Marvel Announces ‘Conan The Barbarian’ Release Date

After getting the rights back to Conan the Barbarian, Marvel has finally announced that a new series featuring the iconic character is on the way, and an exciting creative team is taking the reins.

The wildly acclaimed Jason Aaron (Thor, Doctor Strange) will be penning the new series, which seems like a perfect fit, given his history with the God of Thunder. He’ll be joined by artist Mahmud Asrar (All-New X-Men), cover artist Esad Ribic (Thor), and colorist Matt Wilson (The Mighty Thor, Paper Girls).

Back in January, Marvel announced that it had once again acquired the rights to Conan, a character who hadn’t been on Marvel’s roster since 2000. In the 18 year absence, Conan spent time with both Dynamite and Dark Horse Comics. However, with a new deal in place, the character will be able to appear in Marvel books once again starting in 2019.

Fortunately, Marvel isn’t waiting long to re-introduce Conan into the fold. Conan the Barbarian #1 is set to hit shelves in January 2019.

“I’ve literally been preparing for this job since I was 13 and discovered my first Robert E. Howard Conan paperback in a used bookstore in my little hometown of Jasper, Alabama,” Aaron said of his new project. “I devoured every Howard book I could find after that, and I’ve been making up Conan stories in my head ever since. Now I finally get to do that for real, alongside the amazing Mahmud Asrar. So this opportunity means an awful lot to me, and I’m cherishing every blood-splattered, spider-haunted second of it.”

Aaron also gave fans a hint of what’s to come with the first arc of his new Conan series.

“The big initial arc we’re doing in this new series is very much done in reverence to Robert E. Howard and those original stories,” he continued. “One of the things that initially pulled me into the character was the fact that with each story, Howard jumped to a different point in Conan’s life, where he was in a different setting, interacting with different characters and living a very different life. I loved the grand and epic scope of Conan’s overall journey, and so for this new series, instead of picking just one period from Conan’s life and doing stories set only within that, our opening 12-issue arc will thread together many different periods and aspects of Conan’s journey, from Cimmeria to Aquilonia and beyond. That’s why this story is called ‘The Life and Death of Conan.’”

Artist Mahmud Asrar sounds just as excited about the new project as Aaron, saying the Conan art of old was a major influence on his work.

“Epic tales of fantasy about one tough and mean warrior,” Asrar explains. “Conan is the epitome of an indomitable barbarian and that has fascinated me as a kid growing up reading his stories. What made me stay for the ride was the amazing art on the Conan books throughout the years. So many great artists to name but I can’t tell you how influential John Buscema and his Conan art was for me. It was the first artist I knew the name of as a kid and started intentionally seeking out,” says Asrar. “Now, years later, I get the chance to draw the book myself and do it with the amazing Jason Aaron. I couldn’t be happier to tell epic new tales of the Cimmerian—to continue the legacy that will hopefully make a mark on readers, just like the original comics did for me.”

Conan the Barbarian #1 will go on sale in January 2019.