Conan The Barbarian #29 - Titan Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 29, March 2026

Peddled by its London-based publisher as a title containing “new pulp-tastic tales in the tradition of Robert E. Howard”, Issue Twenty-Nine of “Conan The Barbarian” probably didn’t win over many readers on account of the comic not actually featuring the Cimmerian until its very last panel. Indeed, the complete lack of the heavily-muscled, fantasy hero inside this twenty-two page periodical is rather disappointing, especially as this book’s solicitation synopsis promises that he’s supposed to be being hunted in it by “a deadly new foe” disconcertingly known as the Son of the Tooth.

Of course some of the more widely-read fans of “the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre” may well point to Amalric’s predominantly solo adventure during the prose tale “Drums of Tombalku” – in which, believing his black-maned companion to be dead, the Aquilonian soldier essentially ‘goes it alone’ against a party of demonic black riders terrorising the oasis town of Gazal. However, this novelette was actually penned by L. Sprague de Camp rather than Conan's creator. and is merely based upon an “untitled fragment and synopsis” by Howard, rather than being an officially penned entry in the adventurer's literary canon.

Furthermore, the notion of an enfeebled Hyrkanian chieftain’s son successfully murdering his ten other older siblings without being discovered by so paranoid a people is debatably a bit far-fetched, even for a yarn establishing the background to a proficient “killer with [a] keen blade in hand and [the] teeth from old prey strung ‘round his neck.” True, the boy’s quite elderly father does eventually receive a confession whilst the two are out hunting together. But to see the older, much more experienced leader then get fatally out-fought by the far smaller adolescent in a knife-fight after “years of pent-up anger and fear” appears a highly unconvincing; “You are a monster and I am a fool. That is why I poisoned our meal with White Snakeroot -- So we may both die here for our sins!” 

Much more enjoyable than this publication’s narrative is therefore its artwork, courtesy of Doug Braithwaite’s pencilling. The British illustrator appears particularly good at highlighting the mass-murderer’s physical frailty during the character’s younger years, and subsequently ensures that the audience takes note of the cutthroat’s later professional prowess when he’s become a dangerous, highly experienced slayer of men for the cult of the Black Stone.

The regular cover art of "CONAN THE BARBARIAN" #29 by Roberto De La Torre