To conclude, for now, my celebration of the Robert E. Howard Centennial I go to the comics.

Last year on occasion I would hear Jeff and other patrons of A to Z Comics talking about Conan, but I was unfazed. Why would I want to read comics about a barbarian with an Austrian accent? would’ve been my reply had I been asked. However, when the first trade came out, Conan: The Frost Giant’s Daughter and Other Stories I picked it up to take a look and was blown away by Cary Nord’s art. I knew right then and there that I had to have it. After reading the book and reading the biography of Robert E. Howard that was included in the trade I knew I would have to go to the source material and discover Conan for myself, thus was born my affection for the work of Robert E. Howard.

The writing chores for the Conan series falls on the shoulders of Kurt Busiek. Busiek has a reputation as a very strong writer in this field and in reading his adaptations of Howard’s Conan stories I can see why. Busiek has written a very nice framing sequence in which to present the tales that ties each issue in the trade together quite nicely. Often in the life of a comic series the first few issues show the signs of growing pains in the writing. This is not the case with Kurt Busiek’s work on Conan. It is strong right out of the gate. And while the assumption would be that the comics format would have to focus more on the action of Howard’s stories Busiek manages to include the other elements from Howard’s stories that have made them stand the test of time.

The first thing that draws me to any comic is, however, the art. There are a handful of artists who I consider to be top notch in the comics field and Cary Nord is in that elite group. The standard process of comic art involves the artist first pencilling and then inking his drawings before the colorist goes to work. Some artists ink their own work and some have others ink their work for them. On rare occasions an artists pencils are so strong that to ink them would be a travesty. Cary Nord is one of those artists. During the planning stages of the Conan series Busiek wrote a script that Dark Horse used to audition over 20 pencillers. Nord’s audition work, included in the back of this first trade, was so strong that he not only got the job but it prompted colorist Dave Stewart to suggest skipping the inking process and coloring right over the pencils.

Cary Nord does not have a weak area in my opinion. Each character has unique qualities; he draws men and women equally well and his backgrounds are rich and lavish or sparse and unassuming depending on the needs for that panel. Some examples of his page work for Conan can be found here and here.

The addition of Dave Stewart as colorist for this series puts this book into the upper echelon of today’s comic series. Stewart is a mutliple award-winning colorist whose work is unequalled in my opinion. The colors are at once rich and soft and are a perfect compliment to Nord’s pencils. Stewart’s colors captured the appropriate mood in each panel. Cary Nord’s pencil work is so great that I would be buying the book if it was only his pencils however the work is enhanced by Stewart’s colors.

The second volume in the Conan series is currently out, The God in the Bowl and Other Stories,

and the third book is due out this May. Each book is put out in both hardback and softcover simultaneously which is a really nice touch by Dark Horse. I would recommend the hardback but the trade quality is outstanding as well and of course slightly less expensive. The God in the Bowl and Other Stories features work by additional artists besides Nord. The art is good but being sold on Nord’s work it is disappointing to me when he is not the primary artist on certain issues. This book also shows that not all strong characters in the Conan universe are males, the females can hold their own!

If you are into comics at all or, if you are curious as to what a great comic can do, I encourage you to pick up a copy of this series. Action, adventure, history, mythology, romance and derring-do abound.
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There is some controversy as to whether Robert E. Howard was born on January 22nd or 24th. Since Robert himself claimed the 22nd that is the date I went with. There is an interesting article, not all of which I agree with, that was in the Washington Post yesterday (the day they acknowledge as Howard’s birthday) here. For a good review of the article I point you to author James Reasoner‘s comments here.

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Tomorrow you will be set free from my Howard mania! Sex on Wheels is tomorrow’s topic. Tune in!