Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Rob De La Torre
Color Artist: Diego Rodriguez
Release Date: 24th April 2024

Arguably relegating the titular character to a secondary cast member as his plot predominantly focuses upon the plight of Kull the Conqueror, Jim Zub’s storyline for issue ten of Conan The Barbarian definitely drives along at a formidable pace. Indeed, for many bibliophiles caught up in the Canadian author’s thrill-laden thrust for the shores of pre-cataclysmic Atlantis, the penmanship is so relentless that many a ‘mature reader’ will doubtless feel they’ve actually physically travelled alongside the King of Valusia themselves; “Keep up, my soldiers! We must not flag in the face of fate!”

Disappointingly though, in order to achieve such a sense-shattering speed, Zub’s sense of logic does seemingly take a fair few leaps, with the City of Wonders’ monarch in particular unconvincingly happening to ‘wake up’ from the blind rage which previously saw him battle both the Cimmerian and Brule the spear slayer. This sudden return to his senses after forty days of devilry for no evident reason genuinely feels forced, and additionally compels the audience to simply accept that neither of the other central protagonists hold any distrust or grudge against him for being locked up in dingy cell under sentence of death for days on end.

Furthermore for those “Hyborian Heroes” acquainted with Lyon Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter’s 1968 novel “Conan Of The Isles”, Kull’s horror-filled nightmare, followed by his obsessive flight across the sea to Atlantis, is disconcertingly familiar. In fact, having already accumulated a backlog of important royal affairs whilst in his foul-minded stupor, the Atlantean ruler’s urgent desire to leave his courtroom behind and answer the “dark riddles of the past” is highly reminiscent of the way a certain restless future sovereign of Aquilonia will also ‘abdicate’ so as to once again “sail across the ocean” to Plato’s mythical island in “an age unconquered.”

Happily however, this tale features the exhilarating artwork of Rob De La Torre, whose pulse-pounding pencilling of the Royal gallery being boarded by a party of zombie-like pirates provides this twenty-two page periodical’s highlight. Admittedly, the physical similarities between Kull and Conan may well lead to the mistaken belief that this book opens with the Cimmerian dreaming of “the beasts of old”. But a careful reread of Zub’s text as to the true identity of the “feral child” stalking alongside the lion and tiger should soon put them back on the right track.

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