Conan the Barbarian #1

“The Life & Death of Conan, Part One:  The Weird of the Crimson With”

Writer:  Jason Aaron

Artist:  Mahmud Asrar

Cover Ar5t:  Esad Ribic

Marvel Comics have regained the rights to Conan the Barbarian and have jumped at the chance to once again publish the adventures of everyone’s favorite sword swinging barbarian (not named Groo).

Conan the Barbarian #1 attracted my attention for one major reason.  I was never a huge fan of Conan.  I know him, saw the movies, but I did not collect his previous comics, whether or not they were with Marvel.  But the difference this time was the fact that one name was attached to this series:  Jason Aaron.

I have found myself to be a fan of Jason Aaron from his days on the Thor series and when I heard he was coming to try his hand at Conan, I decide that I would give it a read.

I really enjoyed the issue.  It is just the first in a story arc, but I found it engaging and interesting.  I loved the story and the characterization Aaron brought to Conan.  It has a feel of the days when we were getting different ages of Thor and I am excited to see where this takes the creation of Robert E. Howard.

I will also add that I found the artist style of Mahmud Asrar to fit this book perfectly.  There is a savageness to the pages, a feel of grunginess to the panels that works remarkably well and creates a beautiful image for the violence on the page.  It really works for Conan.

I am going to continue to pick up the Conan the Barbarian series and I will tentatively check out the upcoming Savage Sword of Conan (which is not written by Jason Aaron) book as well.