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    Conan the Barbarian

    I do not know if it is cold where you are, but where I am it is very cold. For some reason when winter hits, especially after Christmas, and the feelings of desolation and dare I say a bit of depression rise to the surface, for some reason I always think of Conan the Barbarian, and in particular the stories when he met an ice queen.

    So it is fitting that my pick of the week is Conan the Barbarian #18 from Titan Comics. Titan grabbed the license more than a year ago from Marvel, and have done a lot of wonderful things with the character created by Robert E. Howard, as well as some of his other creations such as Solomon Kane. Jim Zub has been leading the charge, and the look and design of the book of the main series does have that early Marvel Comics feel.

    You can tell that Zub is a fan, because he continues many of the plot points from some of Howard’s stories. The previously mentioned ice queen, which was I believe an unfinished story, was completed by Zub a few issues ago and it was quite satisfying. Plus, Zub has been paired with some amazing artists, such as Roberto de la Torre, Doug Braithwaite, and others. If you have not jumped onto this, I can heartily recommend you do and if memory serves, Zub will be writing at least thirty issues.

    Finally, it is worth mentioning that Titan Comics also resurrected the Savage Sword of Conan series, which is definitely a more adult take in black and white format, continuing what Marvel Comics also started. These oversized beauties are also quite worthy for any collection, whether you are a fan of Conan or not. Titan Comics is a force to be reckoned with, and so far they have done the Conan license justice.

    Before I sign off, I have been a bit jealous of Franka contributing all of the art, especially the comics, so I am also going to accompany some of my own doodles to these posts. Laugh away.

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    07 – Letter Hack

    Remember those things called letter pages, that would appear at the end of the comic book? This was an attempt by the publisher to garner and include feedback of the various issues, interestingly both good and bad. In the ‘olden’ days, every comic book had them, and if you had an issue that did not include it, either that series was doomed, or the editor/assistant editor simply did not have time to do it. I, for one, loved the letters pages and sometimes you would see the same name quite often, and these individuals were called letter hacks.

    They do exist in todays comics albeit sporadically. Marvel, for one, does include them quite often. DC, on the other hand, decided to remove them entirely. So I do wonder when something happens that you do not like, or perhaps really like, how do you let the publisher know? Well, if you did buy new comics you would know exactly what to do. If you are Curt, on the other hand, who has not bought anything new for quite a while, you resort to the old way.

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