Conan the Barbarian: Issue #6 (2019) "The Sole Survivor"

After a slight break Conan is BACK with issue 6 of The Barbarian! This time out story is in Turan, one of my favorite settings!

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Mahmud Asrar
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: Esar Ribic

Cover Price: $3.99

Another great cover from Esar Ribic on the front of this book. Even if you are not a fan of the book itself, the covers have been glorious. Unlike Savage Sword they generally tie into the story a little. This one does tie in, but it's on the over-arching Crimson Witch story line. I would have loved a glorious cover depicting Turan, I'll count it as a missed opportunity in my books.

More of Mahmud Asrar's Conan colored by Matthew Wilson cover these pages of Barbarian. I feel Conan is little more wiry and perhaps younger than in a few of the other books drawn by Mahmud, although I can't put my finger on why exactly. Don't take that to mean he is drawn small, he is still an impressive force of nature, and I still quite enjoy Mahmud's take on our Cimmerian hero.

There are a couple of things that I would have loved to have seen in this issue that aren't present, one is on Mr. Asrar's side and one is on Jason Aaron's side. They are both setting related. Although Mamhud did an excellent job with the dressing for Turan, but he missed an aspect that would have added a lot for me personally.

When they are camped out in yurts, we get a few shots of them from outside and inside and the internal structure is that of a light, square, framework. Yurts are built with a lattice work not unlike a folding wooden baby gate. Now it's possible he has a much stronger knowledge of these mobile homes than I give him credit for and has opted for a very early implementation of them. I do think that would be an incorrect assumption about Turan though.

The second problem is Jason Aaron's use of the term "Great Commander". What a great time to use a cool Persian-esque title to add flavor to the story. He uses king as well, but I feel like using a term like Great Commander, is 90% the way to giving it the flavor of Turan.

With all that being said, I did like this issue. I recognize I am pulling straws with the couple of points I bring up about the setting, but as I said this is one of my favorite settings as it and Hyrkania mirror some of my real life interests. This issue is full of Conan crushing his enemies and being an exceptional war leader. This is a definite plus.

The issue ends tieing back into the overarching story of the Crimson Witch and her quest to take Conan's warrior infused blood. However in the main narrative this story does lack any real sorcery, even if it does have plenty of swords and at least one awesome Conan being Conan moment.

I am still enjoying the story and the art in this title and I look forward to more of it!

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My rating this month is 4 out of 5 Skulls of My Enemies!

Another solid issue and story about the Cimmerian. Loving the one-shot nature of these stories and how much they are managing to fit into a few short pages.

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Savage Avengers: Issue #1 (2019)

May 1st is here! That means we are taking a look at the new offering from Marvel, "SAVAGE AVENGERS", Billed as a team up of Marvel's deadliest heroes.

A lot of fans will hate this before it is even looked at. They will derisively make comments about Marvel. They will complain they don't care! That they just want to make money!

I am not one of those fans. I am curious about this book. I think it could be a lot of fun. So lets take a look at what I actually thought after reading it!

Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Mike Deodato
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VCs Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: David Finch & Frank D'Armata

Cover Price: $4.99cad for 31 pages of story.

I bought my digital copy through Comixology and got something called "The Director's Cut", which includes pages with Variant covers, a script and a side by side of the pages both colored and B&W. All in all, with cover and credits the book is 138 pages long in this digital format. Well worth the price, I would love them to do more digital books this way!

The cover of Savage Avengers, although not directly related to the story inside is a good depiction of this team up. The art is solid and as a first cover I think it works pretty well to draw the audience into the book.

This story arc is going to be a little grander than what we might be used to with a Conan story but for Conan's part in this issue we have another straight forward S&S tale, with some more barbaric heroes mixed in. The story moves at a fairly healthy clip having more fight panels than not, which is good for this type of book in my opinion. This issue also introduces us to the bad guys and their evil plot.

Conan himself is depicted in his basic superhero fur outfit, nothing new here. I'd prefer something different, but the fur is signature and iconic, so I understand it's use. The other heroes depicted in the book are likewise shown in their signature outfits. We are shown him as a capable warrior, cleaving and chopping, but are shown little else about him. I hope in coming issues they establish him as the well rounded man he is. My single biggest fear is people new to the character will see nothing beyond the barbarian exterior and think him a simple character.

In general I like the art in the book, although perhaps not my favorite depiction of our Cimmerian hero, I think it is a pretty good one. The color is good with panels depicting a wide variety of environments from sunset through to night and rain. Being able to directly compare the B&W to the color really shows off how much atmosphere is added due to the environmental colors. I think Frank Martin did a great job here.

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And with that, this issue is going to get 3.5 skulls full of wine for Conan!

A 3.5 rating is getting pretty low for how I rate these, but don't let that hold you back. My metrics are geared towards sword & sorcery, and although this definitely has elements of it, it is an area this book will most likely get lower ratings in. That doesn't make it bad. That doesn't make it less fun. Just different than what we are generally looking at with a Conan comic. I am looking forward to the next issue to see how this story unfolds and to see how the team is brought together.

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Conan the Barbarian: Issue #5 (2019) "The Captain of the Ship of the Dead"

Now that the schedule for this book has fallen into its intended monthly offering, I find myself looking forward to this title. This is partially because it's Conan and partially because the week before this title there isn't a Conan title being released. But enough of this pre-amble. I have coffee and some Conan to read.


Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Mahmud Asrar
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: Esar Ribic

This issue sees the return of Mahmud Asrar to the art side of this title, so this issue is much like the first four in regards to style. It has some excellent panels, some of these are highly detailed and others are less detailed and still very evocative of our Cimmerian hero. The colors, as always, are excellent and I really like how some is executed, but alas I cannot tell you the specific panels until you have also read the book. If you liked Matt Wilson's color with Mahmud's art in past issues, you will not be disappointed!

Unlike Savage Sword the covers of this book are more in line with the story and feel like the Esar is given a basic plot of the book before he sits down to create the beautiful covers. This one is no different and I find I like this approach much better to the covers we are seeing on Savage Sword.

The story is told in a present, looking back at recent events type of format, we know Conan is in a bad spot, and we learn how he got there. I initially wasn't sure about it. About 3/4s of the way through the book I was pretty invested in the story that brought Conan to his current predicament, but I also came to feel about a possible weakness in this title, as we swapped back and forth from present to past. Some stories might be a little too long to feature in a single issue. I was pretty sure this tale could be fleshed out longer, but I think Jason did a pretty good job getting it into a single 19 pages of panels.

My chief issue with this title is the resolution, as it features things wholly out of Conan's control, even if he uses them to his advantage in the end. Having a key element outside his control isn't something I think we really like to see. But thinking back to other issues perhaps it is more common than we might think. In issue 3 the tree breaks, in Issue 2 the Picts rescue him, so perhaps I am just being nit picky.

Unlike the last issue this story is again full of sorcery and all things weird, making it feel more like a Conan tale to me than last months tale. Finally we see the Scarlet Witch again, although she doesn't tie into the story at all, we get another glimpse of her carting Conan back to her lair in the distant future.

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My rating this month is 4.5 out of 5 Skulls of My Enemies!

Overall I quite liked this issue of Conan the Barbarian! It had a lot of the hallmarks we come to expect from Conan and I look forward to discussing direct aspect of it on the forums in the coming days. So run out and grab your copy of Conan the Barbarian and let me know what you think!

If you liked this article then don't forget to subscribe to get the next exciting installment on pulp gaming both Sci-Fi and Fantasy!

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