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A comiXologist recommends (a Dark Horse comic)
Conan The Barbarian #4

Commitment Issues and Conan the Barbarian 4

The release of a sizeable catalogue of Dark Horse single issues on comiXology is just the opportunity you’ve been waiting for to check out some new books, if the trade volumes felt like too much of a commitment.  With Conan the Barbarian issue 4, you can even jump right into a series that’s already picked up a good pace.  

You’d think that a character like Conan, actual barbarian, would also have some commitment issues, but issue 4 might surprise you.  There is more to Conan than punching stuff and pillaging, people.  The man also has feelings.  For this story arc, Brian Wood adapts “Queen of the Black Coast,” first published in 1934 by Robert E. Howard and perhaps one of the best-loved classic stories about Conan.  In this tale, the big galoot falls head over heels for Bêlit, the pirate queen.  They terrorize the high seas together in fairly romantic fashion, here gorgeously illustrated by Becky Cloonan and James Harren.  

Harren gives us the strapping Conan we’ve come to expect, but in issue 4 you will notice that the artist plays with angles and perspective in a way that makes Conan appear vulnerable at key points in the story.  Carrying out a particularly tricky bit of plundering in the wealthy city of Argos, Conan allows himself to be arrested.  Don’t worry this is all part of the plan.  Okay, so maybe Conan is a little worried.  Can he trust the pirate queen?  Does Bêlit love him as he loves her?  He spends a difficult night in a dank cell wondering whether she will carry out her part of the plan and rescue him before his capital punishment is carried out in the morning.  

It’s nice to see this unexpected side of Conan, one that leaves room for him to be balanced out with a compelling female lead (but don’t worry, there is still plenty of good, old-fashioned punching stuff in this arc if that’s your thing). Issue 4 is an excellent entry point into an iconic character for anyone who wasn’t entirely convinced that punching stuff constituted, well, a character.  Give it a try and I’d bet half the gold in Argos you’ll be back for issue 5.

-Tia Vasiliou (is a digital editor at comiXology.  She very much enjoys comics about both punching stuff and feelings.)

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