Conan the Barbarian #5: A Tentacled Nightmare (isn’t the scariest thing in this book)

Artistically this was probably the best issue of Jason Aaron’s Conan series, and the story had my interest for the most part. But for the ending. Conan realizing he needs the company of his fellow man is the stuff of a sappy Christmas special and has no place in a tale of blood and monsters on the high seas. This issue set up, began to execute then ended in a belly flop into a mud pit, why?! I’m honestly a pretty big defender of current Conan taking liberties to keep the stories fresh, but this was way out of character and felt so unnatural to me.

It seems like the overall story quality of this latest Conan the Barbarian series is inconsistent to say the least. I understand Aaron is trying to invoke the one off nature of classic Conan stories with an overarching story but he is giving us so little of the Red Witch/ Azazel story I’ve all but forgotten, which is fine, I’m not a fan. My trouble is in this format this back burner story could run for months, years even (take a look at Aaron’s BC Avengers) as opposed to being a short arc i can be annoyed by then move on with my life.

This last panel is GREAT

As I said above the art is pretty stellar, I loved the monster designs and bug eyes Conan was nowhere in sight! Definitely the best issue yet from Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson et all, artistically.