Review: Conan #1 plus a chance to Win!

Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics

Remember way back in October, when I got a chance to interview Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan about the Conan series?  Well, issue #1 is out this week, and it rocked my world!  This first issue follows Conan as he jumps on board of a ship while he is running from the law and falls in the path of Belit, the Queen of the Black Coast.

Never reading Conan before, this was an interesting intro in his world. The story provides only a little background, but you are engrossed from the start. Right away, Conan's charisma makes you root for him.  This character shows honor that a hero should have, especially when he helps the ship captain defend himself.  Still, we see Conan's flaws when he puts others in danger to save himself.  This looks like it will be an interesting source of character development in the future. 


The one thing I didn't realize is that this is a remake of one of the original Conan stories.  As it turns out, this is an adaptation of the Queen of the Black Coast story by Conan creator, Robert E. Howard.  Once I had learned that, I judged it on a different scale. True, before I had known that I still enjoyed it, but afterwards, I spent more time looking at the layout and structure of the story. While reading it, I wondered why Wood had chosen to use a narrator for certain parts. Now I know that this was a great vehicle to translate the story to comics.

While I enjoyed the story, I loved the art. Through her work, Cloonan showed the energetic and lovable Conan. Her take on this character has replaced Schwarzenegger forever, in my mind at least. I also loved her take on Belit, the black queen. Without this character uttering a word, the art brought her to life for me.

How can you not love that face?!
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics

This is definitely worth a look for Conan fans or new readers. So worth it, in fact, that we are giving away a copy of Conan #1, signed by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan! Is that not enough for you?  Ok then, the winner gets the signed copy of Conan #1 plus a signed Conan Poster!  Wowza!  Enter here!

One entry per person.  Your email address is only used to contact the winners.  We don't send you anything else and we don't sell it.  US residents only.  This is not associated with Dark Horse Comics in any way.  Contest ends February 16th.





Like what you just read? Let us know in the comments below and keep up to date by following us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr!