KING CONAN #1 – Review

In KING CONAN #1, from Marvel Comics on December 22nd, 2021, King Conan finds himself shipwrecked on a barren island at the edge of the world when an old enemy, out for blood, arrives. How will their death struggle fare when the sun sets and the real danger emerges?

The Details

• Written By: Jason Aaron
• Art By: Mahmud Asrar
• Colors By: Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson
• Letters By: VC’s Travis Lanham
• Cover Art By: Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson (cover A)
• Cover Price: $4.99
• Release Date: December 22, 2021

Was It Good?

KING CONAN #1 is a strong, solid start to the series. There’s a single minor down point (more on that in a minute), but overall, I liked this first issue quite a bit.

The story focuses on King Conan finding himself shipwrecked on a small, barren, near-lifeless rock of an island. There, he encounters threats ranging from small to downright deadly. Aaron does a solid job capturing the voice and tone of Conan from Robert E. Howard’s original writings. Conan is portrayed as a stoic figure who stubbornly refuses to allow himself to be cowed or softened by his age or his position as king. While this version of Conan is taken from a relatively specific period of his life, it feels authentic to the unchangeable nature of the character.

That brings us to the small down point in the writing. Aaron runs into trouble setting the pace on the early pages due to the repetitive nature of the narration. There’s no issue with setting the stage or acclimating new readers to Conan as a character, but after five or ten captions saying effectively the same thing (“He was alone”, “This island is god-forsaken”, “We’re beyond any map or the reach of man”) you start to think “Okay, we get it. It’s a deserted island. Can we get the story going, please?”

Of course, the art needs to be up to snuff for the comic to work, and up to snuff it is. Asrar wastes no panel space depicting a Cimmerian in all his barbaric glory. The lines are thick and powerful. The shadow blacks are deep and brooding. And every stride of movement feels decisive, as you would expect from the most famous of barbarians.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with King Conan coming ashore on a barren waste of an island, surrounded by noxious weeds and wave-beaten crags of volcanic rock. The only active signs of life are flocks of buzzards picking at the festering corpses of previously shipwrecked and long-dead seamen.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn how Conan ascended to become king, how kingship tried (and mostly failed) to change him, and what his life is now. It’s not explained why King Conan was on the ship or where he was headed, but we’re shown that life as king comes with its own set of challenges.

As King Conan resigns himself to death via starvation, a lone figure emerges from the surf. Thoth-Amon has arrived wielding a magical ring, a ring that will grant him power beyond imagining as soon as the ritual to activate it is completed with the last ingredient – the blood of a King.

We conclude the issue with a gritty battle of warrior against wizard, the revelation that Thoth-Amon’s ritual may need to wait a while longer, and the dawning realization that the island has greater dangers at sunset.

Final Thoughts

KING CONAN #1 is a stark, gritty, and powerful take on the world’s greatest Cimmerian in the twilight of his years. The art is outstanding, the story setup is a pleasant mix of straight action and potential mystery, and the new threat revealed at the end of the issue makes for a powerful cliffhanger. That said, the repetitive narration in the early pages hurts the pacing, but the story smooths out in the latter half of the book.

Score: 8/10

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