Conan Vol. 1: The Frost Giant’s Daughter And Other Stories
April 4, 2005 | Trades
Conan Vol. 1: The Frost Giant’s Daughter And Other Stories
Kurt Busiek, Cary Nord
Dark Horse Books
$24.95 US (Hardcover)
**** 1/2 (out of five)
Some people would travel long and hard to get to paradise.
Others do all that and slay a lot of people on the way.
The triumphant return of Conan, the world’s most famous barbarian, lived up to the pre-release hype and became one of most talked about series of 2004.
Writer Kurt Busiek went back to the original tales of Conan, penned in the 1930s by Texan Robert E. Howard, for the inspiration for this series — the first monthly title for the sword-wielding muscleman in nearly 10 years. Beginning with an adaptation of Howard’s The Frost Giant’s Daughter, Busiek immediately erases all memories of cheesy Arnold Schwarzenegger films and shows readers that this hero is one who commands respect. His partner in this endevour, Calgarian artist Cary Nord, takes his work to an astounding level in this volume — showing a gift for capturing the rawness of Conan’s world and yet showing a softness at the same time that is quite mesmerizing.
Conan Vol. 1, which collects the first seven issues along with sketches and other great bonus material, sees the barbarian heading north in search of the fabled land of Hyberborea — where immortals rule and winter never rears its ugly head. But Conan quickly learns that that type of magic comes with a very steep price.
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