Brian Wood's Softer, Gentler Conan

[Theagenes]

I'm curious as to what people think about Brian Wood's new take on Conan after its first year. Many old school Conan and REH fans aren't happy with the new direction, but the sales are great and critics love it. It seems to be really popular with people who weren't Conan fans previously. Since I'm heavily involved in REH fandom I've only been hearing one side of the story and I'd like to hear what more general fans think.

 

 

[Theagenes]

This ain't your Daddy's Conan comic.

 

 

[stroszek]

I have enjoyed it very much so far and I'm willing to go with the idea of a young, idealistic, and desperately "in love" Conan.

 

However, it better not be too long before he grows out of it. The gigantic melancholies need to start setting in by issue 20.

 

 

 

 

[dupont2005]

I haven't read it, but I did read a little of the newer Dark Horse Conan comics a few years back and was pleasantly surprised. Better than expected, and although I'm a SSOC fan, better than the prior Marvel Conan comics in my opinion. I just haven't been keeping up that well. Comics that come out too frequently and with too many titles I tend to not buy, even if I like them.

[Mac Man]

I've been a big fan of Brian Wood's writing but the artists haven't been consistent. Becky Cloonan and James Harren did great work on the title--finding that balance between visually depicting a younger Conan who, even then, possessed a deep melancholy but could still drink you under the table and rip your head off. Some of the other artists, however, have depicted him as too androgynous or feminine. This is far less of a writing issue as it is with the artist.

 

I have to admit that it was BWS and Roy Thomas who brought me into the fold to begin with followed by Cary Nord, Kurt Busiek, and Dave Stewart's work at Dark Horse. So I do not consider myself a purist, per se, even though I've read the original REH sources since encountering the comics. I just wish they'd firm up the artist to bring more consistency to the page in that regard; but Wood is hitting high marks for my part.

[Mr.Diggler]

Cary Nord.

 

I haven't read this soft and fuzzy Conan. That just sounds wrong. Crom would not be pleased with this weakness.

[Key Largo Comics]

Stories have been great. The art has been up and down in my opinion. Really enjoyed Colak's work on the most recent issue though.

[Shaven Kev-migration]

I just like the first movie

[TupennyConan]

This ain't your Daddy's Conan comic.

 

 

 

This is the sort of thing that would make for an awesome CG butthurt crybaby thread if it were about a top tier Superhero or Star Wars.

 

All the Debbie Downers would show-up & vent their silly spleens all over the Boards.

 

Too bad it's only Conan. Few to no bitter clingers will arrive. Not even the most reliable of the bunch.

 

 

That's nice art, btw.

[Mr.Diggler]

Only Conan?

[TupennyConan]

Only Conan?

 

[Scrooge]

I was wondering when we would have this discussion.

 

I have been reading Conan ever since the new # 1 from Dark Horse and was curious how Wood would do on the title. I am an avowed Wood fan though I don't always agree with his visions and ideas. I was especially curious about his take on Conan following up his stint on Northlanders. Though Hyborea is not Scandinavia, and certainly not Iceland, I do associate Cimmeria with the Icelandic landscape. I had found some of the stories in Northlanders to be long on concept and short on execution but the sagas are that way in the first place. Having to work with the Conan canon, Wood I thought would have to cut closer to the original material ... well, I was wrong (and from what I hear he's doing the same on his Star Wars series).

 

I have no vested interest in hewing close to the original source as my Conan has always been the Conan of the comics. From that yardstick, this has been one heck of a run. From the intro of Belit which was necessary, Wood launched into three storylines so far: 1) arrest, deceit & rescue, 2) Belit in Cimmeria and 3) the death / plague storyline. I have found each to be superior to most Conan stories I have read in Four Color format.

 

The Arrest, deceit & rescue had the right amount of cliffhanger and a higher level of complexity than I remember in most scripts from SSoC.

 

Belit in Cimmeria was a fantastic look at Belit out of her element and her struggles to fit in Conan's world. The "villain" in the story was not a well-executed idea but the story of Belit was excellent.

 

The death and esp. the last issue I've read in which Conan has to decide to return to the ship or abandon Belit and the crew was so far one of the best comics I have read this year.

 

I agree with Macman that I could have done without Alexis Lolos (sp?) on the Cimmeria arch (too much inconsistency and misshapen faces distracted from the reading) but the work from Declan Shalvey (sp?) in this recent arc is well composed and very pleasant and an improvement from what I saw during his arc on Northlanders.

 

So from a non-REH "true" fan, Wood has provided great entertainment.

[batman_fan]

This ain't your Daddy's Conan comic.

 

 

 

WTF

[lookwhoitis]

This ain't your Daddy's Conan comic.

 

 

 

WTF

 

The poonanney will make you do strange things... even if you happen to be a hard azz barbarian. You might find yourself frolicking in pink lotus' being fed tidbits.

 

The disembodied dark arms reaching with a covetous embrace from above symbolize that they too would do anything to switch places with young Conan, in pursuit of raven thatch.

[lookwhoitis]

I have only read through issue 5 to date. I am digging it.

 

Had some life problems over the past number of months that have been keeping my comic hoarding off of schedule. I guess i should just DL em and get caught up on reading.

[stroszek]

What Wood has done well is to show why Belit is "the one" for Conan. It had never occurred to him before that a woman could be anything other than a one-night stand. Now he's met one who's his equal and it has changed the way he views the world so radically, he still hasn't regained his footing. He's been "drunk on love" for a while now. But it'll wear off. Maybe even before Belit dies. And after her, there's probably nothing but a long series of disappointments, so Conan will just refocus his energies on the whole "thief, reaver, slayer" thing.

 

Or maybe he'll fall for Zula...

[TupennyConan]

'raven thatch' lol

[Theagenes]

I appreciate everyone's comments. I have mixed feelings about it myself. It certainly doesn't meet what my expectiations were for Queen of the Black Coast, but I do think it it's well-written. I enjoyed Northlanders and originally thought Wood would be a good fit for Conan. Well, he definitely does not get REH's Conan, but he has created his own version of the character. Clearly Wood's Conan seems to be popular. I don't know. I'm just having a tough time reconciling it.

[TupennyConan]

Despite my stated positions in these types of threads, I'm not unsympathetic, my dear friend, Theagenes.

 

My best advice is a restatement of my position in single word format:

 

Compartmentalize.

[Theagenes]

Yep. That's what I'm doing. Again, I don't think it's bad at all. It's just not REH's Conan. And that's okay. Characters need updating sometimes. I understand it on a rational level. I'm just to attached to original version of the character so I'm having a tough time getting used to this Twilight Conan.

 

All of my disappointent stems from my own expectations, not from anything objective that Brian Wood has done.

 

However, the Cimmeria story arc in particular rubbed me the wrong way. Conan interupts his new pirate gig to take his girlfriend home to meet mom, then gets into a fight with a guy that he used to bully when they were kids. It seems like sometimes he'd trying to hard to be "relevent" and "topical."