Conan The Barbarian #6 - Marvel Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 6, July 2019

Whilst it’s probably clear from this comic’s attention to Hyborian Age lore that Jason Aaron has both “wanted to write Conan for a long time” and demonstrates “so much respect and reverence for those original [Robert E. Howard] stories”, there must still have been many of this twenty-page periodical’s 32,108 readers who wondered just what the point to this particular book’s narrative actually was. True, Issue Five of “Conan The Barbarian” more than amply depicts the titular character’s ferocious instinct for survival by having the adventurer apparently cull at least one Stygian raiding party through his savage swordsmanship alone; “A man makes his own luck. And I made mine here.”

But considering that “King Yezdigerd never implements Conan’s plan for invading Stygia” and instead simply continues “the bloody Turanian Border Wars… for many years” to come, it's hard to see just what the point of this publication’s plot actually was in having the “fictional sword and sorcery hero” come to the attention of “the mightiest monarch in the world” in the first place. Indeed, this entire book’s purpose seems to be to depict the Cimmerian rising to prominence in the ruler’s army to the point where he can personally advise Yidiz’s son to “use elephants to drag your warships from the Vilayet Sea across the Red Waste”, only to then have that selfsame regent ignore the barbarian’s words..?

Fortunately, the build-up to this dissatisfying diatribe contains plenty of action-packed sequences and opportunities for the Inkpot Award-winner to exhibit the mercenary’s near miraculous ability to outthink his enemies, with Great Commander Bahram’s foolish decision to close ranks atop a dune “covered with Stygian oils” being one such highlight. This flurry of outrageous ambushes really does provide “The Sole Survivor” with plenty of pulse-pounding pace, and in some ways actually makes it a shame that the Alabama-born author didn’t spend a few more instalments expanding upon Conan’s time amongst the men of the sprawling desert kingdom.

Similarly as successful in imparting the violence of the Sunrise Empire across to this comic’s audience is Mahmoud Asrar’s artwork, which quite wonderfully captures the “rising in barbaric splendour on the south-western shore” whilst simultaneously providing any perusing gore-fan with buckets of blood for good measure. The Turkish-born illustrator seems to particularly shine when pencilling battle scenes, and resultantly one can almost hear the horses snorting in terror when their panicked riders keep wheeling the animals into deadly danger.

Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: Mahmud Asrar, and Colorist: Matthew Wilson