Conan The Barbarian #31 - Titan Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 31, June 2026

Essentially comprising of a tussle between this ongoing series’ titular character and his latest adversary, there is unquestionably a lot for its readers to enjoy inside Issue Thirty One of "Conan The Barbarian". Indeed, for much of this comic Jim Zub actually appears to pen the mighty Cimmerian as nothing more than an experienced, and impressively strong warrior who appears to be facing a paranormal foe whose power clearly exceeds his own; “Which means the only advantage Conan has is his battle instincts.”

This reluctance to imbue Robert E. Howard’s creation with some implausible superhuman attribute not arguably ever seen in the character's prose stories genuinely provides the contest with a palpable sense of intriguing danger, and adds an alarming air of deadliness to The Son of the Tooth which would certainly have been missing had the Canadian writer simply made the sword and sorcery hero just as extraordinarily strong as his otherworldly opponent. In addition, it soon becomes clear just how badly the Cimmerian is being outmatched, and these extra deaths of innocent bystanders raises the stakes even more so as Conan understandably tries to save as many of their lives as he can.

Unfortunately, the resultant blood bath whilst entertaining, does though also raise the issue as to just why a trained assassin would suddenly risk so many people knowing of both his memorable looks and presence in Khoraja. True, it appears clear that the cut-throat soon realises he might be outfought by his prey if he doesn’t quickly ‘juice himself up’ with some additional souls. But the sheer pandemonium the mass-murderer causes in the frontier trade city will apparently be spoken of for years to come – something some within this publication’s audience might feel is a little odd for a cold-blooded slayer who ordinarily sticks to the shadows before dispatching his target.

Lastly, having refrained from falling into the common trap of making the titular barbarian unconvincingly ‘shrug off’ a plethora of deadly knife cuts and physical injuries for so much of this twenty-two page periodical, the Animex Honorary Award-winner debatably does just that at its very end by having artist Doug Braithwaite pencil the Cimmerian inexplicably recover from a good half-dozen wounds so he can stab his would-be-killer straight in the throat with one swift movement. This opportune reversal just doesn’t sit right after such a beating, especially when its apparently caused by The Son of the Tooth bizarrely refraining from delivering his final blow so he can look up at an alignment of the Moon within the clouds.

The regular cover art of "CONAN THE BARBARIAN" #31 by Mahmud Asrar