This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on November 28, 2023.

Conan: Lord of the Mount

By Stephen Graham Jones – Titan Books – September 26, 2022

Review by Robin Marx

Lord of the Mount opens with Conan as the last survivor of a vanquished raiding party. Surrounded by the dead, as the battered barbarian’s consciousness returns the first shapes that come into view are that of a small group of cattle and their herder. The eyes of both the cows and the man tending them have a strange purple tinge to them, hinting at long term use of the intoxicating powder of the black lotus. Wary of the shifty lotus addict, Conan nevertheless accepts a meal of wine and steak—carved directly from the flanks of the passive, drugged cattle—from the man. Known as Jen Ro, the herdsman tells Conan of his destination: the village of Trinnecerl, where ale and women are plentiful. He warns that the mountain pass leading to the village is guarded by a fearsome monster, however, the so-called Lord of the Mount. With no better destination in mind, the rootless barbarian wanderer elects to accompany Jen Ro, hoping to indulge himself in the pleasures Trinnecerl has to offer and see this Lord of the Mount for himself. Conan soon finds himself fighting for his life against a foe unlike any he has faced before.

Lord of the Mount is the first installment in the Heroic Legends series of monthly digital short stories starring Conan the Barbarian and other pulp fiction heroes created by Robert E. Howard. While not the first piece of new Conan fiction produced via the partnership between Titan Books and Howard franchise owner Heroic Signatures (that would be the Conan – Blood of the Serpent novel by S. M. Stirling), news of the Heroic Legends series was welcomed by Conan and Howard fans for a number of reasons. One was that the Conan stories and the sword & sorcery subgenre of fantasy as a whole originated as short stories and still tend to be most at home in that format. Another reason was the roster of authors listed with the series announcement. Experienced and reliable Conan authors such as John C. Hocking and Scott Oden were present and accounted for, yes, but there were also unexpected curve-balls like Laird Barron and V. Castro. Of the latter group, Stephen Graham Jones was a particularly anticipated contributor, as not only is his star currently ascendant within the horror genre (a field with considerable overlap with sword & sorcery), but his 2021 autobiographical Texas Monthly essay My Life With Conan the Barbarian had already fostered a sense of kinship among many sword & sorcery fans. Jones gets it, he’s one of us. We wanted to see what he could do with the character.

The strong points of Lord of the Mount are its minimalist premise and brisk pace. No time is wasted getting to the good stuff. The scene is set, Conan hits the road, and a knock-down, drag-out battle with the Lord of the Mount follows.

Unfortunately, Lord of the Mount is not entirely successful. Unlike many Conan pastiche writers, Jones made little effort to emulate Howard’s writing style. But he also didn’t seem to write in the colloquial, almost folksy voice Jones used in other works like The Only Good Indians. The result is sort of a hybrid, neither fish nor foul. Dissimilar to Howard, but also not quite Jones’ natural narrative voice.

The portrayal of Conan also felt off in parts. During his battle with the Lord of the Mount, in multiple instances Conan is described as “screaming.” Conan has never struck me as much of a screamer, but even if he had occasion to scream at least some of these screams should have been changed to “bellows” or “roars” for variety’s sake. Also, when Conan reunites with Jen Ro in the story’s denouement he reacts as if he has been subjected to a betrayal worthy of violent retribution. However, at the beginning of the story Jen Ro is pretty forthright when describing the danger of the Lord of the Mount and the means he uses to evade it, making Conan’s rage feel excessive and unwarranted.

While I expected more from a Stephen Graham Jones take on Conan, Lord of the Mount is still worth the small price of admission. I appreciate Titan Books’ willingness to go beyond safe and expected Conan writers, giving readers a chance to see a variety of different interpretations and portrayals of a familiar character.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on November 24, 2023.

Old Moon Quarterly: Issue 5, Summer 2023

By Old Moon Publishing – August 29, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Old Moon Quarterly has returned with its third installment of the year. Like previous issues, OMQ serves up an intriguing mix of grimdark and weird sword & sorcery fiction. Vol. 5 cover artist Derek Moore delivers the magazine’s most striking cover artwork to date: a skeleton in full plate harness equipped with a bec de corbin polearm. There are no interior illustrations or advertisements in this 89-page issue, and the text is presented in a single column layout.

After a brief Introduction expressing a desire to see more cerebral sword & sorcery tales in the vein of Robert E. Howard’s King Kull of Atlantis (as opposed to the more direct action yarns featuring Conan and his ilk), the issue opens with “Together Under the Wing,” by Jonathan Olfert. A Stone Age revenge tale with a twist, this story involves a young warrior driven to avenge the murder of his mother, the matriarch of their people. The wrinkle is that the protagonist, Walks-like-a-Rockslide, is a sentient mammoth with bladed tusks and his foe is the king of the giants. Appropriately, given the stature of these clashing titans, the struggle that follows is imbued with a palpable sense of momentum and inevitability. Mammoth and Giant King circle, close, and deal grievous wounds to each other. While the events of the narrative are straightforward, the unusual hero and heavy atmosphere of finality make this story stand out.

K.H. Vaughan’s “Champions Against the Maggot King” is another story that focuses on conjuring a very specific mood. The narrator, Grath, is a grunt in an imperial army locked in a desperate war against the monstrous hordes of the titular Maggot King. The story is presented as a series of vignettes showcasing both the formidable odds the soldiers are facing and the handful of elite heroes who may just be able to turn the tide. Sorrow Mai is a warrior woman with a massive axe and a “leather cuirass boiled in blood.” Ilhar, also called “The Raven,” is an untouchable elven duelist with a darkly poetic heart. Ko-Mon the Heartless is a scarred dwarf who wields an enchanted war chain that is powered by his pain. All these characters are anime levels of over-the-top and portrayed in a worshipful tone by Grath. Their enemies are likewise epic, especially the decomposing dragon that drips clumps of rotting flesh as it strafes the beleaguered troops below. There’s much in this story that’s excessive and even perhaps silly, but Vaughan absolutely sells it with a straight face. “Champions Against the Maggot King” is a grimdark treat that should appeal to fans of the Berserk and Bastard!! -Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy- anime series as well as enthusiasts of The Black Company and The Malazan Book of the Fallen.

In a first for Old Moon Quarterly, issue 5 includes two poems: “The King’s Two Bodies” by Joe Koch, and Zachary Bos’ “A Warning Agaynste Woldes.” “The King’s Two Bodies” is vividly lyrical, if perhaps a bit opaque. “A Warning Agaynste Woldes,” however, was peppered with Old English and tedious to decipher. The poetry didn’t add much to this issue, in this reviewer’s opinion, but I would not be opposed to seeing more verse in the future.

“The Origin of Boghounds,” by Amelia Gorman, is another grimdark entry. Boghounds are dog-like creatures of unknown pedigree. When a bounty hunter named Samphire discovers Hum, the boghound companion of her mountebank target, she decides to use the boghound to track down its master. The pair face stiff opposition in the form of two competing bounty hunters, however, and the situation becomes even more lethal when together they all discover the monstrous and delightfully gross progenitor of the boghounds. This story is packed to the brim with entertaining weirdness. The characters are all quirky and strange, like NPCs from the Dark Souls video games, and the world is evocatively rendered despite the story’s brevity.

David K. Henrickson’s “Well Met at the Gates of Hell” is one of the more sword & sorcery-oriented tales in this issue. A nameless man awakens on a barren plain, under a starless sky. Three figures await him: a massive paladin with a glowing sword, a small dagger-wielding man with a hateful smile, and a 12-foot-tall praying mantis. The trio wish to kill the new arrival for his past offenses and have agreed among themselves to engage him in single combat, one at a time. The story that follows is a triptych of duels shot through with witty repartee reminiscent of The Princess Bride. The protagonist—I hesitate to call him the hero, his enemies seem justified in their hatred of him—and his opponents are all vague sketches, but Henrickson makes the minimalism work. The result is a completely fat-free story that gives the reader just enough to satiate them and not an ounce further. This was the highlight of the issue for me.

“The Skulls of Ghosts,” by Charles Gramlich, is another sword & sorcery adventure. The muscular warrior Krieg journeys into a plague-ridden kingdom trying to locate the malady’s sorcerous origin. While there is a lot to like about this story, it suffered by following “Well Met at the Gates of Hell.” There’s some nicely hallucinatory prose here—the story shares many characteristics with the King Kull tales celebrated in this issue’s Introduction—but “The Skulls of Ghosts” felt long and overstuffed compared to the other stories in issue #5. There were more named characters and backstory than seemed truly necessary, and the evil sorcerer’s habit of assuming other characters’ identities was confusing. The components of a good story are present, but it would have benefited from some trimming and tightening.

“Today, I met a man I had killed before,” opens “The Headsman’s Melancholy” by Joseph Andre Thomas. Set in 14th century England, the final story of the issue is related by Jack Marvell, an executioner in the employ of King Henry IV. While he professes job satisfaction, Marvell keeps a diary to help cope with his depression, and this story consists of a series of journal entries describing his encounters with a strange knave he has beheaded on multiple occasions. Bizarre and gleefully gory, with a cryptic ending, “The Headsman’s Melancholy” is oddly compelling. A fitting conclusion to a strong issue of Old Moon Quarterly.

Unlike some more generalist fantasy fiction magazines, Old Moon Quarterly gives the sense of a very specific editorial vision. A desired vibe. Their submission guidelines call for “dark and weird sword & sorcery,” and while that’s not inaccurate, it feels like it insufficiently articulates what makes a given story Old Moon Quarterly material. With the launch of their first Kickstarter campaign, however, it seems like the editors have zeroed in on a pithy way to describe the type of fiction they showcase: “Soulsborne-inspired.” In short, if you enjoy the brutal, gothic, grimdark aesthetic of From Software’s Dark Souls and Bloodborne video games, Old Moon Quarterly curates fiction with a similar feel. Old Moon Quarterly is recommended for dark fantasy fans of all stripes, but for those yearning for that elusive Soulsborne atmosphere in particular, this is the place.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on November 13, 2023.

Conan the Barbarian #4

By Jim Zub (Writer) and Roberto De La Torre (Artist) – Titan Comics – October 25, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Our hero is already in dire straits at the opening of Titan Comics’ Conan the Barbarian #4. The struggle between Conan and the high priest of the Black Stone cult has plunged them both into the deep emerald-green waters at the core of the temple. Tentacles rise to meet the barbarian as he sinks into the murky abyss, and he pledges to slay the cult’s misshapen deity, even if it costs him his own life. As he begins to drown, however, he sees a vision of an ancient Pictish chieftain. This echo from the past provides Conan (and the reader) with some welcome backstory. Conan learns more about the mysterious black stone that has had such a malign influence on the countryside, and how he has become embroiled in a hidden struggle against the occult dating back tens of thousands of years. While his ghostly benefactor is unable to provide Conan with direct aid, the brief conversation steels his resolve, and—lungs bursting—he swims down to meet his godlike foe.

Conan the Barbarian #4 is the conclusion of “Bound in Black Stone,” the first story arc in this latest Conan comic. Jim Zub’s narration was solid and evocative as usual. The ancient Pict is a figure that will be instantly recognizable to those who have read “The Shadow Kingdom” (1929) or Robert E. Howard’s other King Kull stories. Kull’s Thurian era is the distant past of Conan’s own Hyborian Age, and it was fun to see Zub link these two distant epochs. The essays by Jeffrey Shanks at the end of each issue go to great lengths to point out the connections between various corners of the Howard literary universe and, like Thulsa Doom being name-dropped in issue #3, it appears that Zub is very intentionally laying the groundwork for future cross-pollination between Howard’s heroes and settings.

De La Torre’s artwork maintains the high standard of quality seen in the previous issues. The forceful and dynamic posing of characters during the combat scenes was especially noticeable in this installment.

While I found Conan the Barbarian #4 largely successful, I was left baffled by some of the creative choices. The Pict warrior woman Brissa was one of the most talked-about elements of the new series, but she was completely absent from this issue. Mentioned briefly, but not shown. The tropes of comic storytelling being what they are, it’s painfully obvious that we haven’t seen the last of Brissa (Zub has hinted as much in interviews), but it felt like an unfair and anticlimactic way to handle an exciting supporting character.

The battle between Conan and the tentacled aquatic creature felt like another missed opportunity. Generally, in this situation a Conan the Barbarian reader would expect to be treated to some particularly impressive artwork, perhaps even a two-page spread revealing the blasphemous alien god in all its glory. Somewhat disappointingly, De La Torre delivers an unexpectedly subdued combat against a mostly hidden monster.

While my enthusiasm for Titan Comics’ Conan the Barbarian remains high, the finale of “Bound in Black Stone” didn’t quite attain the heights of preceding issues. The creative team have demonstrated their formidable capabilities, but this time it felt like they weren’t operating at full strength. I’m excited about the foundation Zub seems to be constructing for future stories and even upcoming titles featuring other Robert E. Howard heroes, but it seemed like the story’s immediate present was underserved. And Conan is a character that lives in the moment.

#ReviewArchive #ComicReview #SwordAndSorcery #JimZub #RobertoDeLaTorre #TitanComics #ConanTheBarbarian #GrimdarkMagazine #GdM

This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on October 13, 2023.

The City of Marble and Blood

By Howard Andrew Jones – Baen Books – October 3, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Book 2 in the Chronicles of Hanuvar, The City of Marble and Blood picks up shortly after the conclusion of Lord of a Shattered Land. Defeated general and master strategist Hanuvar continues his undercover efforts to free his enslaved Volani countrymen from the genocidal Dervan Empire. He reconnects with old allies and gains new ones, including some surprising friends highly placed within the Dervan Empire. Early in the book a sorcerous mishap inflicts upon Hanuvar a startling transformation, however. The magical disaster provides renewed physical vigor and makes disguising his identity easier, but he also finds himself unrecognizable to longtime friends and aging at an accelerating pace. Freeing his people remains his utmost priority, but even more than before Hanuvar is confronted with his own mortality.

Like Lord of a Shattered Land before it, The City of Marble and Blood is another cycle of 14 linked stories (the final 15th chapter is more of an epilogue). Each chapter is largely episodic, making this an ideal book for short reading sessions. Compared to the first volume, however, The City of Marble and Blood holds together better as a cohesive novel. Where the installments in Lord of a Shattered Land tended to be scattered both geographically and thematically, with few members of the supporting cast returning after their original appearance, the stories here share more recurring characters and the plots more connections between them.

While Hanuvar remains as clever and driven as ever, the type of stories being told in The City of Marble and Blood have shifted slightly compared to the preceding book. Where Lord of a Shattered Land took place in the outlying provinces, The City of Marble and Blood is largely set deep behind enemy lines, either in the Empire’s central territories or the capital of Derva itself. This change in locale raises the stakes, as Hanuvar is surrounded at all times by the imperial war machine and the Gestapo-like Revenants. The capture and interrogation of Hanuvar or one of his key allies has the potential to scuttle his entire plan to liberate the enslaved Volani. And while they don’t disappear entirely, the “man versus monster” stories from the first volume mostly give way to a greater focus on mystery and political intrigue. Hanuvar finds himself in the uncomfortable position of working to foil assassination attempts on Dervans responsible for the destruction of his homeland, simply to prevent the ascension of even worse figures.

Fewer supernatural monsters appear in The City of Marble and Blood than the first book, but there is a greater emphasis on humanocentric evil. While there are a number of likable Dervan characters, it remains an empire built on slavery and Jones doesn’t shy away from depicting the brutality of human bondage. Entitled “In a Family Way,” the eleventh story in the book is an incredibly bleak look at a Dervan lordling who surrounds himself with beautiful slaves. Not only are the women mistreated and forced to share his bed, those unfortunates who fall pregnant end up being subjected to an even more sadistic fate. Hanuvar is an unambiguously heroic figure and many of his adventures have bright conclusions, but when a story wanders into grim territory Jones seems happy to rip the gloves off and bolt deeper into the darkness.

Lord of a Shattered Land marked a strong start to the *Chronicles of Hanuvar and The City of Marble and Blood makes for a compelling follow-up. The nature of Hanuvar’s exploits have changed slightly, but he remains the same cunning and cerebral character introduced in the first book. He also now benefits from an expanded roster of interesting and engaging allies and foes. The Roman-inspired Dervan setting continues to intrigue. Jones provides enough detail to paint a vivid picture of the society while simultaneously avoiding the dreaded “info-dump.” The City of Marble and Blood delivers a definite sense of forward momentum that I found incredibly satisfying. Formidable obstacles remain, but it feels like Hanuvar is making significant progress towards liberating his people. He’s winning. This makes me suspect that readers are being set up for a devastating reversal of fortune in the third book.

While The City of Marble and Blood appeared merely two months after Lord of a Shattered Land, readers will have to wait notably longer for the third volume in the series. Shadow of the Smoking Mountain is scheduled for an October 2024 release.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on September 10, 2023.

The Graveyard Shift

By Maria Lewis – Datura Books – September 12, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Tinsel Munroe is the host of “The Graveyard Shift,” an overnight horror-themed radio show on 102.8 HitsFM, Melbourne’s hottest station. Despite her best efforts she finds herself mostly treading water in her career, trapped in a dead-end time slot playing for a devoted but small following. Her life is upended on Halloween, however, when an audience member is viciously murdered during a broadcast phone call. New listeners flock to the show with ghoulish hopes for another on-air killing, and ominous messages reveal to Tinsel that she herself is a target. As the police investigation founders and the body count rises, Tinsel realizes that her continued survival depends on her ability—with assistance from her true crime blogger sister Pandora and the handsome detective Vic James—to uncover the hidden connection between herself and the unseen assailant.

The Graveyard Shift is billed as an “homage” to the slasher movies of the 1990s, and elements of the Scream series are certainly present and accounted for. While Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play and various other slasher franchises are name-checked throughout the book, potential readers should be aware that The Graveyard Shift is more of a thriller with light mystery and romance elements than a horror novel. The supernatural is not a factor, and Maria Lewis does not devote much effort to building and sustaining an unsettling or frightening atmosphere. That being said, the murder scenes are tense and exciting and deliver the sort of gore one would expect from I Know What You Did Last Summer or similar slashers.

The Graveyard Shift’s greatest strength is its characters. Tinsel is a likable, smart, and resourceful heroine. True crime blogger Pandora and police detective Vic James are likewise appealing, and even the minor supporting characters come across as distinctive, well-rendered individuals. While it feels a little convenient that Tinsel’s sister happens to be a serial killer expert with police connections and a ready supply of murder factoids, Pandora is given enough fleshing-out to make her more than just a convenient plot device. Dreamy, stubbled protector Detective James also seems more like a Hollywood cop than somebody one would encounter on a real world police force, but he is given enough depth to transcend his primary function as hunky daydream fodder for readers. The characters are fun, and it’s enjoyable spending time with them.

In The Graveyard Shift, Lewis writes in a breezy, thoroughly modern voice. The book is fast-paced and engaging, but I struggled a bit with the tone. At no point in this book does someone narrowly escape from a knife-wielding maniac and then brush it off with a quippy “Well, that happened,” but if a scene like that HAD been present it would not have been out of place with the rest of the book. Plucky bravery is one thing, but Tinsel comes off as remarkably unflappable for someone being actively stalked by a serial killer. She shows occasional moments of fright or doubt, but is otherwise largely able to go about her life in good spirits, mostly covering her regular shift at work and putting in appearances at social functions. The constantly shifting tone threw me off, but it feels significant that a main character is a true crime enthusiast. True crime podcasts and blogs are often accused of trivializing real world brutality and murder for the sake of salacious thrills, and similarly the fictional crimes depicted here aren’t always handled with the utmost gravity. Tinsel is appropriately devastated when people she knows are attacked, but at times it feels like the deaths of unacquainted victims are treated more like a fun puzzle to be solved by Tinsel and Pandora: Taskforce Laurie Strode.

The Graveyard Shift is an energetic and stimulating thriller. Readers hoping for grit and angst are better off looking elsewhere, but this book serves well as a refreshing palate cleanser after finishing weightier fare.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on September 8, 2023.

A Book of Blades: Volume II

Rogues in the House Presents – June 28, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Sequel to 2022’s A Book of Blades, A Book of Blades: Volume II is the second anthology of fiction curated by the crew of Rogues in the House: The Ultimate Sword & Sorcery Podcast. It includes 14 Sword & Sorcery-themed short stories by as many authors, with striking cover artwork by Jesus Garcia and internal illustrations by Gilead. Writers featured here have appeared in the pages of short fiction venues like Tales From The Magician’s Skull, Old Moon Quarterly, and Savage Realms Monthly, so this anthology also serves as a broad survey of more than a dozen authors active in the indie S&S scene.

As a Sword & Sorcery anthology, most of the stories deal with either lone heroes or small bands (here frequently drifters, tomb raiders, or mercenaries between jobs) thrust into deadly situations, relying on their wits and weaponry to defeat supernatural threats. The protagonists generally aren’t embarking on epic quests, they’re seeking riches, revenge, or simply attempting to survive. The tone is almost universally gritty and violent across the collected stories, with several selections comfortably grimdark in everything but name. This review focuses on A Book of Blades: Volume II’s darker entries.

“Breaching Earth’s Womb” by S.E. Lindberg is one of the most grimdark and all-around weirdest stories included in A Book of Blades: Volume II. When tainted pregnancies result in several expectant mothers being eviscerated and consumed by insectoid parasites, golem midwife Nurse Leech must leave the relative safety of home to ward off a larger disaster. Her desperate journey takes her across a blasted land ravaged by an ongoing struggle between immense, godlike beings. Lindberg is fascinated by the concept of the ancient Greek bodily humors and the maladies thought to result from imbalances between them, and this story shows the same bizarrely compelling gooey, squidgy body horror of the other tales in his Dyscrasia Fiction line.

“Beasts of Waste & Desolation” features the Viking-era orc hero of Scott Oden’s grimdark Grimnir trilogy (A Gathering of Ravens, Twilight of the Gods, and the forthcoming The Doom of Odin). Back in Jutland after slaughtering “whiteskin” humans abroad, Grimnir encounters a crone doing her laundry in a shallow pool. Recognizing her as a deadly water spirit in disguise, he helps himself to her banquet while participating in a high-stakes game of riddles. The story that follows is an entertainingly predatory tête-à-tête in which two lethal killers circle each other, simultaneously probing for weaknesses and coiling to strike.

“Cries from a Sleeping City,” by Grimdark Magazine contributor and Rogues in the House podcaster Matt John, is another adventure featuring barbarian mercenary Lachmannon (previously seen in issue 10 of Tales From The Magician’s Skull). The wealthy ruler of Zanzara hires a tavern full of sell-swords to scour the tunnels beneath the city, searching for the mythical Queen Vashka, thought to be an imprisoned immortal sorceress. Initially skeptical of the task, Lachmannon quickly learns that the tales of Vashka are true. To survive, he must fight to escape a nightmarish subterranean hellscape filled with cannibalistic “eaters” and unseen lurkers that use body-invading tentacles to drive their victims insane with bloodlust. The story is fast paced, with a fun menagerie of monsters and a dark streak a mile wide.

John R. Fultz’s “Return of the Quill” is another moody standout in A Book of Blades: Volume II. The necromancer Grimsort, one of eight Sorcerer Kings ruling a conquered city policed by revived corpses, is persuaded to allow a traveling acting troupe to stage a play in his domain. His fellow tyrants plan to sacrifice the massive audience as fuel for a demonic summoning, but Grimsort finds himself unexpectedly swayed by the actors’ bravura performance. While not particularly lengthy, this story is rich with gothic imagery and fascinating characters. Its celebration of the power storytelling can have even over the most hardened heart also appealed.

A Book of Blades: Volume II concludes with “The Horror from the Stars,” by Steve Dilks. Like Charles Clark’s “The White Tower” at the very beginning of the anthology and “The Geomancer’s Son” by J. Thomas Howard, this story involves a close encounter with a threat from outer space. (The Sword & Sorcery subgenre predates the firmer separation of fantasy from science fiction to which modern readers have grown accustomed, and I have a particular soft spot for warrior vs. alien stories.) “The Horror from the Stars” begins with Bohun arriving in the city of Ibn-Shahk, determined to reclaim his abducted wife from the sultan’s harem or die trying. He’s warned of a string of mysterious disappearances since the sultan’s retrieval of a “fallen star” from the desert, and soon comes face-to-face with the sadistic otherworldly intelligence behind the throne. While Bohun’s final triumph felt a little too easily attained given what we’re shown of the alien’s capabilities, both the action and horrific elements are exciting and cinematically presented.

While some contributions are reprints from other venues and I was slightly disappointed that the artwork didn’t directly tie to the included stories, A Book of Blades: Volume II feels like an enthusiastic labor of love. Brisk action is the hallmark of these stories, and there’s more than enough here to justify the purchase for fans of grimdark fantasy.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on September 6, 2023.

Conan the Barbarian #2

By Jim Zub (Writer) and Roberto De La Torre (Artist) – Titan Comics – August 30, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

The second issue of Titan Comics’ Conan the Barbarian begins in the ashes of Aquilonian frontier outpost Hauler’s Roam. Conan and the Pictish scout Brissa watch from hiding as the undead “Tribe of the Lost” wordlessly gather together the bodies of their savaged victims. Loading the corpses into a net they drag behind them, the rotting horde heads north, crossing the border into Conan’s homeland of Cimmeria. Sole survivors of the supernatural raid, Conan and Brissa follow in pursuit, hoping both to warn Cimmerian warriors of the encroaching threat and learn the location of the larger army of zombies. Along the way Conan and Brissa learn more about one another, with initial mistrust eventually giving way to camaraderie.

The artwork for this issue is the best seen thus far. For Conan the Barbarian #1 I commented that the reader’s viewpoint often felt a bit too distant from the action, obscuring facial expressions and other fine details. Issue #2 displays a marked improvement on that front. Not only are we given a clearer look at character’s faces, they are good faces as well. As to be expected given the situation, Conan mostly wears an expression of grim determination throughout the issue, but Roberto De La Torre avoids stone-faced monotony through subtle attention to Conan’s eyes. Now that we’re able to get a better look at her face, we can see that Brissa is rendered in a style that would not be out of place alongside Belit, Valeria, Red Sonja, and other warrior women and love interests from the 1970s issues of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, rather than a more modern standard for comic book heroines. This consistency with the classic artwork is appreciated. While the characters and fight scenes take center stage, De La Torre’s art also does a quietly effective job showcasing the rugged wilderness of Cimmeria.

There’s more narration than dialogue in Conan the Barbarian #2, but Jim Zub continues to take a light hand with the text. He mostly lets the artwork speak for itself, using brief and evocative language as needed to communicate the less visual aspects of the story. Most of this issue is taken up by overland travel, but there are some nice character moments as Brissa and Conan—thrown together by circumstance—gradually feel each other out. The Tribe of the Lost and the unseen power commanding it remain mysterious, but some intriguing hints are revealed.

There has been a small amount of grumbling from canon purists about the coziness of comic book Conan’s relationship with the Pict Brissa. In “The Black Stranger,” one of the original short stories by Robert E. Howard, Conan takes considerable umbrage at another character’s suggestion that he has been living among the Picts: “Even a Zingaran ought to know there’s never been peace between Picts and Cimmerians, and never will be.” The comic book Conan is much younger than the one depicted in “The Black Stranger,” and I’m curious to see if this long-standing feud between Cimmerians and Picts will be reflected in the plot developments of subsequent issues of Conan the Barbarian.

Conan scholar Jeffrey Shanks’ brief article for this issue takes no position on “Pictgate”; instead he draws a connection between Zub’s comic character Brissa and the lineage of Howard’s Pictish characters Brule the Spear-slayer and Bran Mak Morn. The issue concludes with a letters column, in which Zub reiterates a statement he has made in interviews, that his intent for Titan Comics’ Conan the Barbarian is to focus on creating new tales, rather than retell classic adventures. A laudable goal, in this reader’s opinion.

Enthusiasm remains high regarding Conan’s comic revival, with Conan the Barbarian #1 reportedly outselling all Titan Comics releases to date. A third printing of the first issue is in the works, and Titan reports that this second issue is already back at the printers for a second run. Conan the Barbarian #2 maintains the high standard of quality seen in #1 and the Free Comic Book Day issue #0 and is an easy recommendation for fans of dark fantasy comics.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on August 31, 2023.

Lord of a Shattered Land

By Howard Andrew Jones – Baen Books – August 1, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Lord of a Shattered Land opens immediately after the decisive conclusion of a brutal, genocidal war. After two previous conflicts were fought to stalemate, the expansionist Dervan Empire has finally succeeded in crushing Volanus. Not just content to dominate the rival city-state militarily, the Dervans exterminated nearly all the populace, razed Volanus’ iconic silver towers, and salted its fields. The handful of survivors were shipped back to the Empire in chains. Leading troops in the field, Hanuvar—Volanus’ greatest general—was absent for the obliteration of his homeland. Having witnessed him plummet into the ocean from a great height, the Dervan legions rejoiced at the death of their hated foe. But reports of Hanuvar’s demise have proved premature. After washing up on an island, Hanuvar immediately pits his formidable military mind against the Dervans anew. He vows not to rest until every Volani survivor has been freed from slavery.

First volume in a planned five-book saga entitled The Chronicles of Hanuvar, Lord of a Shattered Land has an unusual structure. Rather than a conventional novel, it’s a cycle of 14 linked short stories. Each chapter is a self-contained story but taken together they tell a greater narrative. Unlike the fix-up novels of classic science fiction and fantasy, where disparate short stories are tied together post facto, the individual component stories that make up The Chronicles of Hanuvar were intended from conception to contribute to a planned, overarching plot. This structure feels a bit like a market-driven compromise between the typical short story format of Sword & Sorcery fiction (Jones is a vocal proponent of Sword & Sorcery and also serves as editor of the subgenre’s premiere magazine, Tales From The Magician’s Skull) and major publishers’ preference for multi-volume epic fare, but in the end it works surprisingly well. Each chapter satisfies as a bite-sized piece of entertainment while still providing a sense of overall progression and forward momentum.

While many of the stories collected in Lord of a Shattered Land involve Hanuvar traveling to a new locale, encountering Volani survivors, and attempting to free them from the yoke of Dervan slavery, there is significant variation in tone throughout the book. Straightforward man vs. monster Sword & Sorcery tales are included alongside heist and espionage stories. There’s even a fairytale: “Shroud of Feathers.” While Hanuvar himself displays too much integrity to be considered a grimdark hero, his mission and the setting are decidedly grim, with the oppressive cruelty of the Dervan Empire on constant display. Depictions of violence are generally brief—Hanuvar tends to eliminate threats with cold efficiency—but graphic, and chapters like “The Eyes of the Reaper,” “The Missing Man,” and “The Light of the Lovely Ones” emphasize horrific elements, venturing deep into dark territory.

Given the nature of the book, whether Lord of a Shattered Land will be successful for a given reader or not depends greatly on how they react to Hanuvar as a character. Jones makes no secret that his hero is inspired by the great general Hannibal of Carthage, known for his strategic genius in the Punic Wars against Rome. While historically the destruction of Carthage took place decades after Hannibal’s death, Jones has Hanuvar survive the razing of his Carthage analogue, rising again as a sort of avenging angel for his people. Fiftyish and hindered by chronic war injuries, Hanuvar relies on clever tactics, decades of hard-earned experience, and steely determination. Despite all the historical flavoring, however, Hanuvar’s preternatural competence and tendency to be several steps ahead of the opposition reminded me of cinematic spy heroes like James Bond, or Ethan Hunt from the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series. Some of the quieter moments in the book reveal that Hanuvar carries a great deal of survivor’s guilt for not being present at the destruction of Volanus, but he never allows himself to wallow in self-pity or indulge himself in “extracurricular” revenge. The mission to free his enslaved countrymen is always first and foremost in his mind, and deep within enemy territory he frequently finds himself left with no choice but to work alongside citizens of the very Empire that destroyed his homeland.

While readers who prefer significantly flawed or morally ambiguous protagonists may be left cold by Hanuvar’s righteous certitude, Lord of a Shattered Land is ideal for fans of intensely driven, hyper-competent heroes. The episodic nature of the storytelling makes it an ideal book for brief reading sessions, and the individual chapters span a wide range of story types. The pseudo-Mediterranean setting and Roman trappings are also a nice change of pace from Northern European-inspired fantasy.

Readers who enjoy Lord of a Shattered Land will not have long to wait for a sequel. The City of Marble and Blood is set to arrive this October, with two further volumes in The Chronicles of Hanuvar scheduled for release in 2024.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on August 12, 2023.

Conan the Barbarian #1

By Jim Zub (Writer) and Roberto De La Torre (Artist) – Titan Comics – August 2, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

This first installment of Titan Comics’ Conan the Barbarian is set eight years after the debut Free Comic Book Day issue. Still just 24 years old, Conan is already a veteran of numerous battles and brushes with supernatural horrors. Since putting his homeland of Cimmeria behind him, he’s ranged from Asgard to Nemedia, Corinthia to Zamora. As a teenager he left the burned-out outpost of Venarium curious about the outside world, only to discover dishonorable men at every turn. Tired and embittered, he has come full circle, to the northern Aquilonian frontier town of Hauler’s Roam, not far from both Venarium and Cimmeria. After a violent altercation with the incompetent and cowardly leader of his most recent employer, a mercenary band, Conan pauses to consider his next move. His respite is short-lived, however, as an enigmatic Pictish horsewoman gallops into town warning of the Army of the Lost: a horde of undead raiders. As the sky is plunged into an eerie darkness, Conan must once more take up his sword against a preternatural threat.

In this first full-length issue, Robert De La Torre’s artwork continues to display a strong (and pleasing!) John Buscema influence without slavishly aping the fan-favorite Marvel artist. The artwork is dynamic and gory, with a surprising number of decapitations for a single issue. There’s also a single panel with bare breasts on display, perhaps signaling that this series will hew closer to the more adult-oriented Savage Sword of Conan magazine of the 1970s than the all-ages Marvel Conan the Barbarian comic that ran in parallel. My only complaint with the artwork thus far is that sometimes the “camera” feels a little too distant from the action, making faces indistinct.

Jim Zub’s writing is punchy but restrained. Quite frequently comic authors seeking to emulate Conan creator Robert E. Howard’s “blood and thunder” prose end up cramming too much text into the panels, paradoxically slowing the reader down with wordy, breathless narration. Zub wisely lets the artwork do the heavy lifting, highlighting and emphasizing the action with his text rather than unnecessarily repeating it.

As with the Free Comic Book Day issue, Conan the Barbarian #1 closes with another brief article by Conan scholar Jeffrey Shanks, this time entitled “Robert E. Howard and His Ages Undreamed Of.” As the Pictish people feature heavily in this issue, Shanks discusses how Picts, Atlanteans, Lemurians, and other antediluvian races reappear across Howard’s non-Conan work, resulting in a sort of greater shared universe. Shanks’ essays provide useful context for the original stories that inspired the comic and are kept brief enough that they’re unlikely to intimidate newcomers. Intriguingly, both this and the previous essay seem to hint that Titan Comics and Howard Estate rights-holders Heroic Signatures are planning to gradually expand their collaboration to non-Conan characters. Perhaps King Kull of Atlantis and the vengeful Puritan Solomon Kane are due for a comeback.

Titan’s Conan the Barbarian #1 starts off with a bang, very clearly setting expectations for the series to come. We’re introduced to Conan, given a quick demonstration of the rough honor code this barbarian lives by, and then see him pitted against a rapidly escalating otherworldly menace. The stage has been set for a compelling original Conan adventure and I look forward to seeing the creative team ramp up the excitement in subsequent issues.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on July 21, 2023.

Conan the Barbarian – Free Comic Book Day 2023

By Jim Zub (Writer) and Roberto De La Torre (Artist) – Titan Comics – May 6, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

The 2023 Free Comic Book Day issue of Conan the Barbarian is set deep within the grim, hilled land of Cimmeria, Conan’s homeland. After crushing three Cimmerian villages in the process, the expansionist Aquilonian empire has established the frontier outpost of Venarium. The Cimmerian barbarian tribes’ internecine feuds have left their lands ripe for colonization, or so the arrogant Aquilonians believed. Now the barbarians—temporarily united by their hatred for the foreign interlopers—scale Venarium’s palisades. Among their number is Conan, just fifteen years of age and already more impressively built than most fully grown men. It is at Venarium where Conan first bloodies his blade. Picking through the outpost’s loot he also, unexpectedly, finds himself afflicted with an intense curiosity about the outside world.

This Free Comic Book Day issue marks the first installment of Conan the Barbarian from UK publisher Titan Comics. It may sound strange to say this about a comic starring a bloody-handed barbarian, but it feels like this introduction to the new Conan the Barbarian series is about reassuring fans. While Conan is one of the most venerable fantasy characters in comics, his publication history has been rocky in recent years. The fledgling Titan Comics line appears to be an attempt to provide some welcome stability.

Excitement surrounded the return of the Conan the Barbarian comic book to Marvel in 2019. Conan’s 15 year stretch at Dark Horse was largely successful, but to long-time comic fans the original Marvel run beginning in 1970 is still the first incarnation of the character to come to mind. The one penned by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith and later John Buscema, with all of them operating at the height of their formidable powers. To many, the relaunch of the Conan the Barbarian and companion Savage Sword of Conan series felt like a homecoming.

It didn’t take long for cracks to appear, however. The flagship Conan the Barbarian series was well-received, but Marvel’s editorial decision-makers also wasted no time incorporating the venerable character into the greater Marvel universe. The Avengers: No Road Home (2019) story line saw him join forces with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. Conan also took on a primary role in the subsequent Savage Avengers series, alongside Wolverine, The Punisher, Venom, etc. While crossovers such as these were not unknown during the classic Marvel era, they were largely confined to the non-canon What If…? title. Many readers—not limited to purist fans of Robert E. Howard’s original literary Conan, but also including fans from the crossover-light Dark Horse Comics era—opposed this sort of crossing of the streams.

Far more damaging, however, were the production and publication days that accompanied the pandemic. After the conclusion of Jason Aaron’s “The Life and Death of Conan” arc, writing duties on the core Conan the Barbarian title passed to fantasy comic veteran Jim Zub. Just two issues into Zub’s “Into the Crucible” story line, production was halted, with supply chain issues cited as the cause. There was a seven-month gap between issues, stunting the momentum the plot had accumulated. The mainline Conan the Barbarian series lasted ten more issues, and a six-issue King Conan miniseries followed, but by mid-2022 Marvel announced they had declined to renew the Conan character license.

With the Marvel experience still fresh in public memory, Titan Comic’s Free Comic Book Day issue of Conan the Barbarian seems like an attempt to satisfy and reassure three segments of the audience: neophytes, existing Conan comic fans, and fans of the original pulp fiction character.

Newcomers to the character are given an easily digestible origin story; they’re introduced to Conan during his very first battle and learn the motivation for his wandering life of adventure. There’s no exposition info-dump or dense setting lore, we meet the hero when he’s just starting out, see him in an action-packed situation, and receive some tantalizing hints about future adventures.

Readers already familiar with earlier comic book incarnations are given an immediately familiar-looking depiction of the character: Roberto De La Torre’s lines are strongly reminiscent of John Buscema’s classic Marvel portrayal of Conan. Jim Zub has been given another chance to write the character, and even the colorist and letterer (Jose Villarrubia and Richard Starkings, respectively) are veterans of the Dark Horse Conan series. When Conan’s future love interest Belit is glimpsed in a brief foreshadowing sequence, she appears in her classic Marvel furs. When Conan leaves Venarium behind in search of adventure, he even picks up and dons a horned helmet vaguely similar to the one given him by original Marvel artist Barry Windsor-Smith. The message seems to be that this is the comics Conan you know and love, delivered by people you can trust.

Finally, while they might not be the largest audience or the most impactful on comics sales, fans of Conan creator Robert E. Howard’s original pulp stories are also given some attention. The sack of Venarium depicted in this issue is adapted from a few lines in “Beyond the Black River,” a short story that appeared in a 1935 issue of Weird Tales magazine. When the reader is given a glimpse of Conan’s future exploits, situations from Conan’s other pulp appearances (“The God in the Bowl,” “The Tower of the Elephant,” “Rogues in the House,” “The Queen of the Black Coast”) are shown. The issue even concludes with a brief essay by Howard scholar Jeffrey Shanks that highlights the character’s long literary history and explores why Conan’s stories still resonate today.

While the Free Comic Book Day issue of Conan the Barbarian is only a brief taste, this fan has been duly reassured. De La Torre’s artwork is gorgeous and dynamic, and it hearkens back to some of the most beloved depictions of the character. Jim Zub has been vocal about his enthusiasm for Conan for many years, and there’s no other active comic writer I trust more to do the barbarian justice. Conan the Barbarian Issue #1 can’t come soon enough.

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