![\"Chronicles](\"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/conan5.jpg\")
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By Roy Thomas<\/strong> and John Buscema<\/strong> (Dark Horse Books) This volume, reprinting the original 1970s Marvel comic tales of Conan the Barbarian<\/strong> (issues #27 – 34), is the first all John Buscema package. He actually took over the drawing from Barry Windsor-Smith for the final chapters of the mega-epic ‘War of the Tarim’ – featured in the previous volume).<\/p>\n It features a much more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pulps\u00e2\u20ac\u009d oriented style of episodic action \u00e2\u20ac\u201c much of it based on writer Roy Thomas’ adaptations of R E Howard’s (and some other pulp writers) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153heroic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rather than fantasy fiction. Also on show is the inking of long-time Conan illustrator Ernie Chua\/Chan.<\/p>\n First up is ‘Blood of Bel-Hissar’<\/em>, a tight tale of banditry, followed by the excellent Jungle horror story ‘Moon of Zembabwei’<\/em>. ‘Two Against Turan’<\/em> sees Conan join the army of Howard’s analogue of an Arabic super-state (and how prescient was that?). The effete and ineffectual King Yildiz – father of Conan’s greatest human enemy, Yezdigerd \u00e2\u20ac\u201c features in a tale that shows all of the barbarian’s most compelling qualities.<\/p>\n It is followed by ‘Hand of Nergal’<\/em>, another mystic adventure and the first in this volume not taken directly from a Howard original, although it is from a Lin Carter novelette based on Howard’s notes.<\/p>\n ‘Shadow in the Tomb’<\/em> has become something of an iconic Conan scenario due to the movies, but it’s a fairly standard monster and mayhem yarn. The chronicle concludes with a three chapter epic based on the novel Flame Winds<\/strong> by Norvell W. Page, author of most of the pulp adventures of The Spider<\/em>, with Thomas substituting Conan for wandering crusader Prester John, and setting the tale in the fabulous Chinese equivalent of ‘Khitai’.<\/p>\n Despite the critical acclaim of the Windsor-Smith issues, the solid thriller tales represented here were the actual beginning of the sales phenomenon that Conan became. With the addition of glossy twenty-first century colouring techniques they read better than ever.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a9 2004 Conan Properties International, LLC. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00c2\u00a0 By Roy Thomas and John Buscema (Dark Horse Books) ISBN: 1-84023-985-9 This volume, reprinting the original 1970s Marvel comic tales of Conan the Barbarian (issues #27 – 34), is the first all John Buscema package. He actually took over the drawing from Barry Windsor-Smith for the final chapters of the mega-epic ‘War of the … <\/p>\n
\nISBN: 1-84023-985-9<\/p>\n