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Post by mindboggled on Feb 19, 2020 11:54:20 GMT -5
I never liked the idea of Conan being tied down by a wife and kids, nor being a King with the associated responsibilities, hence why I normally preferred stories set in his earlier pre King years, more fun just having Conan adventure around from one place to another. You have the same reasoning as Conan does for disliking his era of kingship.
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Post by almuric on Mar 12, 2022 18:56:29 GMT -5
So, I'm a little late to this party but my library got the two volumes of this storyline and I read it and I have some rambling thoughts.
- Right off the bat: fighting pits? It's not a great sign that Aaron is using something that has it's roots in Milius rather than Howard.
- Having Conan learn a Special Lesson About Bigotry as a sequel to "Beyond the Black River" is a very odd choice indeed. In the end, it all feels a little too . . . civilized. It feels wrong as a sequel to that story, but, as others have pointed out, is inconsistent with "The Black Stranger" which takes place later.
- Do I need to say anything about the issue where King Conan dons a skull mask and fights crime with a lion sidekick?
- The issue where Conan fights off sharktopuses while talking to his sword out of loneliness is just bizarre.
- The art is pretty good, but the stories are so brief they feel like vignettes and there's no real action sequences where things get to flow. We get a few panels scattered through an issue where Conan hacks and stabs in between stretches of awkward storytelling.
- Why would an inn in Argos have a sign saying "No Picts"? Do they get lots of Picts down that far south of the Pictish Wilderness?
- Bevel Stonemarrow the witch-hunter. That has to be one of the most un-Hyborian names I've seen in a long time. And a reference to DeCamp/Carter "Hyperborean witchmen".
- Conan complaining to "Crom" that Crom didn't care about him? One of Crom's defining characteristics is that he doesn't care, and Conan himself stated it.
- And more DeCamp/Carter with "Prince Conn".
Jumping around issue by issue through Conan's chronology makes the comic feel disjointed. The mix of Howardian and DeCampian continuity makes it feel like there's no clear idea of the character's background. There's lots of references to Howard's stories, but also lots of small details that are just plain wrong. It's the Uncanny Valley of Conan.
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