Truman and Giorello are back at it again! Bringing the high fantasy adventure that Conan readers have come to expect from them. King Conan’s story continues to unfold and entertain. As I state every month, I am a biased Conan fan. And yet, every time I pick up an issue of Conan I always half expect to be let down based purely on the idea that eventually I’ll get bored of watching Conan cut people in half, or fight monsters, or yell really inspiring things. However, every time I finish an issue this is never the case, I am always on the edge of my seat wanting more. Maybe I’m just a huge fan of adventure stories, or maybe Truman and Giorello’s ability to consistently write an epic yarn full of fast-paced action can’t be beat. Conan finds himself at odds with the Pict Wolf Tribe that just rescued him from the Witch Kwarada and the Pictish hordes that are on the brink of invasion with Aquilonia. While Conan is grateful for his rescue he still considers the Picts to be his sworn enemies, but now he sees that alliance may be the only way to combat the hordes that will soon be at his doorstep. Conan discovers that the future chief of the Wolf Tribe (who happen to be the most powerful and most influential of all the tribes) is just a boy, who is traveling with them through the jungle. Conan agrees to make a truce with them after much deliberation.
The young chieftain reveals that he was watching when Conan and his comrades were first ambushed back in issue two, and that he saw where Conan hid the ancient crown, things begin to look up. All hope is lost when the evil Picts emerge from the jungle, the Dark Witch Kwarada was, unsurprisingly, tracking Conan the entire time. The ensuing battle leaves Conan the last man standing, the young Chief captured along with the crown, and a pile of corpses rotting in the jungle heat. A perfect set-up for the final chapter of this excellent adventure.
Conan is one of those rare comics that benefits from being a little derivative. A lot of media be it video games, movies, or TV are often derided for their lack of originality, and yet Conan stories are praised for following the path set by Robert E. Howard all those decades ago. They are supposed to read like the dog-eared paperback wrinkled by repeat reads. Surely there are critics of this derivative style, but for those who are looking for the pulpy classic feel of 1920s fantasy Dark Horse’s Conan comics never fail to deliver. This doesn’t go to say that they feel old by any means, even compared to the 70s Marvel comics they feel sleek and modernized. Each panel lush with detail, and overflowing with kinetic energy. It takes a lot of skill to translate a literary character and put them into fast moving visual oriented comic books, and Dark Horse constantly does just that. Alright, that’s enough praise for Conan for one day, just go and read this miniseries yourself, just in time for the finale next month!
Score: 4/5
King Conan: Wolves Beyond the Border #3 Written by: Timothy Truman Art by: Tomas Giorello Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: Print: $3.99 Release Date: 2/24/16 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital
Cry Havoc #2 strikes me as being the issue where readers will be able to grasp exactly how excited they are about this series. The first issue floats around the edges of what this story has in store, but the second sends us headlong into a churning eddy of monster, myth, and... well, masturbation. The tripartite juxtaposition of the rote, repetitive London life, the shock of serving in Afghanistan, and the horrors of being held captive is executed to great effect by this three-pronged coloring team. What sets them up for success, however, are the more basic page elements, both in the story itself and in its construction, that really give this story its personality.
I mentioned in my last review that, after reading The Goddamned #2, I felt like taking a shower. And now I can’t believe I didn’t see the correlation. In the Old Testament stories, God must have felt the same way; hence, the flood. What this all means is that the creative team of this book has succeeded in a way where years and years of Catholic education failed. Thanks, comics! Someone should let the churches know about this book to properly illustrate what a godless world can truly look like. Maybe if I read this, I wouldn’t now believe it all to be such silly (if well-told) hokum.
This issue… oh man, this issue. There’s a big reveal at the end of the issue that ties into Slab. That’s all I’ll say about that. I continue to love the world that our characters are trapped in. It almost seems like the physical embodiment of an idea. The ground changes and crumbles like someone thinking of something different. At one point they come to what looks like water, but when they stand on it it’s more like a gelatin. It’s strange because I remember seeing a science show about the material, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it’s called. It adds to the many strange layers of this story. That’s all I can really say, but man on man the reveal is good in this issue and pushes Spring to the front of the pack.
Dot as she is nicknamed by her friends is accompanied by a large Toto. The dog looks like a husky or even a white wolf. This is far from the cute little pup that’s normally depicted. As the story goes on we see glimpses of the land of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the West is much younger and sexier than her original portrayal. There’s no green in her complexion or attire. From her castle she sends The Tin Man to Kansas to kill Dorothy after being convinced that she is still a threat to her power. The Tin Man is more like the Terminator in his mission to kill Dorothy. It’s an obvious reference to the film series.
Not much else happens in the story. We do hear more of the “roof” story from one of our main characters and we learn in this issue, like the other #3’s, that these are real stories that are being told by the writers. Which now makes a hell of a lot of sense. The amount of the story told in this issue is toned down and for the better. The characters and the situation really make this issue worth reading and so the story becomes a side note at best.
In all facets of her life she's struggling to gain a foothold as an individual. Much of her interaction with life is dictated by what she's seen in the media culture. Jody Houser’s dialog illustrates this well. At one point, Faith connects a boy's disappearance to his sci-fi fandom. Faith is much more pissed that one's love of fiction could be used to target them than she is that a kid is missing. Again, she’s written as simple and moral rather than stupid and gullible.
The writing and story improved a lot from the last issue. Ben’s character is still being fleshed out a bit and we’re still seeing the many different sides of the Sheriff. What the story does right in this issue is avoid filler. Everything feels necessary to the story and issue whereas the previous issue suffered from a lack of content.
Without the stylish originality, we are left with is the story of Dade Ellis, Emerson Strange, Simon Grimshaw, and Thomas Walker and their various trials and tribulations. And the result is a book which, while far from bad, feels a little bit dull. The book's habit of launching us into scenes we have no context for understanding is starting to feel annoying, while the big emotional arcs don't feel like they are quite landing. In this issue, Dade Ellis, newly awakened from a coma, is dealing with the fallout of Emerson Strange's experiments with the help of Strange's daughter. Meanwhile Grimshaw and Walker are meeting in secret to allude to things and be mysterious. At the same time, we are shown mysterious organizations recovering pieces of Strange's downed satellite. But with all these moving parts, the book feels more than a little like it lacks a heart (or at least a central narrative thread).
This issue in particular feels the most like a zombie outbreak. Because Z-Men is behind on the storyline it’s really just getting to the outbreak night which is cool because it’s a nice throwback to the danger and the overwhelming feeling of the zombies. This issue handled that danger quite well. There’s really only one bit of humor in the issue as the rest is heavy on the drama. Now when I said balanced, it’s not perfectly balanced, but more like a recipe. Sometimes you have more of one ingredient than another, but the results are still a balanced in the end. There’s not much else to say about the writing other than it being consistent. I liked the fact that the hive mind has spread into another series.
Where this series, and especially this issue, does get interesting is in the increasingly more esoteric and downright oddball sub-plots. These include an inept police force, led by a man who is mostly nose, trying to solve a hamburger homicide; and a penis monster cartographer, who apparently has a penchant for wearing hookers like leisure suits. Now that’s the kind of kooky shit I was expecting of this book, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Whether you’re reading just this series or the entire line of Double Take books, this issue of Slab is incredibly important to both the series and the universe. It’s the first big puzzle piece being set down before us and connecting other pieces. I wish that I could tell you more about it, but you really should go in without any other knowledge.
Honestly not a lot happens in this issue until the end. There’s no reveals. The story just continues moving along like it has for two issues. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does leave a bit more to be desired since we’re on the third issue. At least there’s a cliffhanger that’s interesting and the little girl gets to swear more and call people assholes.
Johnny begins looking for Barbara and Amy after being informed that everyone has been moved inside the “safe zone” and we see not one, but two of the other zombie powers come to play. The first is that random look at Johnny and say, “Amy” to him. Now he doesn’t acknowledge it, but then we don’t know how he’s been affected yet. The other is when Johnny finds Amy and she kisses him instantly. Something we’ve seen in Dedication and Medic.
On Samantha’s side, she hosts a dating show with the zombies. It’s hilarious, but it’s the ending of the issue that is truly the best part of the issue. I will not spoil that for you, but I lol’d out loud legit. It was great and made me want to read the next issue instantly.
With these third issues the seemingly random narration from characters is explained. They’re real stories from writers that Double Take has hired. They’re there to add to the realism and while I didn’t 100% understand the point of it previously, it did humanize the characters. I do wish that this was revealed to the reader sooner, but knowing now does change my perspective on everything. I enjoyed the story in this issue in particular and because of that I was also able to enjoy the art and let it tell me more of the story than the dialogue. When I think about it, the art is doing a lot of work and if the dialogue and narration just followed it along, we would have so much pointless and redundant dialogue that it would be unbearable. That’s why I wish they revealed it sooner, because it would have taught the reader how to read their books that much sooner.
I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say that our covers that seem out of left field compared to the story, may in fact be foreshadowing the future. We know that the Double Take Universe is going to jump into the future at some point and there will be super heroes. My guess, the deputy is going to be one of those heroes… and I can’t wait. I will also say that I find that formula brilliant. The problem with new superhero universes is that they don’t have the history to pull from like the big two. Well if you look at the now falling second company, you’ll see that an extensive history is important and Double Take has found an inventive way to manufacture a history for its world. I respect and enjoy the hell out of that.
"Matt and I have been best friends since childhood and I have to give him all the credit for introducing me to the comic book world. We are so excited to be writing this together and working with LINE Webtoon. Much of the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of the San Francisco Bay Area where Matt and I grew up. Our heroine, Eleanor, is a strong, young, powerful, complicated girl and we are incredibly excited to share her journey with the world. We are thrilled to be joining the LINE Webtoon family with Dents."
