King Conan: Wolves Beyond the Border #1
Written by Timothy Truman
Art by Tomås Giorello
Dark Horse Comics
Few characters have the lasting appeal of Robert E. Howard’s Conan. He is in a league with the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood in that regard.
In this case the writing duties on the four-issue mini-series King Conan: Wolves Beyond the Border is Timothy Truman. Talk about a great choice.
Truman is not new to writing Conan, not to mention fine work on books like Scout which dates back to 1989, so he’s got pedigree that goes back years.
As for this book, Truman lays out a great start to a King Conan tale. While not a voracious reader of all things Conan, I have read enough to be more than satisfied this fits with the base intention Howard showed for the character under his own pen.
Tomås Giorello’s art fits the mythos nicely as well.
All-in-all a fine start to a very traditional Conan tale, one told in the latter years of his life, a story that takes him off the thrown and heads him back toward the adventurous life that has made him so endearing to a legion of readers.
Ninjak TBP #1: Weaponeer
Written by Matt Kindt
Art by Clay Mann
Valiant Comics
Ninjak might best be described as Bruce Lee melding with a recent incarnation of James Bond, which, when you think about it is a pretty cool idea.
Ninjak is a ninja with all the Bruce Lee skills, so yes Clay Mann has some cool fight scenes, and he does them well.
But Ninjak also has a bat-belt full of techy gadgets. I like that because in our world you would need to be able to hack computers, circumvent video surveillance and deal in general with our electronic world.
So I dig the character.
Roku is his foil as the bad girl muscle of the big baddie. She has Medusa-esque hair, rad skills, and may simply not die. Yes as in most stories which flirt with Japanese lore there does seems to by a mystical power at play.
The book is spotted with flashbacks, which will hopefully mean more moving forward, as so far they haven’t added tonnes to the story.
In general I like this, although there is a nagging feeling it might have delivered more. The story seems a bit to A-to-B-to-C.
But I will still be happy to delve into #2 soon.
