HYPERBOREA » CONAN by Dark Horse

Ghul · 3/02/2014 7:15 pm

It's been 10 years of Dark Horse Comics publishing Conan, and it's been a fantastic run. Kurt Busiek set the tone early on, and his tenure was unfortunately short-lived. But he hand-picked Tim Truman to replace him, and it got even better. Truman seems to channel REH like no other comics writer who's tackled the character. Truman had a long and memorable run, but then the reigns were handed off to Roy Thomas, the legend. Roy had an excellent 12-issue run, clearly still on top of his game. Next was Brian Wood, whose run started off interesting, but overall a disappointment to Howard purists like me. I don't think he understands Conan, and I don't think he understands REH; it's the first time DH has dropped the ball in 10 years, but with Tim Truman brought back in to jump ahead and adapt Hour of the Dragon, they have restored my faith.

francisca · 3/02/2014 8:31 pm

I dropped my subscription about 6 months ago, because I was over 18 months behind......

Ghul · 3/02/2014 9:22 pm

francisca wrote:
I dropped my subscription about 6 months ago, because I was over 18 months behind......

Sounds like you dropped it at just about the right time, but as I understand it, Wood's time is through. You should treat yourself to Truman's six-issue mini-series that covers Hour of the Dragon, if you have the chance.

Chainsaw · 3/02/2014 9:33 pm

So, which years or issues are the ones to read? The last Conan comics I read were the black and white magazine versions, which I always loved because they felt like The Real Deal compared with my other comics. I need to recollect those, whichever ones they were...

Ghul · 3/02/2014 9:41 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
So, which years or issues are the ones to read? The last Conan comics I read were the black and white magazine versions, which I always loved because they felt like The Real Deal compared with my other comics. I need to recollect those, whichever ones they were...

Chainsaw, I also loved Savage Sword of Conan. John Buscema is, to me, the best Conan artist after Frazetta, especailly when Alcala was his inker. And Roy Thomas had more leeway with "mature" content, because it was considered a magazine, so in general it was better than Marvel's Conan the Barbarian, but I read them both and still have all my originals.

So the Dark Horse series. Start here:

http://www.amazon.com/Conan-Volume-Giants-Daughter-Stories/dp/1593073011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393814081&sr=8-1&keywords=conan+busiek

And then here:

http://www.amazon.com/Conan-Vol-Bowl-Other-Stories/dp/1593074034/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

And you'll be on your way to some great entertainment.

Chainsaw · 3/02/2014 10:07 pm

Ah! I actually used to have those, but I gave them to my wife's second cousin, because I thought they were great and wanted him to enjoy them. Spread the word, right? Anyway, my birthday's coming up, so I'll let my wife know. She's always looking for ideas.

Ghul · 3/03/2014 6:19 am

If you haven't read them, perhaps you can start with Tim Truman's run:

http://www.amazon.com/Conan-Volume-Rogues-In-House/dp/1593079036/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

It gets better here when Tomas Giorello becomes the permanent artist:

http://www.amazon.com/Conan-Volume-Hand-Nergal-Horse/dp/1595821783/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

And this may be my favorite volume of the series due to the Richard Corben (of Heavy Metal fame) story of Conan's grandfather:

http://www.amazon.com/Conan-Volume-Cimmeria-Dark-Horse/dp/1595822836/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

joseph · 3/04/2014 5:15 pm

These are some great comics. I collected all of the first series as well as concurrent spin-offs, but fell out of comics not long after that. I may look into finding the Truman run... I remember reading his old Scout series which was awesome in an '80s sort of way...still have those.

Yora · 4/06/2014 8:54 am

I've read most of it and very much like it. There's only a few storylines that didn't really do it for me, but the better ones did quite impress me as comics go.

Ghul · 4/18/2014 5:55 pm

King Conan: The Conqueror #6 (of 6)
Timothy Truman (W), Tomás Giorello (A/Cover), and José Villarrubia ©
On sale July 30
FC, 32 pages
$3.50
Miniseries
As Xaltotun and his traitorous lackeys face the returning King Conan, it’s their black magic against Conan’s fury and steel! The barbarian has an oath of vengeance to keep, some powerful friends of his own by his side, and a promise of love to fulfill! The epic adaptation’s thunderous climax!
• Conan confronts an ancient evil as he seeks to regain his crown!
“10 out of 10.”—Newsarama

Iron Ranger · 4/27/2018 8:38 pm

Just dug out and tore through the Busiek/Nord run. Cromalmighty folks, dig these books back out!

Ghul · 4/28/2018 7:05 am

Iron Ranger wrote:
Just dug out and tore through the Busiek/Nord run. Cromalmighty folks, dig these books back out!

Oh, they were indeed fantastic. Peculiar how Dark Horse produced some of the best Conan (Busiek / Nord) and yet some of the worst I've seen (Wood / Cloonan), especially some of the more recent art. Nord was fantastic, and so was Giorello, but some of the more recent art had me scratching my head. Conan with skinny legs and arms?

With the DH run coming to an end, I'm cautiously optimistic that Conan's return to Marvel is going to be a good thing.

mabon5127 · 4/28/2018 8:06 am

Ghul wrote:
Iron Ranger wrote:
Just dug out and tore through the Busiek/Nord run. Cromalmighty folks, dig these books back out!
I'm cautiously optimistic that Conan's return to Marvel is going to be a good thing.

I hope so as well.

Iron Ranger · 4/28/2018 8:21 am

Hope you're right Ghul, I think the last several years of the dark horse book prove that the art is in the drivers seat - I even hated the Thomas return arc!

mavfire · 4/28/2018 8:49 am

Conan; Buscema, Nord, Giorello... Nuff Said.

I hope marvel doesnt screw it up!

under_score · 8/04/2018 5:11 pm

I recently picked up volumes 1 and 2 of the Dark Horse Conan omnibuses. I never read any Conan comics before, but these are some really great adaptations. The art is incredible and it's amazing getting to see Hyboria captured so well.
Unfortunately, volume 3 is no longer available, so I'll probably start grabbing the Savage Sword series.

Iron Ranger · 8/05/2018 10:19 am

You are in for a helluva ride, under_score!!

achiriaco · 9/17/2018 3:07 pm

Started reading this last night.
Volume 0 of Collections. TPB
So far pretty good.

Last edited by achiriaco (9/17/2018 3:08 pm)

Iron Ranger · 9/17/2018 3:52 pm

You are in for a hellava ride, achiriaco!