Conan: The Barbarian Free Comic Book Day May 2026 - Titan Comics

CONAN: THE BARBARIAN FREE COMIC BOOK DAY MAY 2026

Considering that this twelve-page-periodical is supposed to foreshadow the return of Thulsa Doom, it’s probably a safe bet that many of its readers actually came away from the Free Comic Book Day edition of “Conan: Tides Of The Tyrant King” wondering what Jim Zub’s latest mini-series featuring Robert E. Howard’s Sword and Sorcery hero was all about. Indeed, seeing as a good portion of the publication actually follows the exploits of Stephen Costigan during the Texan’s dark days fighting in World War One, it’s much more likely the Canadian’s audience were anticipating some sort of time-travelling team-up between the two characters on the blood-soaked fields of Cambrai, Aisne or the Second Battle of the Somme, rather than the Cimmerian once again encountering the Necromancer of Ancient Atlantis in the Hyborian Age.

To make matters even more confusing though, it is arguably the exploits of the merchant sailor which grabs the most attention, as the understandably horrified soldier desperately attempts to make his way through numerous Germans whilst penetrating “a murderous maze he will never forget.” This ‘kill or be killed’ environment appears to be as brutal during the fighting as it shockingly is once its survivors are recuperating in a field hospital afterwards, and genuinely helps sell the motivation behind just why the Irish American would become a champion boxer; “Costigan’s temper simmers. But he doesn’t feel steady enough to make the bully eat his words.”

Unfortunately the same can’t debatably be said for the short-lived yarn concerning Conan, who is once again shown fighting in some nameless skirmish along the Borderlands between Zingara and Argos, where his superhuman strength allows him to ‘shrug off’ a spear to his left shoulder and keep swinging his sword. Furthermore, despite this significant injury the Barbarian is then depicted unconvincingly beating up a much larger mercenary who had planned on bedding a local’s unwilling daughter. Such a sketch really does add nothing to the Cimmerian’s story, and certainly doesn’t act as the aforementioned “Prelude” to him once again facing Thulsa Doom.

What does catch the eye with this comic though is the artwork of “Howling Jesus Merino”. The Spanish illustrator does a fine job depicting the Cimmerian’s exploits against “the gutter-cur raiders we put in the ground this day.” But it’s his awesome pencilling of Costigan’s time in the mud and the blood which really should capture any bibliophiles imagination, and definitely cause them to desire a standalone series of comics depicting Steve’s time during the Great War.

Writer: Jim Zub, Artist: Jesus Merino, and Color Artist: Jao Canola