Monday, June 22, 2015

Graphic Novel: Conan: The Avengers #15 Review


Conan: The Avenger #15

XUTHAL OF THE DUSK PART III

Entering this story’s third chapter of current arc, I had some major anticipation built up within me. First off, Eric Powell (The Goon) gives us an awesome cover. Conan in a hot blooded murdering rampage, fighting an awesomely wicked monster that seems too big to fit on the cover itself. The cover gives the reader the right amount of action you would expect from a Conan story without giving away too much away and is colored in a way that matches classic pulp hero stories. In part, Eric knows how to do an image that grabs your attention that will make you pick a story up off the rack. He’s an ideal cover artist for Conan hands down.

Past the cover, the creative team assembled to greet us in this adaptation of Conan is the always awesome Fred Van Lente (Marvel Zombies) as the writer of the story and the ever talented Guiu Vilanova (After the Fire) who is the story’s artist and man, are they ever fitting for the Conan universe. The way Fred scripted the story to match the panel layouts with dialogue for the characters and captions to be given by an ever invisible narrator, gives this adaptation a sweet classic feel to it. The story reads just like a Robert E. Howard novelette, in the way it builds the tension for the reader within its pacing within the narrator's captions. Fred not only knows how to build the tension perfectly, but, he knows how to not drag it on for too long as the pay off moments in the story come just at the right time. Leaving the reader satisfied and wanting more.

Further more, the story is delivered with the perfect letters and captions done by Richard Starkings & ComicCraft. I mean, this issue gives true testament why Richard is sought after so much in the industry for lettering books. He again proves to the comic fans that lettering a comic is a true art form as he matches the words written by Fred Van Lente to the story seamlessly.

As for Guiu Vilanova, he knows how to make Conan feel classic and yet, new at the same time. What I mean is, for those readers following this story in this issue, Guiu doesn’t disappoint. He knows how Conan moves and breaths. How he would react within in a fight. And when it comes to the women of Conan, Guiu knows how to make them both attractive yet, deadly without making them look manly. Which in many action comics today, seems to be a hard feat to accomplish. I don’t understand why that is in this industry, but, rest assured, Guiu knows how to make a deadly women look both beautiful and dangerous.

Now, for the few downsides of the comic. You should be warned, if you are a person who is faint hearted, this story isn’t for you. The reason I say this, in keeping with the classic Conan feel, this story is not at all P.C. and has adult content in it not meant for young readers. Though it is a great read and I would recommend it to other comic fans new and old, this story is a Conan story. Meaning, women can both be deadly and cannon fodder while being barely being dressed or completely nude . And in this story we get all of this. We get a woman who is manipulative and savagely malevolent, while the other is just a love interest victim for the hero to save.

Also there are a couple of continuity errors in the story, that once I caught them irked me. The one was easily forgiven because it was sacrificed for the sake of the story, so I won't go into detail about it. However, (spoiler alert) the knife scene just felt off. From its delivery to its dialogue. It didn’t feel like the rest of the story but, it was needed. It helped propel the story forward, it just felt rushed.

So in closing, on the comic epicness scale what do I rate Conan The Avenger issue 15?
  • Craptastic
  • Die Hard Fans Only
  • Awesome Sauce
  • Brilliantly Fantastic
  • Epic...

Awesome Sauce! (with a side order of caution)


Thanks for reading Fangirl Review on Conan: The Avenger # 15. Hope to entertain you soon,


Sincerely,

FLIP Knox


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