REVIEW: Conan The Barbarian No.299

Another great surprise from Marvel this week. I’m used to reading Conan thanks to Duggan’s providing the gateway drug through “Savage Avengers” (the best Avengers title out since “Dark Avengers”). Then after reading more of his team-ups with familiar Marvel characters like in “The Serpent Crown”, I was able to open my eyes to the X-rated ongoing “Cimmerian” title offered by indie-giant Ablaze. My enjoyment of those books have now allowed me to come full circle after one day putting down a Belit book, to pick up and peek into Conan’s core title on it’s 299th installment.

The book began like a Berit book that I put down that initially scared me off of Marvel’s tales of the Cimmerian : at most four pages of narration at the high seas, you couldn’t put me to sleep any faster ! But then Zub woke me up, because intelligently he had Conan sitting in a pow-wow on a ship he assumedly stowed away on, sharing stories with the crew about mating with a Frost Giant’s daughter – which was a tale featured in the Ablaze series! With that, I was ready to sink in to the story and found out that I was better off for not giving up on this month’s Conan.

Conan interacts with two members of the crew : the jovial captain and this one guy who keeps giving Conan the side-eye, saying that Conan is an accursed danger to the ship. As this shipmate continued to meditate, draw runes in the mast, and throw insults at Conan; I felt like I was reading an issue of “Crimson Corsair” , and wondered if Moore got the inspiration of his Watchmen side-tale from Howard, or if Zub was inspired by Moore ? However that answer turned out, I was able to keep interest in the story and was happy for whatever had influenced the events of watching a shipmate go insane, seeing a tropical storm that would make the flooding in Detroit not seem so bad, and witnessing Conan trip out over clouds forming a mysterious rune in the sky – knowing that in the Hyborian Age, magic wasn’t a thing to be praised by the likes of a Conan or a Red Sonja. And no there are no Sonja appearances here, but Belit shows up leading readers into the next chapter as Zub gifts the Conan fanbase a 300th anniversary issue that won’t be as big of a sausage party as this issue was. But the focus on high adrenaline, high testosterone action here barely made me care for the typical trysts I would expect from the X-Rated Conan reads I tend to receive from other companies with a claim to The Cimmerian’s name.

Undoubtedly, I am appreciative of the welcoming nature that Zub’s Conan has, as to where I can drop off on an issue and come back years later and find a story that will eventually entertain and maybe even a storyline that I can latch on to, as I will certainly be on the lookout for the next landmark issue. Not because of the legacy number, but because of the story inside.

Zub’s Conan may not be for everyone every time but at least the welcome sign is always up, and with this issue, taking advantage of this opportunity opened another gateway into the rich Conan lore, that I would highly recommend for anyone looking to be entertained.

Score: 4/5

JIM ZUB (W) • CORY SMITH (A) • Cover by GEOFF SHAW