Conan the Barbarian #1 by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan

I’ve never been much into Conan the Barbarian. I’ve read one previous Conan comic, and have seen about fifteen minutes of one of the Arnold Schwarzenegger films. I’ve never read a single Robert E. Howard story either, even though I have a soft spot for pulp. What I’m saying here is that I went into this new Conan series with no real knowledge of the character beyond the fact that he is a muscle bound man with a questionable seen of morals, (in my opinion), and he likes to yell “Crom!” and variations thereon. The reason that I went out of my way to pick up this book at my local comic book shop was because of the artist attached: Becky Cloonan. I’m a big fan of her work, and try to pick up the vast majority of the books she does. She was the reason that I braved my first comic convention, (though I feel it best to use the loose definition of convention when talking about the Toronto Comic Arts Festival since it’s not one of those events full of cosplay and memorabilia, but simply a place to meet artists).  Cloonan is an artist I enjoy for her range of styles both thematically and stylistically. She employs a number of different brush and pen techniques to depict everything from anime inspired action sequences to alt-punk cityscapes to creatures of horrifying macabre. As an added benefit, Brian Wood does the writing duties, and while I usually trade wait (the act of waiting to buy a comic until after the issues are collected into a book) his work, he is pretty high up there on my list of writers I trust explicitly to give me a strong story.

Conan the Barbarian #1 is the first part of the Queen of the Black Coast, which was an original Conan story written by Robert E. Howard, here adapted by Wood and Cloonan. In it we meet Conan, who having caused a disturbance in the city, flees by boat in order to get away (even though Conan later seems shocked when a character mentions that they should run away from a different situation, albeit one with slightly better odds). While on the boat, Conan learns of a pirate queen named Bêlit, who is the scourge of the sea. Conan decides he must fight her to alleviate the danger she poses to those on the sea, although he may have also been smitten by the idea of her (or the fact that she wears very little in the clothing department, this being a Conan story and all). To continue the story we will have to wait for issue two, although there are some details I’ve left out so not to spoil any more of the story if you have a mind to read it.

The whole thing sounds like a straight up little story, and because of the source material I’m sure it’s quite restrained, though I don’t know enough about the stories to know if there is going to be something deeper than what has already been presented. I’m betting on not, but that isn’t really a deal breaker either. Brian Wood is known for his many creator-owned series, including Northlanders, which featured straight up Viking action with a bit of intellect behind it, and while reading this issue of Conan, I get a similar vibe. I’m happy with where the story is going, and I’m looking forward to the next issue. It pretty much delivered exactly what I was expecting plot wise, and thus, I am content.

Art wise, this book is pretty good. It has all of the violent grace that Cloonan can deliver, and every panel flows quite well. The treat is that this story is set mostly on the sea, and for me, my favourite thing for Cloonan to draw is water. Her waves have an icy, dark look to them that oozes atmosphere and really sets the feel for the book. This is definitely the story to start a new Conan series with when you have Becky Cloonan on art duties. The only other artists that come close to drawing water this good are the brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, but I’d still take Cloonan over them.

What took me by surprise in this book was the lettering. Richard Starkings, (with his Comicraft fonts), managed to create a noticeably unique reading experience by evoking a distinctive voice for Conan, and kept the pulpy feel that the book needs to have as an underpinning. The narrative textboxes all use a typewriter font, feeling like Howard was plucking away at this desk while telling the story, and Conan’s speech bubbles have a jagged edge that speak to the character both vocally and emotionally (rough and raw). Conan’s speech bubbles were subtle enough that I didn’t notice it the first time through, but my brain still subconsciously recognized that Conan sounded gruffer and more hard edged when compared to everyone else he spoke with.

This is the first time I have been confronted with a Conan story -that while not perfect, was exceptionally close- which makes me want to continue to read more. The choice of creative team is right up my alley and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for me next month.