Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Rob De La Torre
Color Artist: Diego Rodriguez
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Tyler Smith
Release Date: 3rd July 2024

Heavily publicised by both Titan Comics and its author Jim Zub as a “thrilling arc finale”, it’s hard to believe that many of this ongoing series’ readers felt issue twelve of Conan The Barbarian actually answered all the “dark riddles of the past” which it promised it would. In fact, towards the end of the twenty-three page periodical the narrator even admits that they don’t know how the titular character managed to travel back through time, or even why for that matter; “Through forces I do not yet comprehend, your spirit has been sent spiralling to this moment.”

Instead, Zub simply seems to hope his audience will throw any semblance of logical-thinking to one side and simply allow themselves to be caught up in his utterly unconvincing central plot which sees Conan single-handedly defeat an all-powerful undead Lich King, thanks in part to being… invisible?! To make things even more unbelievable, Kull of Atlantis also appears to simply shrug off being almost severed in half by Thulsa Doom’s deadly blade so that “many hours later” the Atlantean ruler is able to climb “forth from a subhuman grave” with Brule and happily return to his distant throne room.

Such moments genuinely test any willingness to suspend disbelief and arguably portray the Cimmerian and his friends as the indomitable defier of unsurmountable odds which so many pieces of amateur fan-fiction fall foul of. Indeed, even at the book’s end, when the barbarian is shown riding away from Shadizar as fast as his stolen horse will let him, there’s no explanation given as to why the adventurer suddenly appears completely unharmed from his previously self-inflicted Seppuku..? Or for that matter, how he came to rid himself of the zombie-like frenzy which had previously turned the thief into a one-man killing machine, and goaded him into brutally hacking many a hapless innocent into bloody pieces in pursuit of his previously-pawned Pictish sword..?

Much more compelling than its script is this publication’s sumptuous layouts courtesy of artist Rob De La Torre and colorist Diego Rodriguez, who together weave such a terrific-looking flashback sequence for Doom, that it debatably looks as if it’s been snatched straight out from a classic edition of The Savage Sword of Conan. Furthermore, the pair’s visual depiction of Kathulos’ skeletal form is utterly mesmerising, with the mighty wizard dominating every panel he is found in, regardless of whether he can actually see his heavily-muscled opponent or not.

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