Conan The Barbarian #13
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Mirko Colak (cover by Massimo Carnevale)
Colors: Dave Stewart
After Conan discovers Bêlit’s secret about the loss of their baby, he’s very upset, naturally. But he never expected her to run off into the desert of Shem, either. At first, he agrees to stay on the ship and help with repairs. One day later, he makes off to find his lover. Conan has two major problems, though. First, he’s not used to the desert climate. The intense heat and lack of water are not things he’s used to. Secondly, he has no idea where she is or even what direction to start his search. These couple of obstacles lead to a very short trip, as Conan is attacked by an unknown assailant, and forced to join an army. This army is on a suicide mission to assault an impregnable castle with a beautiful woman walking its walls…any guess who that woman is?
For an issue with very little action, this one was pretty good. Honestly, though, it was quite slow, as well. The depth of Conan’s relationship seems to be a bit over-explored at this point. Hopefully something crazy that will shake things up is on the horizon, because this much lack of action and slow pacing really is tough to keep reading. Brian Wood has done a great job so far with changing the Conan mythos of being just a action book with an occasional wizard, but again, too many issues like this one and sales are gonna take a hit.
This new artist stepped aboard very nicely. He has some credits with Marvel (Punisher Max, Red Skull Incarnate), and I’m sure that he’ll have many more to come in the future with other companies. He does a solid job with everything, backgrounds, characters, etc., and the only thing a reader might catch was a panel of Bêlit looking back at Conan where she looked slightly off in the face. Other than that, good stuff. Dark Horse stalwart Dave Stewart does his usual thing on colors, and Massimo Carnevale on the cover rounds out the artistic duties on the book. Rating 3.5/5
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
