Conan the Barbarian launches with a threat that may overwhelm all of Cimmeria and presents Conan with a new ally! The enduring character has started from the pen of Robert E. Howard in the pulp story, “People of the Dark” (1931). The character found new popularity with the Marvel Comic, Conan the Babarian #1 (1970) by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. The first part of Bound in Black Stone, “Scourge of the Dead”, is by Jim Zub and Rob De La Torre. Zub was the writer for the recent Marvel Conan the Barbarian comic. De La Torre crafted the artwork for the recent Shadowman comic book.
The creative team worked on the Free Comic Book Day preview of the comic. The regular cover by Dan Panosian has Conan with a violent expression armed with axe and sword! It begins with the familiar Nemedian Chronicles introduction of Conan from “The Phoenix on the Sword” (1932). The frontpiece has the detailed map of Hyperborea, Conan’s world, with a circled area of the comic’s setting, Venarium. This is below Conan’s home land, Cimmeria. A brief summary, “On the Road of Kings…” brings readers up to date on Conan at that section of his life when he is returning back to Cimmeria for rest. Panels show the forests of northern Aquilonia, the home fires are seen of a village, Hauler’s Roam, next to hills.
Zub’s descriptions are very REH-like. It moves to a tavern where the patrons are shocked at a fight. The next page has a closeup of a fist smashing into a bloody face! The blood is captured by colorist, Jose Villarrubia, as well as the muted browns and stunning colors of backgrounds and crimson of violent scenes! The content of the comic is for mature audiences. We see above the battered man, Conan swinging fists, he wears the horned helmet of his early warrior days. He is now 24. The figure work and faces have a John Buscema influence, but De La Torre has great panel designs and far more bloody action than Buscema’s Conan run.
Conan the Barbarian #25 (1973) was the start of Buscema’s wok that also includes the magazine, Savage Sword of Conan! De La Torre’s art is a new direction from his earlier work that includes Ms. Marvel #6 (2006). The fallen man wipes away blood from his face and then strikes back Conan with his helmet flying away. The brawl is Conan attacking his captain for sending soldiers to their deaths. Conan plows into the captain’s midsection with a fist that folds him in half! He shouts his resignation from the captain’s mercenaries. His fellow soldiers want Conan to calm down and the Cimmerian is stunned that they will still follow the captain after two of the soldiers died.
The captain again attacks Conan, this time with a sword, but Conan drives his knee into the captain’s face! The other mercenaries say that Conan is their new leader, but he doesn’t want any part of giving or taking orders. He flips the coins of his share and one mercentary gives him the pay of the fallen soldiers as the captain is dragged away. Conan pays for the damages and the tavern owner puts an food order for the Cimmerian. The bar maid, red hair with an eyepatch, brings him food. Conan mentions this travels. Then, we get an epic, two page spread with a night battle of young Conan at the Battle of Venarium. His taste of battle continues and we see Conan swimming towards a bear and then carrying its corpse pierced by arrows.
He snaps out of his thinking back over the eight years. The bar maid is about to comfort him when a bearded man, Groff, bursts into the tavern. He is shouting in fear about the daytime turned into complete darkness! Armed, Conan leaves the taverns with some villagers. He looks towards the forest and hears only silence. They are cautious as a rider is approaching behind them! This leads to Conan turning in an insert panel while we get a splash page of the female rider with her face half-covered in a mask. This is the introduction of the Pict warrior who later introduces herself as Brissa.
The villagers are startled and we get a speckled pink color that brings an otherworldly tone to the action scene! She warns the villagers about an approaching army and to run. One bearded villager says they have scouts that would warn about an army and she says the scouts are dead! They hear a wail, turning, and we get a powerful two page spread of a screaming skull with the Army of the Lost shambling out of the woods towards Conan and the villagers! It is part Army of Darkness (1992) with soldiers sent by an unknown sorcery that could conquer all of Hyperborea! Zub and De La Torre up the threat level to Conan with some incredible artwork!
Five Swords out of Five!
#ConanTheBarbarian, #BoundInBlackStone, #ScourgeOfTheDead, #JimZub, #RobDeLaTorre, #HaulersRoam, #Brissa
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