Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Doug Braithwaite
Colours: Diego Rodriguez
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Release Date: 7th February 2024

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While plenty of this title’s dog-brothers and sword-sisters will probably enjoy Jim Zub’s dalliance with Conan fondly remembering his romance with the now dead Queen of the Black Coast, some bibliophiles perusing the Canadian author’s opening to “Haunted” might feel he’s made Belit a little too bloodthirsty for their liking. Indeed, the notion of the Tigress’ captain suddenly pinning the helpless Cimmerian to the deck with a knife to his heart just after another of their passionate love-making sessions – and subsequently showing how easily she could murder him should the Shemite choose to do so – smacks of an insanity hard-to-abide in the partially-naked privateer. Especially when the woman makes it clear that she’d have killed her “lion” with the weapon if he ever dared compare her great beauty to the sparkling treasure their pirating exploits acquire.

Rather pleasingly though, Zub’s psychopathic depiction of the Barbarian’s one “true love” is soon cast aside in favour of the hideously possessed Chaundra, and the former friend’s terrifying attempt to gut Robert E. Howard’s creation with a small, curved blade. Whether the adventurer’s famous instincts should have forewarned him of the blank-eyed killer’s assault is probably debatable, but the fact the “silent crazed creature” manages to bury her hand-weapon deep into his back, before inhumanly shoving him through their bedroom’s wall, makes for an utterly enthralling scrap; “Her body is now a tool for forces unfathomable…”

Similarly as successful is the tragic fall of the Gloryhounds Thieves Guild to the likes of Kamal and Greff, with the pitiable pair seemingly just as mindlessly cursed as poor Chaundra by Tarim’s Touch. The subsequent battle between the titular character and his bewitched comrades-in-arms is genuinely exhilarating to experience, courtesy of even the “anaemic lock springer who detested combat of all kind” apparently now being perfectly capable of butchering the increasing flagging Cimmerian where he stands.

Scarily helping to imbue this comic’s cast with the homicidal physicality needed to convince its audience of Conan’s near-lethal plight is Doug Braithwaite. The British artist does a top-tier job of imbuing Chaundra with all the demonic deadliness a reader would expect from a thief controlled by the power of the undead. Furthermore, there’s a convincing concern etched across the Barbarian’s face throughout this white-knuckle ride which tells of the heavily-muscled man’s uneasiness when confronted with the mysteries of the Afterlife, and his sheer desperation to avoid being mutilated by the grey-skinned ghouls he’s desperately battling against.

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The writer of this piece was: Simon Moore
Simon Tweets from @Blaxkleric ‏
You can read more of his reviews at The Brown Bag

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