King Conan: The Conqueror #3

By Timothy Truman, Tomas Giorello & Jose Villarrubia

Relieving himself on his own tomb and killing a Son of Set in front of its followers? Classic Conan. What’s not to love about a book that involves Timothy Truman and Tomas Giorello? If anybody can find a valid reason, speak now! No? Well it was worth a shot, wasn’t it? The point there, was this has been a near perfect series for Conan fans so far, and there’s nothing you can nitpick that can change that. Truman and Giorello have really established themselves among the very top in Conan comics, past and present, be it with adapting stories or creating their own. They get the character, they get the world and they love and respect the source material.

This is the second half of the Hour of the Dragon adaptation, a fantastic novel from creator Robert E. Howard, and after reading the first half and getting caught back up on this second half there’s really nobody else that could pull this off at this level like Truman and artist Tomas Giorello have and are. It was unfortunate that time prevented reading these issues as they came out, but reading the last three of Hour of the Dragon and the first two of Conqueror all at once was an absolute treat. It really can’t be stressed enough just how well Truman adapts this story.

While the younger Conan being depicted as a smaller fighter, though by no means skinny, is more in line with what Robert E. Howard had envisioned, the way that Giorello draws King Conan, old and older, might be even more perfect. It makes sense that he’d bulk up the older he got and as King he just might be the most badass person ever created. Steel blue eyes, a badass beard, scars galore and, of course, that golden crown and certain swagger, even for an old man. It’s just… perfect. There’s no other way to describe it. When he’s in a panel your eyes are drawn to him because he stands out; he has a presence on the page that nobody else can match and it immediately brings to mind how a person like this would stand out if, you know, he was real. But intentional or no, Giorello and colorist Jose Villarrubia really make the entire book stand out from anything else out there, and really elevate it to heights other Conan books just haven’t achieved yet.

Bottom line is really, really simple: If you love Conan, especially if you’d read some or all of the original REH works, you’re going to love this series. This is the kind of adaptation that a character like Conan deserves and it’s definitely something that fans of the character and the world deserve.