped from Howard's typewriter into readers' hearts. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
While acknowledging the equality of women and respect for other cultures, Conan The Barbarian TP Vol 1 pays homage to Robert E Howard’s classic stories. Conan befriends a rival for Bêlit and Valeria, fights zombies, ventures into a hidden stronghold, confronts malevolent monsters, and speaks with spirits long past as he remains defiant, dauntless, and undefeatable.
Rating 9.8/10
For more covers and a look inside see my preview of Conan The Barbarian Vol 1.
