Conan The Barbarian #23 - Marvel Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 23, September 2021

Brimming with treachery, tension, and cruel-hearted traitors, Jim Zub’s “dramatic conclusion to the Nightstar saga” certainly brings Conan’s pulse-pounding trek across the God-Emperor’s “Land of the Lotus” to an extremely satisfying end. In fact, doubtless many readers were probably hoping for the Barbarian’s marvellously penned battle of wits against the truly despicable Maltus-Rai to have lasted for at least another issue or two; “Your heart is too wild, Cimmerian. I cannot walk the roads you travel, and you are not ready to settle in any one place with any one person… Not yet.”

To begin with the Canadian writer doesn’t simply show the muscle-bound adventurer miraculously fighting off hordes of Paikang’s finest warriors in some sort of super-human display of swordsmanship. But rather depicts Robert E. Howard’s creation coldly calculating the odds of every contest, and deciding when best to run, as well as when best to strike from a position of strength. This ‘thinking man’s game’ brings an enjoyable element to the Hyborian Age hero’s character which is arguably seldom seen in many of his comic book tales, and delightfully demonstrates just how deadly an adversary Conan has learnt to become through his previous perils.

In addition, the bare-chested savage’s savviness leads to one of this publication’s most memorable moments of revenge, when the “heathen” stealthily follows the malignant Boquin from roof-top to roof-top until the arrogant officer stands practically alone without the morass of men he usually relies upon to enforce his will. The Khitan warrior’s death is as swift as it is bloody, yet shows a calculating side to the Cimmerian which later convincingly explains just how he manages to overcome a dozen assassins of the Fifth Circle ‘off-screen’ with a simple blade in order to reach the man who actually “slit the Emperor’s throat”.

Equally as responsible for the success of “Escape from the East” is illustrator Cory Smith, whose layouts add a lot of dynamism and suspense to this twenty-page periodical’s proceedings. Of particular note is the American artist’s pencilling of Maltus-Rai, both when the stunned “new god” first hears that Conan has astonishingly gutted his entire bodyguard without any alarm being raised, and then later as the heavily-armoured conspirator willingly becomes fully-possessed by the demonic evil lurking within the Tooth of the Nightstar.

Writer: Jim Zub, Artist: Cory Smith, and Colorist: Israel Silva