Conan the Barbarian #2

Marvel Comics

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Mahmud A. Asrar

Marvel’s Conan series continues with the titular hero fighting against – and later with – the Picts.

The Picts are a savage lot – vicious hunters that cause headaches to the ‘civilized world.’ They are not unlike Conan and his Cimmerians, but he still holds prejudice towards them. As Conan is fighting off some Pict hunters, they are all attacked by the Ghost Snakes. They viciously eat the hunters, but Conan manages to hold his ground before finally succumbing to their venom. Other Pict tribesmen come across him, but he is spared only due to the intervention of a Pict Shaman. He convinced his fellow tribesmen that Conan was, in fact, a gift from the Gods and that he would help them in battling the Ghost Snakes and their Herd Leader.

Conan, still owing the Shaman his life, reluctantly accepts his plea for help.

The Ups

Right of the bat- Mahmud Asrar’s art is just fantastic. His style fits the book perfectly and the colouring by Matthew Wilson further elevates the whole ordeal. Everything is crisp and clean, with some really cool designs, and the action scenes look fantastic. Sure, looking at the cover sure makes you wonder just how awesome it would be if Esad Ribic was handling the interior art as well, but Asrar is definitely a worthy replacement.

There are some dialogue-heavy sequences in the middle of the book that might feel a bit tiresome at first, but they end up serving the story well and help provide some much-needed context, especially for those that aren’t that familiar with the Conan mythos. As for the rest of the book – the story is mostly told through captions which tell the story of Conan and the Picts overcoming their differences and prejudices in their fight against the Ghost Snakes. It is obvious that Conan has really grown as a character by the end of the book, which is a fine accomplishment for a 20-or-so page story.

The Downs

Readers eager to see the continuation of the story from the first issue might be a bit disappointed. This story barely touches on that cliffhanger. It does touch in it a bit, but barely. 

And that’s it.

Verdict

The whole book is fairly reminiscent of Aaron’s long-running take on Thor – primarily his young Thor stories. This isn’t that surprising, seeing that Aaron’s been doing Thor for well over five years and the two characters fit the same archetype – battle-hungry Mr. Olympia runner-ups. To be perfectly clear, this is in no way a criticism – I am a huge fan of Aaron’s Thor, and his Young Thor stories are great fun. Conan is just a more violent version of that. It’s also worth mentioning that two other people on this book – Esad Ribic and Matthew Wilson – have both put in a lot of work on the various Jason Aaron-led Thor books.

Overall, the book is fantastic. The art is beautiful and the writing has got me hooked. Looking forward to each and every new issue the team pumps out.