Review: ‘Conan The Barbarian’ #9 Slays, And I Am Content (Contains Spoilers)

Welcome to the table,

Before we get started: This issue is phenomenal. I’m going to spoil all sorts of stuff in this review, so for those who want to go in not knowing what is going to happen, just know this… I loved this issue. It may be my favorite of the series so far. Go forth, buy it, read it, if you love Conan, the mythos of Robert E. Howard, Jim Zub‘s writing, Rob Del La Torre‘s art, Dean White‘s colors, and a solid Sword & Sorcery story, you will love this issue.

Spoilers are coming…

If you’ve been with me on my journey reviewing the Titan Comics’ Conan The Barbarian series, then you know the last issue, #8, left me feeling less than stellar about my thoughts on the way Conan was handled.

Issue #9 of this book is phenomenal and feels like we are back in the landscape of Sword & Sorcery, and, more importantly, Conan being his grumbly sullen and often slaying self but now he’s time traveling!

After the events of issue #8, our boy Conan has been tossed into the Thurian Age.

What is the Thurian Age, you may ask. Well, it’s the period within the mythos created by Robert E. Howard, in which the sword and sorcery tales of Kull of Atlantis are set. This is important because we have had mention of Kull in earlier issues of the series, and the Thurian Age is before the cataclysm that swallowed Atlantis. This is an age of magic and swords and eldrich horror. It’s also a time when H.P. Lovecraft, a friend of Robert E. Howard, put some of his Cthulu mythos.

We have a setup right now, where Conan is in the age of Kull of Atlantis, who is an ancestor of Conan. It’s an age of high magics and wonders, and possibly old ones and ancient beings.

This book is starting to become my Avengers: End Game.

Do you know who else is in this issue? Yag-kosha! Who is Yag-kosha, you ask? Well, he’s the blinded elephant alien entity who was a prisoner in Yara. Conan meets him in the past and he is not blinded, or messed up, but still thriving. It’s well before Yara betrays Yag-kosha so we get to see this absolute legend in his up-and-about form.

Do you know who else is in the issue? Brule the Spear-Slayer from Conan The Barbarian #4. Brule, who struck down the demonic statue and helped defeat the snake men.

So here comes Conan, 80,000 years before he was born, still sullen, still ready to crush the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.

How well this whole thing works is fantastic . It makes me feel a little more comfortable with the possessed Conan that happened in the previous issue. I think it still bugs me and probably always will, but this goes a long way to sort of balance those scales . We are getting into pure fan service right now.

And it gets better!

Conan throws down with King Kull! YES! You read that correctly if you have stuck around for this absolute word vomit of a review. I LOVE THIS!

So here is Conan, following Brule past the Red Slayers and into the throne room of King Kull. Brule tries to give Kull the rundown of what has been going on, and Kull for some reason flips out and knocks out Brule.

THEN KULL THREATENS CONAN! 

And they clash with steel and fury and it is glorious. The narration on these pages as the two clash is nothing short of perfection. The art is primal and full of energy. It’s truly some amazing sequential storytelling. I love this issue and this sequence of pages is a testament to why comics are their own art form.

The issue ends with the Red Slayers entering the throne room to confront Conan and Brule and that’s just where we are… breathless and white-knuckled as we wait to see what is going to happen next!

Until next time, Conan is the best and when it starts to blend with other stuff from Howard’s works and maybe even some Lovecraft lore creeping in I think this is going to get really fun. I hope I am right!