CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE #3, by Titan Comics on 11/6/24, follows the band of Howard Heroes traveling to find the source of the Black Stone’s power and destroy it.
Credits:
- Writer: Jim Zub
- Artist: Jonas Scharf
- Colorist: Jão Canola
- Letterer: Richard Starkings, Tyler Smith
- Cover Artist: Liam Sharp (cover A)
- Publisher: Titan Comics
- Release Date: November 6, 2024
- Comic Rating: Mature
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Page Count: 34
- Format: Single Issue
Covers:
Analysis of CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE #3:
First Impressions:
Consistent with every Conan title published by Titan, Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #3 is still one of the best comics from almost any other publisher. You get the unlikeliest of teams coming together from Robert E. Howard’s catalog to fight an otherworldly evil, which is all anyone could ask for. That said, this issue is our least favorite of the miniseries so far.
Plot Analysis:
When last we left the collective of Robert E. Howard adventurers in Conan: Battle Of The Black Stone #2, Conrad and Kirowan were joined by Brissa against a Lovecraftian nightmare in the 1930s. The monster’s defeat ultimately led to the spirit of James Allison transporting all the Howard heroes to the Hyborian Age to join Conan for the forthcoming fight against the Black Stone’s influence. The issue ended with the beast reappearing to claim El Borak’s life.
In Conan: Battle Of The Black Stone #3, the team travels through the Hyborian jungles, guided by the spirit of James Allison, who remains tethered to a shard of Black Stone held by Brissa. During the travels, the members of the team talk with each other about their situation.
Conrad and Kirowan debate how to catalog their experience, whether anyone will believe them, or if they’ll live long enough to deliver their report. Conan and Brissa debrief on what happened to Brissa after she disappeared during Conan’s first encounter with the Black Stone. Dark Agnes and Solomon Kane secretly discuss their encounters with evil entities in their past adventures.
Writer Jim Zub uses the foot journey of the heroes to get inside the head of each character, understand how they perceive the situation, and foreshadow how each will react when the supernatural poop hits the fan. That said, the length of the conversations brings the pacing down, and the value of the dialog barely rises above the level of chit-chat. In short, there’s a lot of talking that doesn’t move the story forward.
Brissa shows Conan she has a shard of the Black Stone that tethers James Allison’s undead spirit to their realm. The spirit is drawn to other pieces of the Black Stone to point the way for the team’s journey. Soon, the team finds a shard embedded in a tree, but before Brissa can pull it out, Conrad asks to examine the shard in place since he believes the swirls of greenish energy may be sigils that could prove valuable. When Conrad approaches the shard, it seizes his mind the same way it seized El Borak in the previous issue, compelling Conrad to impale his hand on the shard.
Once the team finds the next shard embedded in a tree, the pace and tension ramp up quickly. Zub builds a palpable atmosphere of frenzy that verges on panic when Conrad is drawn into imminent peril, but the team is at a loss as to what to do. How do you save someone when you don’t know what’s happening to them or how to help them? The fear is relatable and grabs you.
The issue ends with Conan taking drastic steps to save Conrad, Dark Agnes running out of patience with catastrophic results, and six becoming three.
Overall, Conan: Battle Of The Black Stone #3 is a super-solid issue that starts at a leisurely pace but picks up steam for a hammer blow of an ending. Jim Zub nails the characters’ voices during the opening conversations, even if those chats slow the pace, and the ending is a killer (literally).
Artwork and Presentation:
Jonas Scharf brings the heat in an issue filled with lush jungle landscapes, striking figure work, fantastic use of dramatic shadows to present an air of dread in broad daylight, and gritty action. Combine Scharf’s outstanding lines with Jão Canola’s amazing colors, and you get a fantastic-looking comic.
Art Samples:
The Bigger Picture:
Series Continuity:
Conan: Battle of the Black Stone acts as a standalone miniseries, but it borrows heavily from Titan’s ongoing Conan title and The Savage Sword Of Conan B&W anthology series. Specifically, each character appearing in this issue was foreshadowed in The Savage Sword Of Conan #4, and Brissa’s disappearance, which led to her return in this adventure, began in Conan the Barbarian #4.
Final Thoughts:
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CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE #3 leads the team of Robert E. Howard’s heroes into the jungle for a harrowing hunt and a deadly outcome. Despite a slow pace in the beginning, Jim Zub’s tale gradually builds speed for a killer ending, and Jonas Scharf’s artwork looks fantastic.
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