CONAN THE BARBARIAN #12 – New Comic Review

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #12, by Titan Comics on 7/3/24, brings the arc and Conan’s conflict against the immortal Thulsa Doom to a close with a climactic battle beneath the ravaged city of Atlantis.

Credits:

• Writer: Jim Zub
• Artist: Robert De La Torre
• Colorist: Diego Rodriguez
• Letterer: Richard Starkings, Tyler Smith
• Cover Artist: Jeffrey Alan Love (cover A)
• Publisher: Titan Comics
• Release Date: July 3, 2024
• Comic Rating: Mature
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Page Count: 34
• Format: Single Issue

Covers:

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Analysis of CONAN THE BARBARIAN #12:

Plot Analysis:

Whoa, Nelly! Jim Zub is cooking with gas on this series, so if you’re looking for a pitch-perfect Conan story that ends on a high note, look no further. At the risk of spoiling the review and final score, it’s a good one.

When last we left the world’s most famous barbarian in Conan the Barbarian #11, King Kull feverishly led Brule, Conan, and their Red Slayer guard into the bowels of a crater in Atlantis’s city center. They were met with strange artifacts, ancient carvings, and ravenous cannibal hordes. Before King Kull reached his destination, an ancient tomb containing a mummified corpse and a fabulous sword, only Brule, Conan, and a single Red Slayer remained. Against the pleas of his comrades, Kull opened the tomb but was immediately run through by the sword wielded by the mummy come to life – Thulsa Doom.

In Conan the Barbarian #12, Thulsa Doom takes hold of the Atlantean sword imbued with dark power and taunts the barbarian trio. We see a flashback of old times in Atlantis when a strange meteor struck near the city, killing several citizens in the impact. One man, Kathulos, dared touch the dark stone, and when its evil energy coursed through his veins, he gained the power to raise an undead army and lay siege to all lands.

Here, Jim Zub mixes mythologies by giving Thulsa Doom a backstory that intersects with Marvel’s version of Conan and Lovecraftian lore. The name Kathulos is associated with several antagonists, including a Doctor Strange villain, so Zub’s creative choice takes Thulsa Doom back to his Robert E. Howard roots and sprinkles in a bit of publisher cross-pollination but gives Thulsa Doom a deeper and more cosmic threat level.

Time is no respecter of person, and Thulsa Doom hatches a plan to stave off the ravages of his aging body as his warmongering spreads across the world. He voluntarily has himself entombed in a sarcophagus carved from a piece of black stone so that the stone’s dark energy would fully infuse his body with power. Now freed by the nightmare hold Doom placed on Kull’s mind, the wicked sorcerer turns his sights on Brule.

Using the Black Stone sarcophagus as a form of evil incubation chamber is a genius plot device by Zub. Thulsa Doom is evil in his lust for conquering and power, but his commitment to rule the world for all time demonstrates madness by his willingness to sacrifice his humanity to get what he wants. This is the most intimidating and malignant form of Thulsa Doom we’ve seen to date.

With dark magic at his disposal, Doom could see his future efforts would be hindered by a bloodline of barbarian kings, so he orchestrated Kull’s arrival to eliminate the bloodline at its source. Kull is too weak to fight after being run through, so Brule leaps to the attack to prevent his king’s death. Doom’s killing blow is defected by someone he can’t see – Conan. As the elephant-headed stranger already let on, Conan can’t be seen by inhuman beings, and Conan quickly takes advantage of his invisibility to Doom’s eyes.

Did you miss that part? We sure did and had to go back to fact-check the development. Yes, the elephant-headed mystic did say he couldn’t see Conan, only hear him, so kudos to Zub for a “Chekhov’s gun” that’s easy to miss but plays a significant part in the arc’s finale.

Unfortunately for Conan, the advantage doesn’t last long when he puts his hand on Doom’s Atlantean sword, granting the wizard the ability to see Conan’s attacks. While the hero and villain fight, Brule rallies Kull enough to flank Doom, hoping to overpower the villain. Eager to ascend to an even more powerful state, Doom absorbs greater quantities of energy from the black stone, but too much of a bad thing draws Doom’s mind to the celestial source of the black stone, destroying his sanity. The pause in the action gives Conan the opening to separate Doom’s head from his body.

Zub gets mystical with Doom’s power move, a move that was meant to secure his victory but winds up destroying his mind. With a less capable writer, Doom’s end may feel like a cop-out in execution, but Zub (through Robert De La Torre’s glorious art), makes Doom’s end seem like a human failure in the face of a greater evil waiting in the cosmos. Think of the Nazi deaths at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and you’ll get the same vibe of villains ultimately falling through their hubris and greed rather than the hero’s sword alone.

Doom’s destruction instantly transports Conan back to his original Time, leaving Kull and Brule to escape the collapsing cavern and tend their wounds for more adventures. The issue ends with Conan shaking off the sullenness that plagues him at the beginning of the arc and a glimmer that Conan’s path will cross with Doom’s Atlantean sword again.

Artwork and Presentation:

We’ve already peppered in bits of praise, but let’s be absolutely clear about how magnificent Robert De La Torre’s art looks in this issue. You have gritty swordplay, cosmic horror that evokes Lovecraftian lore, and drama for days. Between De La Torre and the equally impressive Benito Gallego, who filled in briefly, Titan couldn’t have nabbed a better team of artists for this series.

Art Samples:

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The Bigger Picture:

Series Continuity:

The big deal in Conan the Barbarian #12 is Jim Zub’s take on Thulsa Doom’s origin story, which is largely faithful with one or two creative tweaks. Do those tweaks represent a continuity problem or change the character enough to step on the toes of Conan purists? No, not at all. If anything, Zub’s choices are a nice nod to the infamous lore surrounding Robert E. Howard’s changes to his original story that eventually came to be known as “The Cat and the Skull.”

Final Thoughts:

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CONAN THE BARBARIAN #12 is a pristine, pitch-perfect end to another fantastic Conan adventure for Jim Zub and Titan Comics. Zub is channeling Robert E. Howard, with a clear reverence to the source material, and Robert De La Torre’s art is astounding.

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