Conan The Barbarian #8 - Marvel Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 8, September 2019

Weighing in as the fifty-sixth best-selling comic of July 2019, following an increase in circulation of over fifteen hundred copies, it is debatably difficult to see just why this particular instalment of the ongoing series proved quite so popular. True, Jason Aaron’s script for Issue Eight of “Conan The Barbarian” revolves around the adventurer returning to “the hills of his homeland in Cimmeria” having “travelled, survived and thrived… through the Hyborian Age.” But it soon degenerates into an incredibly contrived tale involving Thoth-Amon, and the Master of the Black Ring’s utterly bizarre scheme to have his revenge upon the titular character by somehow infecting Gwawl the local dog keeper “with some new wild mutts.”

Of course, the idea that the evil wizard would be hell bent upon taking his revenge against his arch-nemesis (and the sword and sorcery hero’s barbaric people) is nothing new within the long-running “Marvel Worldwide” books. Nor is the Stygian sorcerer’s ability to strike out against his foes from his serpent-filled Tower using all manner of evil machinations and slithering spells. However, just why the “snake worshipper” would go to all the convoluted trouble to time his attack upon Conan’s village just before the wanderer returns smacks of a compulsive obsession to kill “one lone fool of a barbarian” far above anything which is ever depicted in the literary works of Robert E. Howard.

Similarly as unbelievable is the Alabama-born author’s implausible solution that the Cimmerian just happened to have with him a number of “gifts, from the kingdoms beyond”, which enable the “lumbering” fighter to harmlessly incapacitate his former friends. Just how the black-haired warrior managed to keep “one bag of… edible jewels” from the Sugar Masters of distant Ophir safe and sound through all his voyages is incalculable, as is the apparent suggestion that he also carried “one crystal rose of Lemuria” in his knapsack as well; a gift so delicate that it immediately breaks into a myriad of shards when its inadvertently dropped upon the snow…  

Mercifully however, “Homecoming” is somewhat salvaged by the gritty storyboards of Gerardo Zaffino, whose heavily pencilled, square-formed figures, genuinely imbue this publication’s preposterous plot with some much needed gravitas and grit. Indeed, whether it be the utterly disturbing look in the maniacal, red-eyed would-be murderers, or writhing snakes infesting Gwawl’s horrifically decaying head, the freelancer ramps up this comic’s intensity in a way Aaron’s penmanship could never hope to attain.

Writer: Jason Aaron, Artists: Gerardo Zaffino with Garry Brown, and Colorist: Matthew Wilson