Written by Tim Truman
Illustrated by Tomás GiorelloFirst hailing Conan as a liberator after he annihilated Aquilonia’s foes on the battlefield, common folk and politicians alike now rally to unseat the Cimmerian from his stolen throne. Conspirators plot to kill King Conan and take the crown for themselves, but their schemes pale in comparison to a terror waiting quietly in the wings–Thoth-Amon, an enemy who has haunted Conan his whole adult life and whose wicked aspirations dwarf those of maneuvering politicians!
This is the first Conan comic I have ever read. That might seem like heresy to some, and others might greet it with a big “meh.” But here it is: another Conan adventure from our friends at Dark Horse and Robert E. Howard!
Check the cut for more about the Savage Cimmerian!
Well, it was certainly a comic book, I can give it that! But the book left me with the worst kind of feeling. The feeling being that it didn’t make me FEEL anything at all. I have no real reaction to it, other than it just kind of was.
There’s a quote from the 90’s television show Roseanne that I’ve always remembered, despite not being a fan of the show. “He ain’t half bad. But he ain’t half good either.” Roseanne was referring to a Wayne Newton impersonator who turned out to be the very real Wayne Newton. But in this case, I’m referring to the comic that is supposedly based on the first Conan story Robert E. Howard published back in the 30’s. While I can’t attest to the legitimacy of that, it kind of runs along the same lines, does it not? While it’s a retelling by a comic book writer, it’s still by the original artist in a way, but it doesn’t turn out to be very good at all, but it’s not very bad either?
That, in and of itself, is the problem with the book itself, however. It’s extremely boring. At least when I hate a book, because it’s poorly written or poorly characterized or what have you, there’s something about it that gives me a reaction to the book in SOME way. In some ways that’s worse than being awful, because if you think about it, people HATE Greg Land and Rod Liefeld, but at least people will remember them.
Speaking of the art; that is probably the most memorable part of the book, and not even for the right reasons. Pick any page of this book, any one. Even the most stellar art in this book has been muddied by the inking and coloring, to the point where sometimes, you can’t even tell there are things happening. At one point, in fact, I look at a panel for a good minute or so trying to figure out where the guys shadow-laden face actually had a nose. The answer is “nowhere really.” The stunning lack of detail in the book seems to have been hidden by an abundance of shadows all over the place.
Not that I hate shadowing in comics. As a matter of fact, it can add a lot of mood to a series and help it in many ways. But while that’s certainly true for comics in general, I can only imagine that’s the case half of the time for this book, and the other half was to cover up either A) mistakes or B) as a shortcut to avoiding problematic composition. Either is quite likely, and that’s the somewhat bothersome part.
I actually remember something that Craig Thompson said once at a signing I went to. He loved Dark Horse because they had some of the best Indie Titles on the Market, but also some of the worst licenses as well. Unfortunately, this book falls in the latter, and not the former. There are other books worth your money. Unless you’re a hardcore Conan fan, I doubt there’s anything here for you. Just move along and find something better; and more memorable.
Final Verdict: 4.what book did I read again?
