Conan the Barbarian #6
Recap
Conan fights Stygians as a mercenary for Turan. The Turanian forces don't understand the Stygian warriors use of deceit and magic, but our titular Cimmerian does!
Review
Finally an issue of this Jason Aaron series grabs me! I thought this was a good issue for what it was, Conan proves himself to be level headed and intelligent in an army full of folks who are less so. I liked the action scenes a lot and the meeting with the king went about how it should. I also like that the story acknowledged that Conan didn’t remain an ally of the Turanians for long, a nod to the events preceding Iron Shadows on the Moon (if I recall correctly haha), which were depicted really well in a Roy Thomas written arc at the tail end of the Conan the Cimmerian series from Dark Horse Comics.
Obviously no comic exists without some flaws, and I do take issue in a core level with the depiction of Conan as some godlike unstoppable warrior, like he’s Batman or something. The story exists without risk which doesn’t make a story too super engaging. Moreover I’m really ready for this Razazel business on the back end to wrap up so we can move on, it doesn’t interest me in the least and I’m sick of hearing about it.
The art by Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson is probably the best they’ve given within this series so far, as I mentioned the battle scenes look really good and Conan himself looks excellent. The initial splash page of Conan covered in blood surrounded by corpses gave me a lot of joy.
I’m sorry to say I don’t like the cover much, I love Esad Ribic and artistically it’s fine, I just don’t like the look of the kids or the witch, they could be triplets and the kids look about 73 years old.
Final Thoughts
Arguably the best entry of this series yet.
Conan the Barbarian #6: Killing in the Name of
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 6/106/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 5/105/10