Conan of Cimmeria, the iconic adventurer of both page and screen, has made the move to Titan Comics to begin a fresh story. After some lengthy runs at both Marvel and Dark Horse Comics, the rights to Conan the Barbarian were acquired by Titan last year. The publisher is starting its own Conan saga with fantasy/adventure aficionado Jim Zub at the helm, with the writer having previously written some of the Conan books from Marvel’s latest run with the character. This Wednesday, Titan’s Conan saga officially launches in earnest with the arrival of Conan the Barbarian #1, a debut that feels like a throwback to the adventure comics of old, for better and for worse.
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Zub’s Conan the Barbarian #1, which is illustrated by Rob De La Torre, kicks off the “Scourge of the Dead” story. This isn’t a new origin for the character, but it doesn’t rely on much prior knowledge of past Conan stories either. It follows frustrated Conan who is searching the land for a purpose, a deeper meaning to his life that he hasn’t been able to discover as a mercenary. As he’s about to set out on his own, a mysterious woman rides into town to warn of a devastating army on a murderous path across the land. That army, as it turns out, is made up of the undead; or at least something very close to the undead. Conan is able to fight off adversary after adversary, but they don’t seem to do much dying.
This take on Conan aims for the pulpy nostalgia of the stories that made the character a household name in the first place. When it comes to invoking that nostalgia, Conan the Barbarian #1 overwhelmingly succeeds. The art is rough around the edges in a way that feels purposeful – an effort to achieve a throwback style. Just looking at the issue gives you that nostalgic feeling it’s hoping you’ll find. The only issue there is that style makes the action difficult to read from time to time. Characters can be hard to distinguish and some of the action is a little jumbled.
Fortunately, De La Torre is too talented an artist for those instances to ever become habitual or get too out of hand. Conan’s steely stare is engaging and calculated. The gorier, more brutal elements of the fight sequences are colorful and clear. If there’s a moment where the style starts to lose you a bit, it’s more than likely the next frame will quickly pull you back in.
Zub’s script is largely straight-forward, and it sets up something rather exciting by the issue’s end. It does, however, fall into the exposition trap that often plagues a debut issue, but only on a couple of occasions. There’s a lot to pack in to set up Conan’s current place, both geographically and in life in general. Laying that groundwork takes a little more time than you might like, but not so much that it’s slow or overly distracting.
The reveal of the undead enemies in the second half of the issue helps tremendously with the pacing and intrigue of the story overall. They bring with them a ton of questions, as well as the promise of a lot of great action in future installments.
Titan’s debut issue of Conan the Barbarian may not be the very best we’ve seen from Conan over the years, but it’s much closer to the character’s best than his worst. It’s a strong, if uneven first issue that plants the seeds for some exciting adventures ahead.
Published by Titan Comics
On July 26, 2023
Written by Jim Zub
Art by Rob De La Torre
Colors by José Villarrubia
Letters by Richard Starkings
Cover by Dan Panosian
