Even the legend that is Conan can find himself over his head when dragged along on someone else’s quest.
Creative Team:
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Mike Hawthorne
Artist: Dan Panosian
Inker: John Lucas
Colorist: Dan Jackson
What They Say:
Conan finds himself wrapped up in a plot to unseat the king of Aquilonia as his journey down the Road of Kings continues. But when everything goes wrong, the Cimmerian and his co-conspirators become lost in the catacombs beneath the city, surrounded by zombies and monstrous insects, all while a civil war brews above their heads!
The Review: (please note that content portions of review may contain spoilers)
The man known as Conan doesn’t have to go looking for trouble (not that at times he doesn’t) but in this case trouble comes looking for him in the form of a particularly arrogant and unyielding soldier who crosses Conan’s path as he attempts to cross a bridge on the way to his next field of combat. When Conan shows the man that hubris is not a winning trait the Cimmerian finds that the man that the soldier answered to, a prince named Arpello, is no less arrogant and no less willing to take “no” for an answer as Conan’s actions have impressed the prince enough to offer the man a spot in his elite guard. While Conan has little interest in such a post as money drives him far less than the ability to simply walk away if the conditions of a battle suddenly shift against the side he is on, the prince finds a way to use some leverage over the wanderer as he threatens a commoner in his field and Conan agrees to travel with the prince in order to spare the man though everyone involved in the pact knows that the condition may change in a moment and Conan may try to bolt later.
As the group makes it to the capital of city of Tarantia Conan finds himself overwhelmed with this sight that is so common to the prince and his other guards and though the various pleasures they stride past call to him the warrior he keeps to his current role as he is being watched by the prince’s most trusted guard, yet the ameliorations that the prince has on hand aren’t to be brushed aside either. As the meal is finishing the prince makes mention of having some other business to take care of that Conan does not know and which will place him in a new type of peril as he finds himself among the company of a small cadre dedicated to overthrowing the current ruler of the area and among that number lies a traitor to the cause who summons the king’s guard to root out the traitors.
Normally this would be the point where Conan takes his cue to leave but among the plotters is a woman who brought along her young daughter and Conan finds he cannot just abandon the girl- which may turn out to be his undoing as his attempt to reunite the family will have him facing soldiers as well as a multitude of various monsters and moving corpses which may turn the heroic gesture into an epithet for grave that will never be marked for the swordsman. And no one in the city will find the day any easier as the failure of the group to carry out their plan means that the current ruler will be under assault from a large army looking to take him down as the city falls under siege. With so much hate and pain involved is it possible that there won’t be any ending that is anything other than painful in the future, or will it turn out that karma will turn tragedy into an almost bittersweet finale that provides a bit of solace to the events? And if that adventure doesn’t finish the Cimmerian off the next might as an encounter with an old friend might led to more trouble than even Conan can deal with unless his sword arm can hold out or his legs can outrun his pursuers- but trouble and being on the wrong side off too many troops isn’t exactly a new thing for Conan, though he may have to find a new path forward after this latest encounter with a cities law force.
Conan the Cimmerian is a fairly interesting character beyond just any adventure he may currently be having in terms of his lasting popularity as he has been around and kicking (and slashing) for over 80 years now while so many other creations have come and gone and been lost to the mists of time since he first fought his way onto the page. That he has survived so long speaks to the original creator Robert E Howard’s keen eye in picking out some traits that speak to a large audience both in his day as well as the many decades since, giving a sign that the author hit upon some ideas that speak to a universal part of humanity, perhaps mining some longing for a fairly large number of people to have adventure tales of a strong character to stand in their place who is far from infallible but who always manages to survive his various encounters anyway.
My first encounter with the character was in the mid 80’s, probably through the Schwarzenegger film but I know I bought a paperback book from a local grocery store as I can still picture the cover even if the adventure itself hasn’t stuck around as well as the imagery from that cover (almost certainly done by Frank Frazetta) had a powerful flair. In addition there were probably some comics by Marvel in there as well but nothing about the character really stuck with me long term, including the recent reboot feature which I failed to make it even half an hour into but I figured I’d give the character another chance when I read about someone else going through the book and looked up the description and the idea of Conan fighting zombies among other things caught my attention, and I am pretty glad I gave it a shot.
While the zombie thing was a teasing hook that caught my attention to see how it would play out (rather well in fact) it turned out the rest of the initial four part comic was the real treat as I got to see an aspect of the character I didn’t recall having come across as he demonstrated an amazing nobility at times with his desire not to see pointless bloodshed while also being true to his own morals and being open about the fact that if the tides changed he is willing to desert whatever side he may be fighting for when he hires his services out. These extremes in personality create an odd dichotomy of a man who is incredibly comfortable in his own skin and with who he is and say he doesn’t need to seek approval from anyone else to do what he thinks is right at the moment- or at least in the best interest of surviving anyway.
Part of what winds up working so nicely here though is watching as Conan fights every urge he has to simply run away from the situation he is in as fast as his feet- or any horse he can steal- would carry him when he is confronted with a young girl who is dragged into the conspiracy by a vengeful mother looking to strike back at the man who murdered her husband. This creates a situation where Conan is in the role of protector and as such is forced to fight for a cause he not only doesn’t believe in but which he also doesn’t care for the idea of who the conspirators are looking to place on the throne in place of the current murderous being currently occupying it but which he essentially winds up fighting for anyway as he goes about the task he has taken upon himself capriciously. That the author doesn’t bother with trying to give a back story or litany of reasons as to why Conan would suddenly decide to protect this girl when abandoning her would be his best choice may annoy some but for me it worked well as it seemed to speak to a deeper part of his nature that doesn’t get as much of a chance to appear in my (albeit limited) experience with the character but perhaps this is something that long time fans may not like as much.
One of the other things I enjoyed was how Conan largely found himself caught up in someone else’s schemes for power and was going along simply because his nature- first in not wanting to see peasants killed and then trying to save a young noble girl from death- had him in a position where he could have left but chose not to in order to protect others and how the author used this to move events through some larger stages. Events start initially a secret cabal complete with betrayal but then are followed by a monster filled catacomb and then an epic battle in relatively short order but in a way that the pieces fit together very well to create this larger scope and feel like even Conan can be swept away when a grand scheme that is bigger than him engulfs him. Along with that unfolding scheme the comic is filled with a lot of imaginative monsters, both of the other worldly and human kind- and the dynamic that Conan and his selfless actions stand in stark contrast with many around him acting out of greed or rage filled grief as it shows off an incredibly imperfect world where a man often called a barbarian and who lives by his own whims may actually be the most noble being in it.
Beyond that though the two part follow up worked less well for me simply because I didn’t have the luxury of enjoying Conan’s reunion with a friend I had never seen before though much other the events around that from the humor of Conan’s interactions to his defiance when it seems he is facing almost certain death help spotlight a character who never seems to be out of the confidence that he can turn the moment to his favor and who isn’t likely to give up until he meets the Grim Reaper face to skull- and even then he’d probably trying spitting in the creature’s face and attempt to seize his scythe.
Where the volume falls a bit is in the artwork as the designs are kind of hard to get into with the often very angular faced characters while at times some of the designs have a tendency to veer off model leaving images that can feel less than realistic. In addition to this the art at times feels almost like it was done on a very short time frame as a number of panels either use very close up shots that have a single character present (with little detail for the most part in background or intricate clothing) or that use a farther out shot that is far less than detailed, often looking like old comics or newspaper strips that don’t have the ability to show fine details and so many of them look almost blurred in comparison to some shot. That aside the volume is presented in a very nice hardcover set up with a strong binding, slick and attractive pages as well as a slip cover that shows off Conan fighting both men on the front and zombies on the back that may slightly overstate the presence of the later but serves as a welcome tease of the events found within.
In Summary:
Collecting 6 issues from the comic series, Conan: Throne of Aquilonia presents a four part tale of Conan fighting for a cause that not only doesn’t he have an interest in but that his instincts all have him wanting to run away from but finding himself being overruled by his kindness to a young girl he really has no need to be kind to and which gets him into trouble that starts with a conspiracy, crosses zombies and may find him in a full out war where he couldn’t care less about the victor. Not that life gets much easier for him in the final two collected issues as trouble again tracks the wanderer down as the problems of an old friend suddenly have the warrior facing a judge with a perchance for sending people to the gallows. With his life on the line Conan will fight all comers and he will do so for his own reasons and accept that if his actions lead to his death he goes there with few regrets…though he is going to work hard to make sure those who would send him to that fate meet it first however. With action, political intrigue, and some fierce monsters the book provides a decent, though not exactly perfect, entry into the series for the new reader.
Grade: B-
