CONAN THE BARBARIAN #11 (2023)
TITAN COMICS/Heroic Signatures
STORY: Jim Zub
ART: Roberto de la Torre
COLORS: Diego Rodriguez
LETTERS: Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith of Comicraft
EDITOR: Chris Butera
COVER: Alex Horley
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Richard Pace; Sean Galloway; Alex Horley
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2024)
Suggested for mature readers
“The Age Unconquered” Part III: “Call From the Depths”
Conan the Cimmerian was born in the pulp fiction of Robert E. Howard (REH), first appearing in the magazine, Weird Tales (1932). In 1970, Marvel Comics brought Conan to the world of comic books via the title, Conan the Barbarian. With only a few pauses, Conan comic books have been published for the better part of five decades.
Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures are the new producers of Conan comic books, and they launched a new Conan the Barbarian series in 2023. The current story arc is written by Jim Zub; drawn by Roberto de la Torre; colored by Diego Rodriguez; and lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft. Entitled “The Age Unconquered,” this arc finds Conan's body and/or soul transported 80,000 years into the past
Conan the Barbarian #11 (“Call From the Depths”) opens in the dreams and reveries of Conan, where he converses with Yag-kosha. The wise alien, worshiped by some as a god, has a lot to say about Conan's fate. It is a fate that has found Conan tens of thousands of years in the past – back to the time of Kull of Atlantis (also known as “Kull the Conqueror”) and Brule the Spear-slayer, a time know as the “Thurian Age.”
Now, Conan finds himself swept up in Kull's journey to find the source of the darkness that threatens his kingdom. Kull believes the source of the darkness is in Atlantis, the land of his birth, but upon arrival, Conan and Kull found an abyss into which they now travel. Unexpected terrors await, including one of Kull's most infamous adversaries.
THE LOWDOWN: Titan Comics has been providing me with PDF copies of their publications for review for several years now. Conan the Barbarian #11 is one of them.
I am so far behind in my reviews of Titan and Heroic Signatures' Conan the Barbarian comic book series that some of you, dear readers, already know what fate awaits Conan, Kull, and Brule. However, I am enjoying my slow roll through the narrative wonders of writer Jim Zub. The confab he fashions between Conan and Yag-kosha is one of the best sequences in a Conan comic book that I have read in years. Patience and conversation can be a good thing even in a violent fight comic book such as Conan the Barbarian.
Artist Roberto de la Torre, with his haunted illustrations, makes this series hum with his storytelling that recalls the vintage wonders of weird fiction. Mixing the aesthetic elements and graphical styles of Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, and John Buscema, de la Torre has made “The Age Unconquered” seem as if it is a story arc that has really been called from the depths of time. Diego Rodriguez's colors enhance the Stygian and infernal wonders of this third chapter of the arc, and I love that Richard Starking's stark lettering completes the classic comic book vibe.
“The Age Unconquered” may end up conquering us, dear readers, as it carries us to a new direction for Conan the Barbarian. I believe that I should be begging you, dear readers, to read this series.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Conan comic books absolutely must read Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures' Conan the Barbarian.
[This comic book includes the essay, “The Real Thulsa Doom: Skull-Faced Sorcerer of the Thurian Age” the eleventh installment of Conan/Howard essays by Jeffrey Shanks. The second text piece is “Know, O... Er... Oh Prince...” by Shanks.]
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
This story arc is collected in the trade paperback, CONAN THE BARBARIAN: THE AGE UNCONQUERED VOL. 3, which you can obtain at Amazon.
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