Savage Sword Of Conan #1 - Marvel Comics

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN No. 1, April 2019

“Heralding the return of another classic Conan title” in February 2019, it was probably easy for many of this comic’s audience to see just why “Marvel Worldwide” would tell them to “ready your battle axe” in preparation for Gerry Duggan’s sprawling five-part narrative “The Cult Of Koga Thun”. For whilst the New York-based publisher’s pre-print publicity would have them believe that the Cimmerian “isn’t a prisoner for long” aboard the slave ship Ouroboros, the brawling Barbarian doesn’t actually manage to successfully flee from his captors until near this bloated thirty-page periodical’s end, and then its readers need to steadfastly endure an incredibly long-winded multiple splash-page sequence which depicts the exhausted escapee opening a heavy box which “did not contain coin or jewels…”

Of course, that isn’t to say that Issue One of “Savage Sword Of Conan” contains a sedentary-paced storyline which is devoid of action. Far from it in fact, as the titular character does make a brutal break for freedom just as soon as he gains consciousness from having been cast adrift on the ocean five days after a “calamitous sea battle”, and brains any pirate foolish enough to get in his way. Yet this explosive injection of pulse-pounding fisticuffs, which begins with “the Marvel warrior” hurling a metal plate of gruel at the head of the hold’s guard, frustratingly doesn’t occur until a third of the way into the book, by which point many a perusing bibliophile pondering its plot inside their favourite store may well have already returned the magazine to its place on the spinner rack.

Fortuitously however, having roused from his fevered dream about skeleton pirates and scantily-clad company, Duggan’s incarnation of Conan is debatably every bit the swashbuckler Robert E. Howard penned him to be, and despite the occasional disconcerting demonstration of super-human strength, such as when the adventurer simply smashes open the hold’s heavy metal covering with his bare fists, there’s plenty of swordplay for Hyborian Age fans to enjoy. Indeed, the American author even manages to provide this tale with some sorcerous shenanigans when the great wooden ship’s captain is revealed to be a demonic snake man; "What other dark horrors does this ship hold?!”

Equally as impressive as the pacing behind Conan’s fiery breakout are Ron Garney’s interiors, which certainly show the excitement which the artist felt “because he was a character I had always wanted to take a crack at, and here was that opportunity…” As aforementioned the former “Daredevil” drawer’s work slightly suffers at the conclusion of this comic where he is ‘forced’ to pencil perhaps a few too many splash-pages to help pad out the storyline. But there can be no doubting the “klang” of steel or the Cimmerian’s dynamic vitality when the bare-chested hero is sketched battling for his life against a boat full of cut-throats.

Writer: Gerry Duggan, Artist: Ron Garney, and Colorist: Richard Isanove