Sold out and on to its second printing, critically-acclaimed, written by one of the most well-regarded talents in comics... Conan #1 doesn't really need my praise. But it's getting it anyway, because this is a damn fine debut, whether you're an old school Conan fan glad to see the character returning to the comics page or an Ultimates reading fan who just loves the notion of classic fantasy with a violent edge. Busiek's first story brings a 16-year-old Conan out of his Cimmerian home and into the realm of the Norsemen, playing up the character's gruff outsider nature but also hitting on his strong principles that make him a pretty good hero for a lawless fantasy age, and even setting up a big goal for the traveling barbarian. With Cary Nord, Thomas Yeates and Dave Stewart turning in stunning digitally-painted work that evokes classic fantasy illustrators, Conan takes readers into a completely different world and makes them want to see more.
Busiek's writing, while appreciated by modern fans, is very different from what seems popular with the mainstream right now. Dialogue-driven decompression is not the order of the day here. Indeed, while the story starts off with third person narration presumably drawn from Robert E. Howard's stories, Busiek gets to the action pretty fast. The first time we see Conan, he's cleaving a guy in half to rescue a woman from a no doubt horrible rape and murder. Bang. You know everything you need to know about the character, right off the bat. Noble badass. Three pages. That's impressive economy of storytelling, and thanks to the narrative captions and Nord and Stewart's artwork, the atmosphere is established just as quickly.
Of course, after that, Busiek and Nord don't let up. Conan's battle with the Vanirmen is terrific stuff, and as he cuts his way through a band of well-armed raiders, we are also treated to dialogue that reveals more of Conan's personality and background, notably his disdain for the cowardly tactics of the Vanir. His disdain for the Aesir who are quick to assume the worst about him, and his quick turnaround to becoming a ball-busting joker around the fire with them when things are straightened out, are other sides of his character. The result? A well-rounded character, not just a battle monster but someone who can be fun to watch and who has cunning and intelligence as well. Busiek's Conan, which is closer to Howard's Conan than the picture I had in my mind thanks to the films, is a Conan I want to read about.
Then there's the artwork. I'm a bit skeptical of digital coloring in general, and there are some panels where even Stewart's skillful coloring sort of blends together without more distinctive inks separating out Nord's lines, but in general, the look really works for this book. The resulting artwork has a lush, painted look to it that gives the sense of the frozen and yet beautiful landscape that Conan finds himself in, and Nord and Yeates do a fantastic job of portraying the youth of Conan while also showing him to be shrewd and intelligent beyond his years. The imaginative portrayal of Hyperborea are also crucial to telling the reader why it is regarded as such a fable, and why it would be worth it for Conan to venture from his home to find it.
Just as their Chronicles of Conan reprints have been a perfect marriage of talent and design, so too is Dark Horse's first Conan issue. Truthfully, I'd rather have had Cary Nord on covers instead of Linsner, but the cover is fine, and the rest of the production is top-notch. A four-panel strip by Jim and Ruth Keegan sheds a little light on the life of Robert E. Howard, even as Mark Finn's biography of Howard sheds even more light on his early, pre-Conan days. This is a take on Conan that should resonate for both purists who love the character and those who have never read the character before.
