Kerry Birmingham
Aug 3, 2005, 05:06 am
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/0705/CONAN-18.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/0705/CONAN-18t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Conan #18"></a>Reviewer: Kerry Birmingham, birmy@juno.com
Story Title: "Helm"; "Conan’s Favorite Joke"
Scripters: Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Artists: John Severin & Bruce Timm
Color Artist: Michelle Madsen
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Designer: Darin Fabrick
Cover Artists: Cary Nord & Dave Stewart
Assistant Editors: Matt Dryer & Dave Marshall
Editor: Scott Allie
Publisher: Mike Richardson
Published by: Dark Horse Comics (http://www.darkhorse.com)
Special Thanks to: Fredrik Malmberg & Thommy Wojciechowski
Conan Created by: Robert E. Howard
I’ll say this for Dark Horse: they know to handle this character. If the letter column in this book repeatedly reveals anything, it’s that Conan fans are wildly passionate about the character and have been waiting to emerge from obscurity since Conan’s last gasp as a Marvel comic. Anything Dark Horse and crew would have done would have gotten attention from the apparently hiding legions of Conan fans, good or bad, so it’s for the best that the most that people seem to complain about are typeface choices and which of the original stories are the least incredibly exciting.
Indeed, Dark Horse rolled out the A-list treatment for Conan, with Kurt “Quality Control” Busiek writing and a digital painting technique that seems to actually work with the art (where were these people on those early X-treme X-Men issues?). A crackerjack marketing campaign (currently being shamelessly aped elsewhere for Red Sonja) sealed the deal, and Conan’s return to the monthly comic has been an out-of-the-box hit.
That being said, what do you do when the creative team that everyone adores needs a break? In the chronologically tight frame story Busiek has set up, you can’t just have another creative team step in and have Conan fight Dr. Doom or something for a couple of issues. No, Conan’s fill-in issues have to be special fill-in issues, and in the absence of the book’s usual fill-in, Greg Ruth’s solid “Young Conan” tales, it has to be pitch-perfect.
“Helm,” the longer tale that opens this issue, circumvents the issue of the series’ chronology by having Conan not really in the story. He is, if anything, a tangential figure here: an old helmet once worn by Conan becomes an unlucky talisman, passing from warrior to warrior as each is killed and the helmet passed on from man to man. This is by no means a new conceit, but wrapped in the set dressing of Conan’s world and played for grim humor, it works well, coming off as absurd but not too silly. A slightly more cartoonish version of the Hyborea we all know, it works for the best that Conan is not the focus. That it still works is a tribute to Busiek and Nicieza (the latter of whom I tend to find inconsistent). John Severin’s art, though jarring in contrast with the usual Nord/Stewart painterly look, compares positively; the setting seems genuinely dirty and crowded, full of the kind of detail that’s often lost in Nord’s art. Severin’s art, though decidedly “old school,” is always welcome, and it’s good to see craftsman like himself and Joe Kubert popping up to show younger, flashier artists what actual storytelling looks like.
The back-up story, “Conan’s Favorite Joke,” barely qualifies as a story: in four pages, we see Conan witness a man trying to attack him, which ends in his “favorite joke.” The main draw here is Bruce Timm’s art. Timm’s style has become almost a cliché through its popularity and duplication (one need only look at the ghastly designs for the non-Timm The Batman to understand why), but his clean lines and distilled likenesses have always been oddly appealing. Not a natural choice for the hemorrhoidal barbarian, certainly, but if he was ever going to draw the character, this was the vignette to do it in. Ultimately, this little scene is most likely Busiek exorcising a minor gag that wouldn’t usually work in this comic.
Conan #18 is a fill-in issue, yes, but it’s the rare fill-in worth reading. The casual reader would be better off starting with the first trade paperback (or the #0 issue if they can find it), but this issue is a nice oasis of off-beat fun and an unexpected tonal diversion from Conan’s month-to-month adventures. If you’re going to give the Conan-obsessed some comedy, at least it involves someone being eaten by a boar.
Hope Cary Nord has used the recovery time well; beheadings and largely inappropriate relations with women resume next issue.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/connone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/conhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/connone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/connone.jpg
By Crom, buy this issue from X-World and Save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2018&cat=ARRIVALS+FOR+JULY+27%2C+2005)
Story Title: "Helm"; "Conan’s Favorite Joke"
Scripters: Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Artists: John Severin & Bruce Timm
Color Artist: Michelle Madsen
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Designer: Darin Fabrick
Cover Artists: Cary Nord & Dave Stewart
Assistant Editors: Matt Dryer & Dave Marshall
Editor: Scott Allie
Publisher: Mike Richardson
Published by: Dark Horse Comics (http://www.darkhorse.com)
Special Thanks to: Fredrik Malmberg & Thommy Wojciechowski
Conan Created by: Robert E. Howard
I’ll say this for Dark Horse: they know to handle this character. If the letter column in this book repeatedly reveals anything, it’s that Conan fans are wildly passionate about the character and have been waiting to emerge from obscurity since Conan’s last gasp as a Marvel comic. Anything Dark Horse and crew would have done would have gotten attention from the apparently hiding legions of Conan fans, good or bad, so it’s for the best that the most that people seem to complain about are typeface choices and which of the original stories are the least incredibly exciting.
Indeed, Dark Horse rolled out the A-list treatment for Conan, with Kurt “Quality Control” Busiek writing and a digital painting technique that seems to actually work with the art (where were these people on those early X-treme X-Men issues?). A crackerjack marketing campaign (currently being shamelessly aped elsewhere for Red Sonja) sealed the deal, and Conan’s return to the monthly comic has been an out-of-the-box hit.
That being said, what do you do when the creative team that everyone adores needs a break? In the chronologically tight frame story Busiek has set up, you can’t just have another creative team step in and have Conan fight Dr. Doom or something for a couple of issues. No, Conan’s fill-in issues have to be special fill-in issues, and in the absence of the book’s usual fill-in, Greg Ruth’s solid “Young Conan” tales, it has to be pitch-perfect.
“Helm,” the longer tale that opens this issue, circumvents the issue of the series’ chronology by having Conan not really in the story. He is, if anything, a tangential figure here: an old helmet once worn by Conan becomes an unlucky talisman, passing from warrior to warrior as each is killed and the helmet passed on from man to man. This is by no means a new conceit, but wrapped in the set dressing of Conan’s world and played for grim humor, it works well, coming off as absurd but not too silly. A slightly more cartoonish version of the Hyborea we all know, it works for the best that Conan is not the focus. That it still works is a tribute to Busiek and Nicieza (the latter of whom I tend to find inconsistent). John Severin’s art, though jarring in contrast with the usual Nord/Stewart painterly look, compares positively; the setting seems genuinely dirty and crowded, full of the kind of detail that’s often lost in Nord’s art. Severin’s art, though decidedly “old school,” is always welcome, and it’s good to see craftsman like himself and Joe Kubert popping up to show younger, flashier artists what actual storytelling looks like.
The back-up story, “Conan’s Favorite Joke,” barely qualifies as a story: in four pages, we see Conan witness a man trying to attack him, which ends in his “favorite joke.” The main draw here is Bruce Timm’s art. Timm’s style has become almost a cliché through its popularity and duplication (one need only look at the ghastly designs for the non-Timm The Batman to understand why), but his clean lines and distilled likenesses have always been oddly appealing. Not a natural choice for the hemorrhoidal barbarian, certainly, but if he was ever going to draw the character, this was the vignette to do it in. Ultimately, this little scene is most likely Busiek exorcising a minor gag that wouldn’t usually work in this comic.
Conan #18 is a fill-in issue, yes, but it’s the rare fill-in worth reading. The casual reader would be better off starting with the first trade paperback (or the #0 issue if they can find it), but this issue is a nice oasis of off-beat fun and an unexpected tonal diversion from Conan’s month-to-month adventures. If you’re going to give the Conan-obsessed some comedy, at least it involves someone being eaten by a boar.
Hope Cary Nord has used the recovery time well; beheadings and largely inappropriate relations with women resume next issue.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/connone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/conhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/connone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/confull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/connone.jpg
By Crom, buy this issue from X-World and Save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2018&cat=ARRIVALS+FOR+JULY+27%2C+2005)