talyseon's Full Review: Kurt Busiek, Cary Nord, Thomas Yeates - Conan: The...
Conan: The Frost Giant's Daughter by Kurt Busiek, art by Cary Nord, from the works of Robert E. Howard.
"Know, O Prince that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars....but the proudest kingdom in the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
Thus begins the epic lay, the tale of Conan of Cimmeria. Created by Robert E. Howard, a Texan by birth, Conan was born in 1932 when his first adventure was published in Weird Tales. Until his suicide in 1936, Howard wrote a further 16 tales, and a horde of fragments. And from these tidbits has flourished a host of Pastiche writers, unrivaled by any other host of imitators besides the infamous Sleuth of that other famous Conan, Arthur Conan Doyle.
This story, the true start of the Dark Horse run, sees a young Conan leaving his home, following the tales of his Grandfather to the warm countries to the south where that warrior had traveled in his youth, but to the north and east, on his own trek, in search of legendary Hyperborea.
His trek takes him first to the land of the blond Aesir, traditional enemies of Cimmeria. However, these people are being attacked by the red headed Vanir, also traditional enemies of Cimmeria, and since the Vanir are slaughtering the women and children, it is with little hesitation that Conan throws his lot in with the beleaguered Aesir. As they track the Vanir homeward, Conan comes to realize that the murderous barbarians or the Aesir are just people like his own. And he wonders about the home lives of the Vanir as well. Here he breaks the preconceptions of his heritage.
After the final battle with the Vanir, Conan is lured further north by an apparition that appears from the snows, a beautiful maiden with hair of gold, and skin as pure and gleaming as the snows. He pursues her like a snowy siren until he meets her brothers, the frost giants, and slays them, before he becomes their dinner.
But these are minor trials compared to what lays ahead, jealousy, treachery, and the magical wonders of Hyperborea; a land protected from the harsh arctic climes by potent sorceries, where life is so perfect, it becomes as deadly a drug as the yellow lotus they use to keep their slaves, such as Conan, in line. Conan escapes and metes out such revenge as he can to those who most deserve it.
The writing of Busiek is taught, tight, trip hammered pacing, but with the florid grace of Howard's own work, slightly larger than life, as befits the subject. While it reads as a sword and sorcery book on one level, it raises questions in such areas as anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. Conan is a deep thinker, as well as a man-of-action.
It weds nicely with the art of Cary Nord, whose style is rich, textured, and looks like what John Williams Waterhouse might have done if his subjects had been ¾ naked barbarians instead of Arthur and his knights. He is a brilliant anatomist, and doesn't believe in cluttering a panel with more clothes than are necessary. He also seems to pour equal passion into the male and female forms. It's really very nice.
So there you have it, action, adventure, social commentary and philosophy, mixed with muscled men in loincloths, and luscious women in less than that; what more could you want?
This review, like Conan is Lean-N-Mean in the Sleeperless54 write off, hosted by Jenniferkateab and Jugrace. This one weighs in at a concise 666 words.
When the internationally famous barbarian hero returned to comics, with an all-new fresh start by award-winning writer Kurt Busiek (JLA/Avengers, Astr...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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