REVIEW: The Savage Sword of Conan #6
Issue #6 of The Savage Sword of Conan features the conclusion of the lengthy King Conan comic “The Ensorcelled,” a short Conan story by Matthew John, and a new self-contained comic starring Dark Agnes de Chastillon.
Once again penned by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Geof Isherwood, the second half of “The Ensorcelled” takes up the lion’s share of the issue. When we last left King Conan, he was far from home, in Aquilonia’s neighboring kingdom of Brythunia. Despite taking a direct role in the capture of Xyleena, the infamous Witch of Graskaal, Conan finds himself disgusted by the way she was railroaded through a sham trial by his host, King Fabiano. Conan rescues the witch from her impending execution, a bold act that makes him an enemy of the ruthless witchfinders known as the Brethren of the Briar. Despite his distrust of sorcery, Conan throws in his lot with Xyleena, taking up arms against the hateful zealot Father Flail. He soon learns that the Brethren possess body-warping magic of their own, however. Spanning a combined length of 103 pages across two magazine issues, “The Ensorcelled” still feels a little on the long side—as a Savage Sword reader I would rather have multiple self-contained stories and leave serialized adventures to the monthly Conan the Barbarian title—but the second half is stronger than the first. It features some gnarly body horror, exciting combat, and an amusing epilogue. Geof Isherwood’s artwork impresses, and it’s clearly legible in monochrome, which can’t always be said for contributions by artists more accustomed to working in color. With their tangled, thorny masks Isherwood gives the Brethren of the Briar a cool and distinctive appearance, and he’s no slouch when it comes to rendering the gory bits of the tale as well.
Written by occasional Grimdark Magazine contributor Matthew John, “Madness on the Mound” is the first prose story to be included in The Savage Sword of Conan since issue #3’s excerpt from Conan and the Living Plague, published as part of John C. Hocking’s Conan: City of the Dead omnibus. This story takes place in the frozen north, shortly after Conan’s encounter with the demigoddess Atali, the Frost Giant’s Daughter (an episode recounted in Conan the Barbarian #15). Conan and the exhausted remnants of the Æsir war band led by Niord stop by an isolated village hoping for a brief respite. Conan is instantly on edge when he finds the hamlet left undefended, the bulk of the menfolk having left to search for a missing hunting party. A terrified boy rushes back to the village to report an attack by Vanir warriors, and Conan and his comrades set out to meet their foes. Instead of an enemy encampment, however, the men are confronted by a still-glowing fallen star. Fleshy roots have burst from the massive rock, and Conan soon discovers that the tendrils terminate in the bodies of the dead Vanir, wending through them and animating them like grotesque puppets. What follows is a bloody and grim little tale that emphasizes the horror aspect commonly found in Sword & Sorcery. It feels very much a companion to the creepy fantasy-horror stories collected by John in To Walk on Worlds and his contribution to Old Moon Quarterly, Vol. 7. The editing could have been a little tighter—“spore” is used when the word “spoor” is intended, and “below” instead of “bellow”—but John packs quite a bit of adventure in two short pages. John’s portrayal of Conan feels authentic, and supporting character Niord also has some good character moments.
The issue is rounded out by “The Head of St. Denis,” written by Michael Downs and illustrated by Piotr Kowalski. It focuses on 16th century French swordswoman Agnes de Chastillon. Dark Agnes hasn’t had the best track record in Titan Comics; a modified version of her origin story appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #4 with the baffling choice of anime style artwork, and she also had a fairly unsatisfying role in the Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone crossover event miniseries. This brief comic is almost a character study for Dark Agnes. Separated from her companion Etienne and pursued by enemies, she stumbles through a wooden marsh until she encounters an apparition of the decapitated martyr St. Denis of Paris. The episode feels a bit like a scene from a Hellboy comic (indeed, Kowalski’s artwork looks like a blend of Mike Mignola and woodcut prints) and not much happens beyond the reader getting a sense of Agnes’ fierce determination, but this is the best depiction the character has gotten in Titan Comics to date. I don’t envy modern day creators trying to work with Dark Agnes. She only appeared in two unpublished Robert E. Howard stories and a fragment, and there isn’t much substance to the character beyond “talented swordswoman who rejects patriarchy.” Maybe this episode will launch better stories for Dark Agnes in the future, but if the intent is to promote a Howardian heroine I think Conan’s former companions Valeria or Bêlit would make more interesting protagonists.
While it feels like creators continue to struggle with Dark Agnes and I would’ve preferred the page count be devoted to shorter standalone stories rather than sprawling multi-issue epics, The Savage Sword of Conan #6 marks a strong conclusion to the black and white magazine’s first year at Titan Comics. The artwork was excellent throughout and action scenes abundant. I appreciate seeing prose stories appear alongside the comics, and despite its impressive brevity Matthew John’s “Madness on the Mound” was the highlight of the issue.
Read The Savage Sword of Conan #6 by Jason Aaron (W), Geof Isherwood (A), Matthew John (W), Michael Downs (W), Piotr Kowalski (A)Read on AmazonThe post REVIEW: The Savage Sword of Conan #6 appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.
