True Believers: Conan the Barbarian #1 (re:view)

Welcome to a whole new adventure with... a comic for your dollar! This time I'm bringing Conan the Barbarian. The only Conan the Barbarian I know of is Arnold Schwarzenegger so it'll be great to delve into another reiteration of Conan.

The comic delves into the formed relationship Conan have with the leader of a tribe when he sees him pounced by an innumerate amount of enemies (three to be exact). The rest is history!

Let's talk characters! For starters, Conan is quite the character who keeps it real and I find strong admiration in his honesty, valiancy and courage which is beautifully sprawled throughout the comic. The character traits help propels the story and plot along for a poignant ending, which is solidified by his relationship of the character Olav who he helps aid in combat.

The leader Volf of the opposition doesn't seem to share these traits so it's good to see the contrast which accentuates the contrast between them. It's a shame though as this was further explored as they seem to become secondary characters going towards the end.

The art style seems great and the combat seems ruthless and should I say - ahem - barbaric with Conan's swipes and animalistic movements. Character and scenic designs are amazing with strong expressions throughout. One thing I noticed though is the backgrounds are a solid colour of different variations from green to blue to yellow. I tried to link it to what was happening in their respective panels but the mood seems quite different to even link them together.

The second half of the comic takes a turn with flying demons, twists and turns. An introduction of the Shaman and Tara seems to have thrown the comic into a whole new world with literally a history lesson as well as envisioning Conan's future too. This might actually explain the solid coloured backgrounds as a foreshadowing of the trippy adventure Conant and co take in the second half.

Subscribe? Yes!

There's a lot of character building to simply fall in love with Conan that yeah, I'm pretty much invested to see where he ends up going next.

True Believers: Conan the Barbarian No 1 (originally published as Conan the Barbarian #1)
Stan Lee - editor
Roy Thomas - writer
Barry Smith - artist
Dan Adkins - embellisher
Sam Rosen - letterer