Chronicles of Conan, Volume 1

January 5, 2004
These reprints from Marvel's Conan the Barbarian
(originally published in the early 1970s) shows the best and worst of sword and sorcery adventure. At its best, S&S fiction enables readers to identify with heroes who fight against vast, cosmic forces. At its worst, it features muscle-bound louts in fur skivvies who bellow insults at each other while waving enormous, phallic weapons. Robert E. Howard, who created Conan in a series of pulp magazine tales, achieved the former level more often than he sank to the latter. Eventually, Thomas and Windsor-Smith did, too. Thomas's informative closing notes explain how, under Stan Lee's editorship, he got permission to write a Conan comic in collaboration with young artist Windsor-Smith. He admits to glitches in the writing and blemishes in the art, but correctly states that the comic hit its stride by issue #4, an adaptation of Howard's "Tower of the Elephant." This archetypal Conan story sets the quick-thinking, tough outsider against a corrupt, over-sophisticated society. The young barbarian is exasperated by the superior attitudes of the experienced rogues in the slums of a decadent metropolis, so he decides to test himself by robbing a powerful, evil sorcerer. This comics adaptation isn't without flaws, but Thomas does preserve Howard's escalating sense of menace and strangeness. Windsor-Smith's pencils do justice to the mood too, making Conan believably muscular enough to prevail against human or superhuman foes. The stories in this deluxe collection are much more spirited and solid than those featured in the original printing.

January 1, 2004
Robert E. Howard's stories of Conan the Barbarian, first published in the 1930s, defined the genre of sword-and-sorcery fantasy and spawned a long line of prose pastiches, two movies, and several Conan comics series from Marvel. Now Dark Horse has licensed the character and is reprinting the earliest issues of Marvel's first Conan series, critically acclaimed in their time and fondly remembered by fans. This volume contains the series' initial eight issues (1970-71), in which the fierce and powerful young Conan has his first abrasive encounters with civilization and battles a variety of supernatural menaces. Some stories here are original, and some are skillfully adapted by Thomas from Howard's works. In contrast to beefier portrayals of the character by some later artists, Windsor-Smith's Conan is lean and lithe. The realistic artwork, here enhanced by sophisticated new digital coloring, is slightly awkward at first but improves quickly and greatly, becoming quite ornate and lyrical in later issues. Though Conan is a killer, the violence here is very mild by today's standards. Fans of fantasy adventure will still find much here of interest. Recommended for all collections, for teens and adults.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.