Conan Comic, Blood, Guts and Man Titty!

Conan The Barbarian: The Mask of Acheron

Writer: Stuart Moore
Penciller: Gabriel Guzman
Inker: Jason Gorder
Cover Artist: Gabriel Guzman
Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Publication Date: July 20, 2011
Format: FC, 64 pages, One-shot
Price: $6.99
Age range: 16
Dark Horse Comics



 

After witnessing his wife burned at the stake, warlord Khalar Zym sets out on a quest to find the mythical Mask of Acheron, an ancient artifact that will bring his beloved back to life. In his search across the lands, Zym destroys a village in northern Cimmeria, where a boy born of battle survives and is cast out into the world, alone.

Years later, Zym crosses paths again with the boy who survived--Conan. He must now contend with this barbarian nuisance who is now set on vengeance for the slaughter of his village. Zym and his daughter, Marique, eventually clash with Conan in an epic final battle, the outcome of which will decide the fate of the world.

* Based on Conan the Barbarian, the new major motion picture starring Jason Momoa, Rose McGowan, and Ron Perlman.

* Adapted from the new film! 

 

I found this comic very entertaining! I love the art work. It is drawn in the trendy new “reboot” style that is becoming popular. This comic is suppose to be based on the latest movie, but I haven’t seen the movie or Katie’s review of it so I went into this comic without any preconceived ideas. Sometimes that makes a big difference with comics.

The story is told as if you are listening to a legend in a dark corner of a tavern with occasional flashbacks putting us into the action. This is the tale of Khalar Zym and his obsession to bring back his wife after she is burned at the stake for being a witch. He spends years dragging their daughter far and wide looking for the darkest sorcery known to man contained in the Mask of Acheron.

The story and artwork are full of violence (hello, Conan!) and action scenes. We find out what happened to Conan as a child and understand what drives him. Unfortunately it isn’t until page 30 that we get our first look at the grown up, bare chested Conan we have all come to love. He looks just as good on the printed page as he does on screen! Well, relatively speaking of course.

The story is a stand alone and completes the tale from start to finish. I love how the story ended with the same panel as it started, and the bad guy’s demise is very Karmic. At the end of the comic there is an article called Acheron: The Nightmare inside the Age Undreamed Of written by Dale E. Rippke. It is a history of Conan using author Robert E. Howard’s writings. It was very interesting at first, but got way to technical for a weekend comic reader like myself, but the die hard fans of Fantasy will appreciate it. I think any Conan lover would like to have this in their collection.

4 1/2 awesome man titty Sheep!