Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: 12/4/2013
Writers: Charles Dixon, Gary Kwapisz, Don Kraar, Jim Owsley
Artists: Gary Kwapisz, Ernie Chan, Mike Docherty, Dale Eaglesham, Andy Kubert, Terry Tidwell
Cover: Joe Jusko
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Dark Horse continues its ongoing reprint series of Marvel Comics' Conan titles, with its latest installment of a collection of issues of the great black-and-white comic magazine that had its heyday in the 1970s and into the mid-1990s, The Savage Sword of Conan. This edition reprints portions from issues 151 through 160, which were originally published in 1988 and 1989. The cover is by Joe Jusko, which was the cover for issue 159, and the covers for all the issues are inside (in black-and-white), with artwork by Earl Norem, Doug Beekman, Joe Jusko (more than just the cover of this volume), Dorian Vallejo, and Ovi Hondru . Also in these pages are pin-ups by Ernie Chan, Kelley Jones, Dale Eaglesham, and Tony Salmons. The 546-page book features scripts and illustrations from a host of talent for a good variety of Conan stories. Here's an idea of some of the stories within:
- “Fury of the Near-Menâ€: Conan finds himself stranded in the flats plains, where he befriends a family out on the hunt for live creatures to sell for whatever purpose. An attack by monkey men separates them and Conan becomes the leader of wildcat men and he teaches them the ways of fire and war. He saves the chick in the family (of course) from the monkey men and she doesn't shut up the whole time he is saving her.
- “Valley Beyond the Starsâ€: In an effort to save some pilgrims from robbers and murderers so that he may rob them himself, Conan finds himself tagging along to help them on their quest to stop the re-entry into this world of Sothath, an evil and disgusting (and gigantic) entity from the Netherworld.
- “Phantasmâ€: Red Sonja and Conan have a friendly bout of fighting and ball-busting, with a great amount of sexual tension between them. The story intersperses images of them in romantic embrace, which is in their heads. It's what they really want to do to each other, but instead they chose to beat the shit out of one another
- “Behind the Walls of Nightâ€: Conan hooks up with a wrinkled old man looking for mercenaries to conduct a mission unrevealed to them until they are at their destination. Once they are there, they meet with another man looking to reclaim his family heirlooms from a village they've reached. Once there, it is revealed to them a plague overtook the rich man's village and the heirlooms are inside. The village is covered in roofs, and according to the man this was done to contain the plague a few years back. Well, the plague it would is one of the blood-sucking variety and they are more than happy to see humans, as they've been barricaded in the village/tomb for quite some time. Conan does his thing, and has little if any compassion for those who entered the village with him.
It's Conan, and it's the Conan so many of us grew up reading: cheesy one-liners, talking through every activity whether alone or not, giant beasts, giant breasts, womanizing, and the most macho man ever to wear a loin cloth. The stories are pretty predictable but that doesn't take away at all from how fun they are to read. And a book like this, filled with 50 page stories, is great reading when you're in your quiet room completing the last stage of the digestion process. It's great quick reading without the need to retain any info.