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| CONAN THE SLAYER No. 2, August 2016 |
It would certainly seem clear from the plot to Issue Two of “Conan
The Slayer” that Cullen Bunn evidently sees the titular character’s tales as
having “always been a fusion of sword and sorcery and horror.” For whilst this
second instalment of his “Blood In His Wake” narrative primarily focuses upon
Krylo’s ambitious plot to murder his father and become the leader of some
Kozaki tribesmen, it also features the disconcerting presence of a skeletal
Hellspawn who literally decays before the readers’ eyes, and a pair of
fantastically formidable-looking sea trolls who seemingly ‘truss up’ their
victims as “a totem of some sort” in order for their stench to hang “so heavy
in the air, it feels as though it slickens my skin like sweat!”
Sadly however, the simple inclusion of these differing
elements within the self-same twenty-two page periodical is not necessarily
conducive to creating a smooth-flowing storyline, and despite the North
Carolina-born writer’s intention to “bring those sensibilities to this series
in a big way”, he does so in such a choppy, haphazard manner, that arguably
many of this publication’s audience probably felt almost as if they’d missed out
on an issue somewhere. It’s certainly seems rather odd that this comic inexplicably
starts with Taraslan’s ambitious brother bargaining with the cadaverous Ghul over
the Cimmerian’s murder during the middle of the night, when the series’ previous
edition ended with Conan simply being freed and his “cunning enemies”
slaughtered… And just how has the Kozaki Hetman’s youngest son managed to additionally
barter with the Turanian cutthroats in order for them to kill some of his
father’s scouts and “plant the tracks that led” the former Zuagir warlord into
an ambush?
What Bunn’s narrative does appear to be good at though, is
depicting plenty of Robert E. Howard-inspired pulse-pounding action once Krylo’s
trap is sprung halfway through the magazine, and the barbarian’s party start to
fall beneath a flurry of deadly arrows. Indeed, Sergio Davila’s breakdowns,
which up until this juncture have arguably been competent at best, suddenly
leap into dynamic life and quite breathlessly convey all the savagery of the
protagonist’s fight for his life as he bravely charges straight into his aghast
foes, dismembering and beheading them as he implacably goes; “I had thought you
were more hunters sniffing after me… But it sounds as if you had another victim
in mind. No matter -- you’ve found me nonetheless!”
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| Script: Cullen Bunn, Artist: Sergio Davila, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh |
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