Conan and the Songs of the Dead in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Aug 29, 2015 Quentin Wallace rated it really liked it

Lansdale and Truman are one of my favorite comic creative teams. This is the team that revitalized Jonah Hex for Vertigo, and now they turn their attention to Conan.

The art is fantastic, as Truman is a great artist. I also enjoyed the story. The biggest problem is Conan himself, who comes across a little out-of-character. He's usually a grim barbarian, but in this case he's a cracking a few too many jokes. He's always had a sense of humor, but not quite to the level of this story. His sidekick i ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2023 Jason Waltz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, conan, heroic, fantastical, awesome-characters, graphics, favorite-authors, fun, s-s, reh

Loved this! Spectacularly done, the epitome and color of S&S, nailing all four of the wild motivations of sex, violence, drink, and treasure! Dark sorcery, gods, and deeds. Humor and horror. It's all here in bushels. Well done for a mature audience. Also absolutely enjoyed the end section from Tim Truman containing conceptual designs and illuminating discourse on his characters, especially of interest is his study of the faces of 1920s and '30s prizefighters in preparation for sketching Conan's. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2013 Morgan rated it did not like it

More of a parody and a bad one at that. The story starts with Conan running down and eating a dog in the Stygian desert. He quickly finds the Zamoran thief, Alvazar, buried to his neck in the sand. Conan saves Alvazar from execution by temple guards after which he is told the thief’s story. A wizard hired Alvazar to steal a jeweled penis from an idol, which is needed to acquire some book that can bequeath power. Conan takes the jeweled penis stolen from an idol as payment for saving Alvazar’s li More of a parody and a bad one at that. The story starts with Conan running down and eating a dog in the Stygian desert. He quickly finds the Zamoran thief, Alvazar, buried to his neck in the sand. Conan saves Alvazar from execution by temple guards after which he is told the thief’s story. A wizard hired Alvazar to steal a jeweled penis from an idol, which is needed to acquire some book that can bequeath power. Conan takes the jeweled penis stolen from an idol as payment for saving Alvazar’s life. They encounter a djinn during which which Conan has sex at the end of the issue. Issue #2 starts with a fight between a naked Conan and a horde of mummies during which Conan says, “What can I say? I’m playful.” This is where problems really become apparent with this story. One homicidal reanimated mummy could have sufficed. The effect is lessened with Conan cracking jokes while dismembering an army of mummies. Then Conan fights a giant mummy, which he dispatches in short order. Remember Conan’s battle with Khosatrel Khel in “The Devil in Iron?” Conan had a tough time taking out that metallic giant. After defeating the giant mummy, Conan procures a ring-stone needed to procure the book. Later in the same issue, a caravan that Conan and Alvazar joined is attacked by a group of demon sent by the sorcerer.
Issue #3 opens with Conan, Alvazar, and the caravan guards quickly killing the supernatural minions while Alzavar states, “Oh, I’m so drunk, Conan. You think I’m drunk. I sure feel drunk.” After this fight, Conan meets the Amazon, Ohala who is on some mission for an order she belongs to. Issue #4 all of a sudden has the caravan in a forest and a battle with Picts! Somehow the meadows of western Shem were bypassed. The party travels in an underground passage to find the book they were seeking. There is a race of troglodytes similar to the Worms of the Earth who guard the book. Alvazar comments “A bit of light reading for the worms?” The issue ends with the torches going out with the Worms closing in on Conan, Alvazar, and Ohala. The fifth and last issue has the trio retrieving the book of power, which will kill anyone who touches it. The wizard summons up a force of the un-dead to attack losing an arm in the process to Conan. Ohala uses the book to bring forth The Black God by using a dismembered hand of the Wizard to touch the book. The Black God eats the Wizard and destroys the un-dead fighters. Ohala goes power mad and Conan kills her. The Black God is dealt with by using the dead Wizard’s hand to crumple up the page on the book used to summon the Black God. The story ends with Alvazar commenting “I haven’t had that good a time since I accidentally set my leg on fire and beat it out with a mallet.”
This comic book mini-series is infuriating. The emphasis is on wrong things. First- action is reduced to a caricature. There is little sense of real danger as supernatural menace after menace is quickly thrown in and as speedily dealt with.
Second- Conan does not travel with sidekicks. Alvazar should have died a prolonged and hideous death as soon as possible. The character of Ohala is just a female with a sword and a name. No personality and no motivation are given. We all remember Valeria and Belit from classic Robert E. Howard stories as he cared enough to sketch some personality. Sloppiness is present when all of a sudden the scenery changes from Stygian desert to the Pictish Wildnerness. Did Joe R. Lansdale bother to look at a map of the Hyborian Age when he wrote the script for this series? This sort of thing borders on contempt for the source material and for the readers. Conan himself has no personality outside of a few lame jokes. There is no sense of personal vendetta or vengeance between Conan and the wizard that you get in “Hour of the Dragon” or “The Scarlet Citadel.”
...more

1 like · Like · see review