Savage Sword of Conan #6: Simple Fun

I was very genuinely surprised how much I liked this issue by writer Meredith Finch! This series has been a bit hit or miss for me but this is by far the best issue yet with virtually no complaints. The issue is a fairly by the books one off in the style of a fair few stories in the latter half of Savage Sword’s long 235 issue run. I think the reason this issue succeeds like it does is the simplicity of the tale told, at no point does it try to reinvent the wheel, it drops a plausible scenario where Conan might find himself the victim of some vengeance, and the fallout from that. It doesn’t attempt to carve out a place in his mythos, nor does it attempt to set up some absurd arch nemesis who will be forgotten as soon as the next writer comes on. It just takes us to the root of what makes Conan great, a friggin bloodbath! I gotta say most weeks I read through my books once, sometimes twice if they’re really good, I have (at the time of writing it) read this issue FOUR times and enjoyed it all four. What gives?

I really liked the art as well by Luke Ross, it was reminiscent of a bunch of Joe Jusko covers from the late 80’s or so, very high praise! I thought the fight scene (which is like 70% of the issue) was a blast and the action looked really good! I loved the reactions of the princess as well and the final twist when Conan ran away was such flawless misdirection that wouldn’t be as impactful with a different artist.