Conan The Barbarian #11 - Titan Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 11, June 2024

Whilst few readers of Jim Zub’s narrative for Issue Eleven of “Conan The Barbarian” could criticise the comic’s breathtaking pace. The twenty-two page publication’s author does arguably seem at times to simply hurl things at his audience to see ‘what sticks’ rather than present a credible chain of events. Admittedly, the odd leap of logic, such as a small army of man-eating hominids implausibly waiting behind a centuries-old, sealed door, definitely provides an otherwise word-heavy book with some much needed adrenalin-fuelled action. But ultimately this lack of a convincing story as to why such bizarre, time-travelling terrors are being repeatedly thrown at the titular character slowly gnaws away at any enjoyment to be had from the plot.

Furthermore, the periodical’s opening flashback to when the Cimmerian re-encountered Yag-kosha in pre-cataclysmic Valusia appears surprisingly superfluous with all its double-talk and “wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.” The elephant-headed extra-terrestrial from the constellation of Yag repeatedly warns his eventual slayer of the dangers in acquiring any knowledge about future events. Yet still appears to deliberately let on to the black-haired, heavily-muscled mercenary that one day he will be a monarch himself; “Go now, bold one. Be the thief, warrior, killer, and king… as fate demands.”

Equally as bemusing has to be the aforementioned battle between Kull of Atlantis’ scouting force and a significant number of blue-skinned ‘Morlocks’, who thanks to Rob De La Torre’s impressive pencilling, appear to have quite literally stepped straight from the pages of H.G. Wells’ 1895 science fiction novel “The Time Machine”. Unfortunately, just why an entire cannibalistic coven would be waiting to ambush the heroes in a supposedly pitch black cavern is left completely unresolved, as is how Conan’s current lover is tragically slain – unless the female archer was somehow still clawed to death by the ferocious fiends, despite a furious barbarian standing astride her fallen form lopping off the head of anyone foolish enough to get within reach of his hand-axe.

Despite such reservations though, Zub is clearly proficient at providing this comic with a jaw-droppingly good cliff-hanger, courtesy of the Canadian writer resurrecting another of Robert E. Howard’s creations for its climatic ending. Somehow once again whipped up into an inconvenient unfathomable fury, it’s crystal clear to any bibliophile that even an addled Kull certainly shouldn’t be opening the lid of any long-forgotten coffin – especially one miles underground at the bottom of a chaos-themed pit. However, few onlookers will genuinely see what happens next coming, no matter how well versed in the protagonists’ previously published exploits they may be.

The regular cover art of "CONAN THE BARBARIAN" #11 by Alex Horley