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Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Jan. 29, 2014
Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: Attila Futaki
Cover: Attila Futaki
Purchase at Amazon
Dark Horse reprints this 5-issue series, originally available as a reward from Dynamics, Inc. with the use of their credit product. From reading what was involved in obtaining the books, we less ambitious types can all thank them for making it available to us in the trade paperback format. This tale by Victor Gischler, one not adapted from a Robert E. Howard story, puts an older Conan, KING Conan that is, on a quest to free the soul of Bíªlit and put her to rest. Known as the pirate queen of the Black Coast, Bíªlit was Conan's lover back when he was doubling as a swashbuckler, and her death haunts him still. A sorceress named Nadina shows up in Aquilonia with her two sisters and tells the Cimmerian she can put Bíªlit's spirit to rest, but they need to go to the place of her death in order for that to happen. Wasting little time, Conan takes the three of women along on a journey to the Black Coast the very next day.
As Conan's luck would have it, Nadina is not who she claims to be and has much bigger plans in mind than freeing the spirit of Bíªlit. She plots against him and she isn't all too nice to her sisters either, sisters Nadina has enslaved, making them unwilling accomplices in her scheme. But thankfully for the king, he's got some people on his side, as he picks up some allies along the way. Karrik of the Black Dragons joins Conan in his secret party and they travel incognito through harbor towns to get to the open sea and secure a ship. Captain Meekos sails for cash and Conan has it, and Meekos is all too eager to take the easy money. Of course he has no idea where they are headed and unknown to Meekos, nothing involving Conan is easy.
The ship is attacked and the barbarian says “fuck you†to Mother Nature and leads the ship into a storm, making quick work of the opposition, but after the storm the ship does a Rime of the Ancient Mariner impression before finding safe ground. Oh wait, this is a Conan story; there is no safe ground. A quick battle with some natives plus an unsettling display of Nadine's power and the threat is gone. All that is left is the tribe's loin-cloth wearing wizard named Hraga-Tul, who just wants off the island. He lets the party know the island has a wind eating totem that will keep them from leaving the dump, as it has kept Hraga-Tul from leaving the dump all his long life. He'll lead them to it to destroy it if he can tag along to the Black Coast. It will be an easy task, unless they bump into the four-armed lizard monster that guards the totem.
Once they get back on the high seas and reach the Black Coast, natives once again have something to say about the adventurers being there. Hraga-Tul tells Conan of the legend of the temple they are about to enter: anyone who drinks the blood of the world, with one source of said blood being right there where they stand, either gains great power or goes bonkers insane. Conan and Karrik enter the bowels of the earth to where Nadina directs them to get the purest possible vial of the Earth's blood as they can. Hraga-Tul learns Nadina is evil, casts spell to reveal her true identity, and Conan does battle with someone from his past.
Gischler's story is good old fashioned by-the-numbers Conan, older and wiser, although new in his kingly career. Conan is cold, confident, and calculating. The story is pretty formulaic but it's still plenty entertaining and sits chronologically in an interesting point in the life of Conan. The dialogue flows well, and the pace is quick, keeping the story from ever dragging. Character development is good as well, and Gischler writes up some interesting characters in Hraga-Tul and Captain Meekos. Attila Futaki's illustrations are much more fitting to the Conan books than some others in Dark Horse's library of Conan books, and there's no lack of talent here. Effective battle scenes, lots of violence (six decapitations and even cannibalism), and some interesting beasts fill his panels, and his covers are attractive as well. As an added extra, the back end of the book includes a sketchbook with some comments.
Conan: The Phantoms of the Black Coast is solid barbarian comic story-telling, is a smooth read, and it comes recommended by a fellow Conan fan.
