Continuing A Legacy Of Melancholy Joy — ‘Conan The Barbarian’ #4 Review

Welcome to the table,

Many know of Conan, but aside from a really goofy movie how many of you know of Kull? Kull was born in Atlantis before it sunk below the sea. He grew up as an orphan in the wild after a flood destroyed the valley his people were settled in. He was eventually captured and then adopted by the Sea-Mountain tribe of barbarians, was exiled from Atlantis, made his way to the mainland became a mercenary. Then he grew to become a king in his own right.

It’s a very “tale as old as time” kind of story in the Sword and Sorcery world. Why is it important in this review of Conan The Barbarian #4 from Titan Comics? There is a very real moment in this book where the team lets readers know that Conan is a descendant of the mythical Kull, and that connection just feels kinda nice as this first arc of the series draws to a close. In a book that feels very heavily laced into the legacy of the Conan lore, what has come before, and honoring that the nod to the character’s legacy felt appropriate in a way that when I got to it, I was pleased to see it happened.

Written by Jim Zub, with art by Roberto De La Torre, colors by Dean White, and lettered by Richard Starkings, this fourth installment of the newest Conan series seems to slow down a bit but not in a bad way, more in a “sinking into the darkness of a dark pit of eldrich horror” kind of way.

Conan sinks into the dark depths of a watery cave after being pulled down by a strange ancient entity that has unleashed horrors upon the land. Alone with his thoughts, running out of air, and slowly drifting down away from the light, Conan has visions of a past where ancient tribes of Barbarians clash with corrupted by forces from beyond this world in one of those vague and mystical ways that Sword and Sorcery stories do so well.

That is why I think this series is so successful. The art is phenomenal, the colors are pure magic, and the storytelling is melancholy and heavy. There are plenty of open-ended world-building moments that let readers ponder the nature of this world. Titan’s Conan The Barbarian feels like you are reading an undiscovered pulp classic for the first time and an actual new installment to a landscape you have tread a thousand times before. Where many have tried to change, shift, or evolve the work, Titan’s Conan feels like he is as content as the protagonist after he has lived, burned with life, loved, slayed. This is Conan and it is good.

In a book that feels so heavily burdened with a legacy of past attempts this book really does hit that sweet spot of being a fulfilling read without being problematic and still maintaining all of the wonder and grim joy that the old stories brought me as a kid.

I truly can’t wait for more of this series and I think any fans of Conan and the Sword and Sorcery genre will love it.

Until next time, the Kull pull in this book felt so good, the art is astonishing… I really can’t say enough good things about this title. I really hope it continues to hold itself to this standard.