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King Conan: Hour Of The Dragon #'s 1 - 4

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    Ian Jane
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  • King Conan: Hour Of The Dragon #'s 1 - 4





    King Conan: Hour Of The Dragon #'s 1 - 4
    Released by: Dark Horse Comics
    Released on: May - August, 2013.

    Written by Timothy Truman, working from Robert E. Howard's original story of the same name (first serialized in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in the 1930s), Hour Of The Dragon is a six part miniseries beautifully illustrated by Tomas Giorello and colored by José Villarrubia that continues to expand the Conan universe in wonderfully faithful ways. During Conan's tenure with Marvel there were times where the character was watered down and played safe and while there were plenty of great stories told there over the years, they didn't always feel authentic. Dark Horse has proven over the last ten years or so handling the character that they 'get it.' They've also been doing a good job of telling the stories in order but filling the blanks in the timeline where they exist (and they do exist).





    So what's this story arc all about? Well, it's part of the King Conan series so it's told from Conan's perspective in his later years where we find him reigning as King of Aquilonia, much to the dismay of a group of conspirators who would do away with him to see Valerius take the thrown. More than just a gang of discontent citizens hoping to stab the king in the back, they've taken on the services of a necromancer named Xaltotun, and anyone who knows anything about Conan knows that he hates magic.

    Xaltotun leads a score of troops into battle against Conan where many believe him to be slain. Though he does lose the battle, he is far from dead and he is taken back and imprisoned leading the Aquilonian army in disarray. Before his captors can execute him, however, Conan is aided in his escape by a beautiful slave girl named Zenobia who risks all she has in the world to free him and steal from him a kiss. Though he's almost killed by a pit beast, he makes his escape and finds a trusty steed where Zenobia said she had left one for him.






    Knowing full well what business lay ahead, he then sets out to get rid of Xaltotun and reclaim his throne, but he promises Zenobia that he will be back for her…

    As it stands now, there are (at the time of this writing) two issues left in the storyline but this story should be a pretty familiar one to Conan fans, even if they're not familiar with Howard's original book. It was originally adopted into comic book form by writer Roy Thomas with art by Gil Kane and John Buscema for Marvel back in 1974 and while they actually did quite a fair job of it, Truman, Giorello and Villarrubia do them one better. The artwork is excellent, it's very detailed and fluid and while Giorello's penciling style may prefer softer lines to thicker, darker illustrative stylings this allows him to go wild by including all manner of minutia in the backgrounds and the foregrounds alike. The use of color by Villarubia is also very good here. Reds are splashy and bold when blood is spilt but they don't dominate the panels while a good bit of attention is paid to skin - notice that Conan looks bronzed and war weary, while Zenobia, having not seen battle and having only existed inside and around the castle for some time now, is soft and almost porcelain.






    Truman's been writing Conan for a while now and by this point in time has a great handle on the character. The dialogue is very true to form and the pacing is excellent. There's enough exposition here to let the story stand on its own, the first issue being a great stepping on point for new readers. Tense, exciting, violent and suspenseful, this is prime Conan and an adventure story well worth reading given second life by a talented scriptwriter and an excellent art team.


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