Left teetering on a boggling cliff-hanger after last issue’s story finale, Conan the Barbarian brings us the ‘Unconquered Age Part 1: Suffer Not the King of Wonders’. And it is one heck of a trip.
So far in its run, Conan the Barbarian hasn’t been shy in splashing some famous names from the Hyborian Age and before the fall of Atlantis, with the previous arc leaning heavily into the grief felt by the barbarian after the death of Bêlit. Yet where as before they were pearls liberally scattered, in this episode it is an embarrassment of riches.
Because of a reason of plot, Conan finds himself rubbing shoulders not just with Brule the Spear Slayer – who long time readers will remember from a weird vision in an earlier episode – but King Kull himself. Between meetings Conan manages to stretch the definition of coincidence to breaking point and just so happens to bump into a certain Yag-kosha as well. That’s a lot of names with a lot of weight behind them.
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None of it really makes any sense just yet, though hopefully more will be revealed as Jim Zub does his very best Steven Moffat impression and plays around with many a timey-wimey strand. This first issue in the arc feels very much like it is setting the scene, and also getting all of the “Hang on, what!?” moments out of the way so that the real chunk of plot can proceed unimpeded from the next episode onwards. Because although this is a fun romp, it also feels like a prelude. Fortunately, it’s tantalising enough that all of the cameos don’t quite feel like a weird episode of The Simpsons where Homer becomes friends with a Hollywood A-Lister because their agent decided it would make them look like they have a sense of humour.
On the other hand, if you’re not a Conan fan you will end up either not being quite sure why these people matter, or spending a bit of time on Google trying to work out who Conan is talking to, and why it matters. What does Zub think this is, The Marvels Artist Roberto De La Torre returns to the title, and while his more abstract style is welcome during the fight scenes, one wonders what the more naturalistic Doug Braithwaite might have done with the opportunity of creating the fabled city of Valusia, or a brooding Kull on his throne.
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Nine months in and this title is starting to really find its voice. Though this isn’t a stand-out edition, fans will hopefully be satisfied with the cavalcade of stars they are being treated to. Beyond that, the groundwork has been laid for what could be a truly epic crescendo.
Conan the Barbarian #9 is out now from Titan Comics.
