Quick Rating: Looking Backward a Bit Too Much
Title: The Frost Giant’s Daughter

Aaaaaggghhhh!

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Cary Nord
Color: Dave Stewart
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Design: Darin Fabrick
Editor: Scott Allie

And so, my enthusiasm wanes.

I remember stumbling upon a horde of Savage Sword of Conan as a pre-adolescent. They were a glorious sight- covers that hinted at violence and other secrets. The tales were in over-sized black and white, quite exotic. The comics felt more text-heavy than even your run-of-the-mill seventies Marvel comic, which was packed with words. Conan and his friends were always half-naked, which had more and more appeal in succeeding years. And it seemed as though an issue or two was always popping up in somebody’s house. Yet no one had a pile of them, like there were piles of Superman or Spiderman. The reason was that every issue felt the same. And that feeling was apathy. The individual issues may have told different stories, but the final impression was otherwise.

This could be because Conan stinks as a character. It’s a fact, folks, and it’s about time we admitted it and moved on.

This issue opens with Conan finishing a battle which leaves him as the lone survivor. A gorgeous naked woman appears before him, which is unexpected in the middle of a frozen wasteland. She lures him off his path and into a trap.

Comic books, like real books, generally rely on empathy to maintain interest. Some sort of connection must be made between the reader and a character in the tale. This was the secret that Stan Lee stumbled upon, as did the long gone pioneers who created sidekicks. The challenge faced by monthly comics is maintaining that reader/character connection across vast periods of no input. (This may be one of the secrets of adult difficulties with comics. I have found that the younger set have a miraculous ability to recall the minutest detail of a comic read one, two, or three month previous. Children don’t need trade paperbacks. Their parents do. Perhaps adult brains are overwhelmed by information during the course of a month. Maybe they’re just full.) It is impossible to empathize with Conan. He always wins. He never has any discernable thought of any real interest. He lives in a world of unimaginable violence, which he mostly causes. He never sympathizes with anyone else. If you met him, you would not like him. He would be contemptuous of you and hopefully just growl at you. He’s the Hulk without the fine points. For that matter, the Hulk is pretty tedious, too, but he does have that whole dual personality thing going on.

There is nothing to be done about Conan, though. Robert Howard deserves credit for creating a character that has lasted so long. If he had lived longer, I suspect that he would have done a bit more with him—maybe not though. He might just have moved on to another genre, as seemed to be his wont after a few years.

The art continues to be an interesting experiment with coloring the pencils directly. It reminds me a little of N.C. Wyeth, but those were book illustrations and a little static.

If you remember the old Marvel Conan with great fondness, then this is likely to be your cup of brew. You may however find that you were not as fond of the whole concept as you thought.

April, 2004

Quick Rating: Hmmmm…
Title: Out of the Darksome Hills

And Away We Go…!

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Cary Nord with Thomas Yeates
Color: Dave Stewart
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Design: Darin Fabrick
Editor: Scott Allie

With apologies to They Might Be Giants:

Barbarian Man, Barbarian Man
Doing the things a Barbarian can
What’s he like?
It’s not important
Barbarian Man

Usagi man, Usagi Man
Usagi man hates Reader Man
They have a fight
Usagi wins
Usagi Man

The Dark Horse Conan has finally begun after some anticipation. It has been referred to as Ultimate Conan. That may be accurate. My recollection of the old Savage Sword series is that it was jam-packed with action and overflowing with story. It was also over-sized, so that may have had something to do with it.

So, what have we here? Conan appears out of nowhere in the midst of a fight and finds himself entwined in the lives of some villagers caught up in a local war. There is jealousy and violence and all kinds of barbarian activity- although it did seem that every exhibited exceptional table manners. The story fit my expectation of a Conan story, but I will probably want something a little more in my older years. As opposed to Marvel’s Ultimate stories, I don’t foresee any revelations in the Conan tale. There is not something sitting out there of which I can’t wait to be reminded. No names trigger goose bumps, even iof Red Sonja or Kull or some other buff character appears. I sort of hope the series can sustain itself, but I’m not sure how it will. For that matter, the old stories had some amazing art, but even they may have been a bit too repetitious. I like the art better here than in the prequel. I had a few quibbles at the time about a lack of definition in some of the panels and that has been handled. If you are interested in the Conan tales, but have no experience of them, then this may be a fine introduction to the world of sword and sorcery. If you love Conan like only a young man can, then you’ve been looking forward to this for months. For Kurt Busiek fans, I have no idea what you will think. I really like Astro City, but this is not that. You may very well like this, but probably not for the reasons that you’ve liked his other work.

February, 2004

Quick Rating: Preliminary
Title: The Legend

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Cary Nord
Color: Dave Stewart
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Design: Darin Fabrick
Asst. Editor: Jeremy Barlow and Matt Dryer
Editor: Scott Allie

1926, Brownwood, Texas – nine women are exciting a great deal of attention on the campus of Howard Payne College. They have stationed themselves near the entrance to the school paper, The Yellow Jacket. Calliope is particularly intent, examining each of the students who walks past. Clio has moved to the center of the campus where she now stands on a soapbox, lecturing any and all on the values that can be gained by a close examination of history. Erato has wandered off in order to watch the football team practice. Terpsichore dances about on the lawn. Euterpe is singing ‘Ramona’ by Gene Austin. Melpomene is the only one actually reading the school newspaper. Urania is quietly suggesting to one of the academic reporters that he start an astrology column. Thalia is very obviously thinking very intently.

Polyhymnia has cornered a stubby young man who can’t find the right words to escape the conversation with this bizarre woman. He looks like a deer trapped in her headlights. Panic flashes across his face when Polyhymnia calls to Thalia. Somehow, Polyhymnia leaves the conversation, but Thalia now corners the young man. She tells him to try humor. He might have a talent for it.

This was pretty much how Robert E. Howard got his start. Because he was funny and could write, we have Conan. Because Howard could not deal with the death of his mother, we have a character than many, many writers have grafted onto. Busiek has the same opportunities and faces the same pitfalls as his predecessors.

This issue introduces the character of Conan the Cimmerian through the eyes of a Prince and his Wazir, who stumble upon a fallen statue of the great barbarian. Intrigued, the Prince orders the Wazir to find out about the subject of the statue, dead a long time. The words of the Wazir provide the setting of the impending comic book series. We learn of the lands and are given a brief sketch of Conan’s career. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the Prince and the Wazir. They may prove to be nothing more than vessels for reintroduction of Conan into the comic waters or they could provide an interesting commentary on the lives lived and the choices made so long before themselves.

The last page of the pamphlet transcribes a conversation between Busiek and Nord. They discuss the technique of coloring Nord’s pencils directly without an intervening inker. It works well on some pages, like the scenic landscapes on page seven. On the other hand, page eight seems marred by the colorist trying to define figures with a thick black line. I suspect that it may take a few issues to get the formula just right and it may prove enjoyable to observe the learning curve.

Oh, and I’d appreciate it if Arnold would appoint Grace Jones to some high-falutin’ California post.

March, 2004