Conan The Barbarian #20 - Titan Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 20, May 2025

Apparently continuing a “triumphant new era of Conan”, this publication’s twenty-two page plot certainly seems to contain many tropes which are highly reminiscent of Robert E. Howard’s writing during the early 1930’s. But sadly, despite all these entertaining elements, such as the heavily-muscled barbarian ferociously fighting both a shape-shifter and a demonic shadow of himself, this book’s audience will doubtless only glean some modicum of satisfaction right at its very end – when the truly treacherous Tarnasha appears to finally get her just desserts at the hands of a snake-headed “gentlemen from the South".

Much of this disappointment debatably stems from ‘acclaimed creator’ Jim Zub repeatedly showing Zulu shrugging off injuries which would ordinarily fell a mortal foe. Admittedly, the “guardian of the Grasslands” is able to transform himself into the guise of a black panther. However, having done just that in this ongoing storyline’s previous instalment, and been literally brained by the titular character with a hand-sized rock, it seems rather unconvincing that every time the chap changes – be it a big cat, feathered raven, or even a lithe, barely-dressed woman – all of the warrior’s wounds are instantly healed.

Furthermore, the Animex Honorary Award-winner would have his readers believe that for some time now Conan has been carrying the taint of Set, the Serpent God within his own belly. This notion is arguably pretty hard to swallow considering that the black-maned adventurer has shown no such symptoms until Zulu unwisely summons the sinister snake deity’s spirit onto the mortal plane before the pair of them, and resultantly smacks of simply being a dubious device with which to pen their unconvincing confrontation in the first place; “And yet I say again -- I do not worship Set. I have never been to Stygia.”  

What does prove far more compelling than this comic’s narrative though, is Doug Braithwaite’s prodigious pencilling. The British artist provides all of Zulu’s physical manifestations with plenty of energy, and is bound to cause many a bibliophile to pant with heat fatigue as the Cimmerian cuts his way through one of the Southern kingdoms’ sweaty, vegetation-packed jungles. In addition, the thief Tarnasha’s grim demise inside a seedy merchant’s store is so dramatically drawn that the final panel should genuinely leave a lasting impression upon any person who witnesses it.

The regular cover art of "CONAN THE BARBARIAN" #20 by Roberto De La Torre