The greatest fighters of Themyscira and Cimmeria meet in a six-part miniseries co-published by DC and Dark Horse! Since both are royal warriors with a decades-old mythology behind them, a crossover between Wonder Woman and Conan the Barbarian seems like a logical choice that has only hasn’t gotten the chance to happen earlier. Check out our review to see how the adventure starts off, unless you’re afraid of some spoilers.
Written by Gail SimoneCover by Darick Robertson
Pencilled by Aaron Lopresti
Inked by Matt Ryan
Coloured by Wendy Broome
Lettered by Saida TemofonteWhat makes one a legend? How do legends carve their names into history, when countless others are forgotten? Wonder Woman and Conan the Barbarian are destined by the fates to be legendary, but when their stories collide, will both emerge victorious, or will the fickle Gods cut their lives short? Co-published with Dark Horse Comics.
Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti have previously worked together on a fan-favourite “Wonder Woman” run and are joined again to deliver us the first meeting of the Amazon and the Barbarian. Simone isn’t new to the character of Conan either: she has also written a Red Sonja/Conan crossover. (Now we’re just waiting for that Wonder Woman/Red Sonja crossover…) Simone writes in a style reminiscent of old sword and sorcery stories. Based on the first issue this crossover is definitely a barbarian story despite the other main character being a superhero. The setting, style and visual elements are pulled out of the ’30s pulp magazines where Conan originally rose to fame.
Wonder Woman and Conan’s meeting is done in an interesting way. Instead of the characters just running into each other, Conan finds Wonder Woman as an amnesiac gladiator forced to compete against multiple opponents who of course are no challenge for her. Lopresti’s Wonder Woman is majestic even when she’s lost her memory and covered in mud. Pulp novels were often filled to the brim with violent and risky scenes and the influence is clear in the artwork: The crows that pick out eyeballs from a disembodied head and later turn into scantily clad crow-women are an obvious example. Blood and dirt splatter around in the fights and the character’s costumes are interesting to look at. The first page where the panels are framed with different weapons and vines is great because it pulls you straight into that sword and sorcery mindset. The font which letterer Saida Temofonte uses in the narration boxes has the same effect and despite having that old timey look, it’s still easy to read. Wendy Broome’s colouring is quite mediocre and unsurprising.
The focus of the issue is definitely on Conan the Barbarian. He gets the beginning of the issue for himself and the narration is about him, while Wonder Woman comes in later as a more mysterious character. The creators will probably bring Wonder Woman more into the spotlight in the later issues, though. Conan is presented as a nuanced character both by his actions and the narration boxes that go into detail about his feelings. In some places Simone’s grand mythological writing style goes a bit overboard but in most places it hits just the right tone.
There is one confusing creative choice made when in the panel right after Conan’s boyhood flashback a random boy who looks quite similar to young Conan is inserted into the story. At a closer glance you can see it’s a different character, but the designs are very similar and the placement of the boy’s appearance is timed so that the reader might be left puzzled about it for a moment. There is another minor placement problem where a speech bubble is coming from outside a round panel but at a first glance it seems to be coming from the character in the previous panel. Again, you can see that isn’t the case when you look at it carefully but when doing a quicker read it jumbles up the reading experience when you have to pause and try to figure out who is who and saying what.
A conflict is established with Conan and Wonder Woman being imprisoned by the antagonist and even though the two main characters have quite little page time together, there is already an interesting emotional setup for them. How will Wonder Woman regain her memory? Will Conan find out she is who he thinks she is, or will he be disappointed? The start of the issue is slow with the story following only Conan, which might feel like a drag for anyone who’s excited for the Cimmerian and the Amazon to meet already, but Simone also makes a good choice by not revealing too much yet. The questions raised and the upcoming fight between the finest warriors of their people have me interested for the next issue.
Final Verdict: 5.9 -Despite its flaws “Wonder Woman/Conan” #1 gives a promising setup for the main characters’ dynamic.
