Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus a hard cover collection:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

I’m back for another Conan volume and it’s a good one. As a matter of fact it may be my second favorite volume with number 0 being my favorite. As a whole Dark Horse’s “Conan” series has been good but with this volume the Tim Truman written stuff really hit’s its stride.

Dark Horse has broken their Conan stories into the different parts of his life. First we had his youth, which was volumes 0 through 6 and now we have his adulthood. The story is supposed to have a third part with his older years when he becomes a king.

In this volume Conan makes his way out of the wilds and his days as a thief to join up with a mercenary army and learn the ways of “Civilized” soldiering. He slowly gets drawn into a battle between city states with an ancient reborn sorcerer leading the armies of the bad guys.

Truman does a great job showing us Conan as a barbarian. And not in any kind of clichéd way with blood, guts, and not understanding what a toilet is but in a “Conan is different” kind of way. Conan is used to relying on himself and has confidence that he can handle things. He understands the social order that looks down on him and is wary of it but puts no stock in it’s validity. And he’s looking to learn unlike brash young Conan.

The artwork by Tomás Giorello with colors by José Villarrubia is also good. Giorello is a good storyteller who also does a nice job creating a historical look to the book. He makes me believe that the story took place in a far away land long ago. The colors help with this as they’re well thought out, subdued, and have a nice hint of texture to them. The art is printed right from the pencils but Giorello does a good job “Inking” with his pencil.

So there you go. An excellent Conan volume. If you’re a fan of Conan, or good comics in general, check this one out.