Wonder Woman/Conan

Wonder Woman/Conan #1-6

by Gail Simone

She is Diana of Themyscira, warrior princess of the Amazons. He is Conan the Cimmerian, barbarian scourge of a dozen civilizations. Alone, each is unstoppable. But what happens when these two heroes meet face to face?

 Dark and malicious magic has driven Wonder Woman and Conan together, stripping Diana of her memories and chaining her destiny to this dark-haired and dangerous stranger. Slavers and gladiators, pirates and predators, an army of witches poised to conquer the world on wings of wickedness: these are the foes the Amazon and the Cimmerian must join together to defeat if they are to restore her rightful name, regain their freedom and save their lands from darkness.

 But for these mighty warriors, passion runs hot and deep. Will a search for love and a lust for vengeance guide them to their final reckoning with the evil out to destroy them, or tear them apart before they can crush their enemies once and for all?

 Find out in Wonder Woman/Conan! Written by superstar Gail Simone (Birds of Prey) with stunning art from Aaron Lopresti (Justice League International), it’s a thrilling fantasy epic starring two of the biggest icons of adventure the comics page and the silver screen have ever seen! Collects Wonder Woman/Conan #1-6.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Dc Comics, Wonder Woman, Superheroes, Fiction

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 19, 2018

About the author

Gail Simone is a comic book writer well-known for her work on Birds of Prey (DC), Wonder Woman (DC), and Deadpool (Marvel), among others, and has also written humorous and critical commentary on comics and the comics industry such as the original "Women in Refrigerators" website and a regular column called "You'll All Be Sorry".

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the hell out of it!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cross overs can be a mess. Thankfully Gaile Simone does a creditable job with this one.

Conan meets Wonder Woman, who has lost her memory and isn't fully powered (who'da thunk it, huh?), in a gladiatorial pit and thinks she's some random girl from his past named "Yanna". They go on adventures to recover Diana's memories, convince Conan she isn't Yanna and then rescues aforementioned Yanna with Diana. That's the story. Look this isn't Tolkien but it is entertaining and the artwork is good. Nothing to rave about, but a fun Wonder Woman-Conan what-if story, with the Corvidae being a nice enemy and a decent enough story. This was fun and that's why comics are fun.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simone keeps it simple and delivers one of the best inter company crossovers of the last several years. Conan comes across a woman fighting in the gladiator pits who looks like a lost love of his childhood. When he attempts to free her, the two of them are chained together and forced to fight. When they refuse, it sets off a bunch of adventures while Wonder Woman tries to regain her memory.

This was much better than it had any reason to be. When I heard they were teaming up a barbarian and a character who's basically a god, I wondered how that would work. By leaving that part out until over halfway through the book, Simone makes it work. By that time I was enjoying Conan and Diana's chained adventures together enough that I didn't really even care. Aaron Lopresti delivers some of his best looking art to date. I'm not sure why DC doesn't put him back on a regular book.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good omg!

I love the way the whole story unfolds as we see the two meet and he thinks she is Yanna, his childhood love and she can't remember who she was/is and well a gladiatorial fight in that age and I love the way it happens, the flashbacks to Yanna and Conan's love days and in the present them fighting multiple threats and ultimately the Corvidae and I love the way this threat is billed up and it connects wonderfully and when the Amazons come in and a final moment reached, it will be an epic story of revelations and unity and two people from two different ages falling in love all over again.

Its an epic fantasy story and I freaking love it and yeah it has usual comic tropes and thats why it works so well, I love the way the narration hits and it makes it all the more epic, the writer gets the Conan-speak perfectly and his chemistry with WW here is just too good! Plus amazing art again by Lopresti, so yeah a definite recommend from me!

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid story, but nothing truly special or memorable. Still an enjoyable read though, and with some excellent artwork.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good crossover/team-up, with somewhat above-average art from Aaron Lopresti and excellent writing by Gail Simone. Conan seems a bit too much in touch with his feelings and Diana begins as a tabula rasa, but Simone makes it work by adding a pair fascinating antagonists and building the reveals with excellent pacing and occasional humor. The crossover idea is always popular, and sometimes it seems that they just want to be as outlandish as possible. Remember X-Men on the Enterprise? Is there anyone that Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne didn't cross paths with? Why was there never a Herbie-the-Love-Bug joins the Transformers? Why didn't Beetle Bailey get assigned to Easy Company? The possibilities are endless, and some of the most ridiculous ones that come to mind have already been done. It's a hit-or-miss concept, as we have seen many times over the years, but this is one of the better ones.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought, when I found this on the hoopla virtual shelf, that it would be Just A So-So Team Up.

Nope.

This was a Really Good Book.

You might not think it would work, an amnesiac "island beauty" abandoned in the Hyborean Age, teaming with a notorious thief and corsair, but Conan always brings a little frontier wisdom (and a bottomless appetite for beer) to mellow out the tension. They have acquired nemeses that even the gods fear (Diana's fault, but you know Conan -- always a magnet for the eldritch horrors).

There it is -- any more and you couldn't enjoy it for yourselves. But I wouldn't read the last page -- it definitely tookthe book from a 5-star event to 4-stars.

Remember, you were warned.

[Benji's Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although every comic book crossover wants to be a Batman vs Predator, more often than not, they become a Superman vs. The Terminator. But very rarely will you get something that perhaps rivals the greatest crossovers throughout comic history. This is one of them.

I loved this tale. Let it be known my only ounce of Conan I've experienced was with 1981's Conan the Barbarian starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (I plan on watching the sequel later this week). But other than that, I've only CONSIDERED checking out the original poems and stories from creator, Robert E. Howard. I have no idea how faithful this take on Conan is to the books, but I can assure you, he wasn't at all made into a joke and that this whole story was pretty much a Conan tale. Wonder Woman does play a huge part, of course, but I'd consider this a Conan story overall.

Conan is captured right at the start and finds our Wonder Woman also captured with no memory of who she is. Conan sees her and recognizes her as perhaps his first love, long lost and thought dead. The signs are all there, Diana and Conan's childhood friend both come from female only tribes, they have the same eyes, etc. It really works well as a love story/mystery. The writer did a fantastic job with it, so not only was Conan trying to figure out if Diana was that girl, but we, the reader, also tries to piece it together. I really grew attatched to these characters. A fantastic story, followed by some good art too.

Unfortunately, (but also thankfully), this story serves as one of Conan's last adventures before being bought by Marvel. I say thankfully because I truly believe it ended on a high note. I have heard Conan's own comic book run left off on a cliffhanger, but I'm really happy this book got to exist before the rights were sold.

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good! I'm glad that not only have comic book crossovers have made a huge comeback but they have gotten so much better in quality since the 90s but this one goes above and beyond! So the story is Conan goes to the arena one day in his world when he see's a woman fighting in the arena which he thinks is a girl from his past but actually its Wonder Woman and from there the two of them get thrust into an adventure which I won't spoil. I will just come out and say it, the story is f****** good for a crossover! We all know the common crossover tropes: they meet, they fight over a misunderstanding, they realise theirs a villain bigger then them and they team up: the end. To me this is fine, if I read a comic like this I just want it to be a fun crossover, I don't expect a great story. What I like about this one, is how much Gail Simone deviated from this and delivered a very well thought-out, well written story. I'm sorry what? While some of those tropes I mentioned earlier are sort of here, the story is so much more then what I expected; I mean they spend the first 3 issues mainly just building on Diana and Conan's dynamic and then connection the two of them grow, because of that by the time any action happens there's so much weight behind it all that it actually makes sense narratively.

Artwork as well is very good! Otherwise though this was a great crossover, I would give it 4 stars, but since it delivers so much more then what I was expecting it, gets a full recommendation from me!

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reason I read this was because Simone wrote it. I'm a bit behind in catching up on her complete bibliography, which was factor in reading this, but I'm not a big Conan fan (read one book ever of REH's most famous creation). Team-ups like this require a lot of suspending one's sense of disbelief, and...

Frankly Simone kind of failed at that at the beginning. To give her a lot of credit she makes roughly the 35% of the tale so entertaining I went from finishing this because of stubbornness to completing the tale because I liked it.

As both characters have mythological gods to deal with that is how they are brought together. For me, the story improves greatly with the reveal of the god's plan, and the restoration of Diana's memory (and some fun with more Amazons being added to the tale).

I would suggest this for those who are fans of crossovers, and I'm not certain if hard core fans of either character would go for this tale.

[Malum · Rating 1 out of 5]

Conan is turned from warrior to social justice warrior. He is overly sensitive and even suggests that Wonder Woman throw up on a man that says he wants his wife to cook and clean. There is a place for discussing those issues, but a story that takes place in the ancient Hyborean age isn't it.
Besides that, the characters seemed to have random mood swings that came out of nowhere, the plot was pretty ridiculous, and the ending was just terrible.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a potentially very interesting crossover premise, it's just that Wonder Woman is outrageously too powerful for the Hyborian Age, necessitating a rather weak amnesia crutch that doesn't really even explain how she ended up here in the first place. And then getting Conan involved required bringing up a yet another implausible bit of coincidence, inventing a new concept of universal echoes out of nowhere that doesn't really fit the story otherwise, and reducing a perfectly fine action girl into a damsel-in-distress who apparently never got around doing all those things she dreamed to do. So the story's rather botched itself already, at both ends of the crossover. At least they have some chemistry and work well together, but since Diana is amnesiac for most of it, I'm not sure how much it counts.

The villains - the crow witches and the slaver both - are just one-dimensional assholes. I feel that the story's trying much too hard to make the reader hate them, with their smug gloating and absolute lack of reedeeming qualities, because there's nothing else to them at all. Even at the end I'm not sure what the crows' deal was: what did they want with this whole thing? What was their great game plan?

Art was functional, but it can't really save a bad story. Overall this one was just a miss.

[Travis Duke · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A fine story combining Wonder woman and Conan and I appreciate they kept the setting in ancient times as well. I thought the story was pretty good but could have been better considering these iconic heroes. Wonder woman has lost her memories and Conan is convinced she is a long lost girl he knew. They team up to tackle the mystery of her memories and Conan sort of just tags along. They built up a nice back story for Conan but I just wish it was more, it all revolves around the long lost girl Yanna who he thinks is Wonder woman. The action is there for sure, lots of good fights. The art is good as well, consistent and I loved the borders for the panels. Its worth checking out for sure, its fun to read.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gail Simone can do no wrong, methinks. She cleaves to the well-trodden path of Conanic Canon, and also injects a version of Wonder Woman suitably powered-down to be a true peer and boon companion to the Cimmerian.

Plus, creepy/sexy villainesses! What's not to like?

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was good as far as a crossover goes, but at the same time neither character seemed quite themselves. This seemed like a Wonder Woman that wasn't set in the DCU but more of a strictly mythical type character. And this was more of a kinder, gentler Conan.

That being said, maybe it's better for crossovers like this if the characters are tweaked a little. These type of stories are rarely considered canon anyway, and if handling them like "Elseworlds" stories make them better, I'm all for it.

If you can get past the slight differences in the characterizations, there's a good story here with good art. It really was much better than I was expecting. This was more of a straight forward crossover with little in the way of fan service which can sometimes get int he way of the story. (In other words, they didn't constantly toss out easter eggs just because. While I do love the easter eggs in these type of crossovers, this one worked fine without them.)

Overall a good read, and a crossover that did come across as different rather than the "fight, then team up" formula that was so common in these type of events. Although now that I think about it, that's sort of exactly what happened. Well, at least it was done in a different way!

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay and a little disappointing.

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonder Woman finds herself in Conan's time/world with no memory of who she is and how she got there. But Conan believes he knows her from his past. Together they try to defeat the Corvidae, who are crow goddesses who want Conan and Wonder Woman to fight.

I really enjoyed this book. I think Gail Simone took the right approach by placing WW in Conan's world with no memory and extremely weakened, as this puts them on a more even level. One thing I was thinking when first picking up the book was the fact that WW is so much more powerful than Conan. I mean, Conan is no slouch, but c'mon, WW would wipe the floor with him. But Simone found a great way to make it more even, then gradual re-power WW as the series goes on. And the plot itself isn't anything extremely deep - which fits well with the characters. It's more of a barbarian epic mixed in with a bit of Superhero zaniness. It's a good approach to melding the two worlds these characters come from.

I also like the narration aspect of the book, as it reminded me of a Conan epic that has dialogue that is a bit lofty and sounds legendary. The tone is one of an ancient tale about two warriors, and Simone captures this feeling perfectly. The art really adds to the tone as well, as its a clean style that looks great both in action scenes and stationary scenes as well. I kind of wish Derrick Robertson would have done the interiors along with those awesome covers, but Aaron Lopresti really knocked it out of the park all the same.

This is a highly enjoyable "elseworld's-ish" tale about two warriors seeking different but intertwined goals. Definitely check this out if you are a fan of either character.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to get some Gail Simone comic books as she was being nice on twitter again and I thought they would be nice and comforting to read while I had covid. This was fun. It was great to see Wonder Woman holding her own with Conan and he wasn't at all obnoxious in it. Not as much fun as the Red Sonja but still enjoyable.

[Shawna Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weak Villain-itis

What's to say about this one? Wonder Woman has lost her memory and wound up in Conan's neck of the timeline. How? Why? Uh, magic.

So she and Conan are grouchy warriors killin' fools and getting enslaved (welcome to Conan's world) yet it really shies away from what men in that world would do to Wonder Woman if they had her helpless and in chains. Seriously, they threaten it once or twice but mostly treat her like a guy. Like, are you blind? You even had her unconscious. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't WANT that to happen to Diana but some explanation of why these slaving, gladiator fighting, human sacrificing, brutal, perverted savages DIDN'T do that would be realistically expected. And don't say fear. They beat her more than once.

Other than that and the nitpick I hinted at at the start, however, its a good story. Conan shows some emotion, there's good humor, brisk action, etc. It wouldn't make a good movie, per se, but a decent episode of a tv show.

Except for the villains. Meet the Corvidae. They're, uh, crow people...or witches...or ancient demons that predate man...or something? Whatever, they have magic powers and eat people. Oh and they have an army of the dead because who doesn't? Their motives for causing all this (somehow) are that they like to gamble and want to place bets on Wonder Woman and Conan fighting. Yep, that's it, and they TELL Diana and Conan this as well as that they plan to eat the loser's corpse (because they eat dead people). Surprisingly this does not lead to the heroes consenting and instead they resist at every turn. I know, shocker right? Also, and sorry Conan fans, but what the hell kind of bet is that? She's a goddess who can fly, lift cars and take on Gods. He's a muscly guy with a sword. Yes he slays monsters pretty well but compared to an actual superhero? He's lucky Wonder Woman didn't kill him by accident because she didn't know her own strength...which, by the way, is really inconsistent. At one point she can't break chains and at another she can lift huge objects with ease.

So, yeah, it's fun and funny. I got a good belly laugh at one panel where Diana reacts to Conan callously stealing and taking her drinking. Just don't think about it too hard.

[Seizure Romero · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm debating whether to give this one star or two. Probably going with two because it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't very good. It did some things that piss me off, though, so I have to think about it.

*****
UPDATE 2020-10-20 (forgot I'd left this un-rated):

I believe if you enjoyed Marvel's Conan from the 70s, there's a good chance you'll hate this.

I've decided on one star because there are just too many things that irritated me, and I found no reasonable justification for them to exist in the first place (other than re-writing a character to fit your story).

Others have already noted problems with the villains-- they're extremely powerful, portrayed as nigh-omniscient, yet apparently clueless. Agreed.

Off-camera=out of sight...bullshit. I hate it in movies and it's not ok anywhere else. A few times throughout the narrative dudes are just walking up and surprising Conan. In the middle of fighting multiple opponents, maybe; Conan drunk, maybe; a woman he just slept with betraying him by clunking him on the head, probably... but not just sitting in a jail cell FACING THE DOOR. The first time, Wonder Woman is looking right at him while some enforcer clubs him on the back of the head. Like they didn't hear the door being unlocked, opened, and three people walking in. That's just bad storytelling.

The dialogue-- that is not Conan. The dialogue here reads more like Buffy. Emo-Conan does not exist. If he does now, he shouldn't.

The whole Yanna/Diana thing was just silly.

I don't care if you read the original Robert E. Howard stories, the 1970s Marvel Comics tales, or later versions--the last page is hate-able regardless.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonder Woman and Conan are two of my most favorite characters in comics so putting these two together caught my eye. But I did have certain reservations. How could the Amazon world of Wonder Woman work in the brutal, masculine world of Conan? How would a Princess relate to a Barbarian? Would they like each other or hate each other? But after reading a few pages I glad to say that Gail Simone assuaged all my concerns. She knows both characters and their worlds and it shows. Though this more a Conan story that a Wonder Woman tale - it's set in Conan's world - neither one suffers to accommodate the other. Simone's strength has always been in her characters and this is evident on every page and the artwork perfectly compliments her writing. The story is not exceptional but it is action packed and the device she uses to bring these two together is plausible. This yarn is action-packed and believable at the same time. It was an enjoyable read that could have continued in my opinion but, sadly, the series has finished.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It's a bit of a different Conan take, but I decided to treat it mentally like an Elseworlds tale so I could not nitpick and enjoy it. The artwork is great, and I especially love the early Diana outfit in the way it alludes to her costume while being something else. The story is decent, with a good combination of fighting and quiet moments. Wonder Woman and Conan play off well together, even if Conan is a little more -- I don't want to say toned down or gentile, but maybe nicer? -- than usual. Good chemistry. I'd totally ship it for fun.

It's not perfect, but it is a strong crossover that allows both stars to shine without feeling unbalanced. Because let's be real, in a normal situation, there wouldn't be a contest, as Wonder Woman has superpowers. But it works, and I liked it and would read another crossover with these two.

[Michael Moe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cross-over I Would Never in a Million Years Have Thought to Demand! But when I saw it on the library shelf, I was intrigued and just had to check it out. After reading it, it's a cross-over I probably still wouldn't demand. While I like a lot of Gail Simone's work, this wasn't her best. Her characterization of Conan felt off to me, and both Conan and Wonder Woman spend too much of the story just being passively pushed around by events. While it was an entertaining enough way to pass 90 minutes and I don't regret the time spent on it, I don't feel like I would have lost anything if I'd missed this and used that 90 minutes for something else.

[Mohamed Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Fun and entertaining Read
The art was exploding through the pages, the story and Plot wasn't so good.

[Pturingan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while for me to get into it as I was a bit annoyed at the two leads acting quite out of character at the start of the series. I guess Wonder Woman's case is explainable because she was under some kind of spell but sensitive Conan really seemed wrong for me. Things get much better in the second half of the miniseries when the two start to kick ass and there's a good mix of humor and violence which one expects in a series starring these two characters

[Theo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a struggle. It took me forever to read, which was disappointing given both author and artist are usually do great.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Odotin hieman enemmän kahden legendaarisen soturin kohtaamiselta. Piirtojälki on upeaa, kohtaukset hienoja ja aukeamalla on monta upeaa, pitkään ihasteltavaa ruutua. Juoni tempaa välillä mukaansa ja välillä huomaa pettyvänsä.

Spoilers ahead!

Eniten minua tökki juonessa se, että Corvidae jumalattaret ovat raahanneet Ihmenaisen jollain taikakonstilla Shamarin kaupunkiin taistelemaan Conania vastaan. Lila ja Anive jumalattaret ovat siskoksia ja ennen kaikkea mahdottomia uhkapelaajia. He ovat lyöneet vetoa keskenään siitä, kumpi sotureista selviytyy kaksinkamppailusta hengissä. Harmi vain, että Conan ja Ihmenainen tykästyvät toisiinsa.

Toinen kuvittelee toisen olevan kauan kadoksissa ollut ensirakkaus ja toinen... vastaa muistamattomuuksissaan ilmeisesti lihan herättämään himoon. Juu, ei tästä tämän enempää.

[Shyue Chou Chuang · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a shambles. Why did they think such a cross-over would be a good idea? Wonder Woman has her own fully fleshed out world as does Conan in his world of Hyboria. In any case, this very contrived tale has a Woman Woman who has lost her memory team up with Conan against two generic magical enemies and an even more generic tale with a finale involving Wonder Woman's companions. The ending is pretty much as anyone can predict. There is also a tangent about Conan's childhood girlfriend! Oh dear. There is even a final cringeworthy scene of Conan in a suit in the modern day. The artwork is generic but competent, nothing inspirational.

[Estanteriadecho · Rating 4 out of 5]

En Wonder Woman/Conan viviremos un crossover donde la pareja protagonizará una lucha sin igual que hará temblar los cimientos del universo de Conan. Un título que me ha devuelto el espíritu aventurero y renovado mi interés en el género de espada y brujería. Reseña completa: https://laestanteriadecho.blogspot.co...

[Jason Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars