King Conan #6 - Marvel Comics

KING CONAN No. 6, September 2022

Having announced in May 2022 that “after just under five years” Robert E. Howard’s creation was once again going to be leaving the Marvel Universe, Jason Aaron’s script for Issue Six of “King Conan” was probably something of a disappointment to the majority of the Cimmerian’s fans. In fact, the Alabama-born author’s narrative for this twenty-page swansong, based upon the unrealistic premise of the barbarian being able to single-handedly best an entire island packed full of the walking undead, is arguably a good example as to just why amongst other criticisms, the sword and sorcery hero’s “fans have complained about Aaron’s run not being true to the character”.

Admittedly, “The Boy In The Tree” does also provide some significant spotlight to the arcane gifts of Thoth-Amon, and the Stygian Wizard’s incredible ability to harness the dark arts to his will. But whilst the emaciated snake-worshipping sorcerer is pivotal to Aquilonia’s former king ultimately besting the maniacal machinations of Princess Prima, one of the plot’s biggest holes is just how the evil-hearted magician is suddenly able to conjure up so much astounding alchemy when for so much of this mini-series’ storyline he has been shown as being utterly impotent; “You see! At last, my rise is imminent! I shall crush entire armies beneath my heel! While clad in the flayed skin of all who mocked me!”

Correspondingly as unconvincing is the Cimmerian’s aforementioned swordplay, which at one point sees the heavily muscled protagonist easily dispatching a good half-dozen murderously sized primates with just his sword. Conan aficionados will doubtless recall the difficulty the barbarian had battling just one giant gorilla in the 1934 short story "Shadows in the Moonlight". Yet in this comic, Aaron would have his audience believe an utterly exhausted hero, who has already spent the past twenty-four hours endlessly fighting, could still easily slaughter an entire, co-ordinated pack of Red Apes from Khitai whilst daydreaming about tree climbing when he was a boy.

Perhaps this publication’s biggest disappointment though, lies in its future glimpses of a heavily-bearded Conn being erroneously informed of his father’s death, which act as a sort of bookend for the periodical. These scenes are debatably as unconvincing as the young monarch is sceptical as to the final fate of his predecessor, and whilst proficiently pencilled by Mahmud Asrar seemingly smacks of an urgent need to pad out the comic to its allotted sheet number rather than actually add anything to the supposed “poignant, powerful and unbelievable chapter that closes out this saga of King Conan.”

The regular cover art of "KING CONAN" #6 by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson