Dean White (1)

This is volume three of Zub's "Black Stone" storyline of Conan comics, and while I haven't read the previous two volumes, it doesn't really matter - I'd guess he's had to fight wizards and monsters, flexing his "mighty thews"💪🏼 and killing anyone and anything within reach of his sword 🗡️

That said, it's exactly what I want from a Conan comic, and - Bonus! This one sees him cast back in time 80,000 years to Valusia and an encounter with Kull of Atlantis!
Further fan service with an show more appearance by Yag-Kosha, the elephant-headed alien from Robert E. Howard's original Conan story, "The Tower of the Elephant".

All told, an excellent (if at one point gratuitously sexist) adventure, and I hope my library has more in this series. show less

This third trade paper collection of the 2020s Titan Comics series of the Conan the Barbarian comic book includes issues 9 through 12. The writing is still by Jim Zub, who has been with the book since the first issue, and Roberto De La Torre's return to principal illustration duties is very welcome.

The Age Unconquered continues and intensifies the involvement of Conan with his Thurian Age predecessor Brule the Spear Slayer, to the point of actual time travel that results in a full-fledged show more four-issue "crossover" arc with King Kull, culminating in a confrontation with Thulsa Doom. This book has a gorgeous two-page map of the Thurian Age world by Francesca Baereld.

Unlike the previous volume, the plot is pretty fully resolved at the end of this one, and it brings a full twelve-issue story to a satisfactory close. Overall, the quality of the art and writing is consistent with that in the first four issues. It shows a little incremental improvement in De La Torre's case, as he has become more practiced with the characters and setting. Zub's prose and pacing is likewise slightly better, and he pulls off the bold plotting choice of putting Conan and Kull together.

Jeffrey Shanks' literary notes run to four pages in the back of this volume, and these also continue to improve in their interest and lucidity, with lots of background on the creation of the Thurian Age, the Kull character, and Thulsa Doom. The appended alternate cover gallery has reduced the images once more to postage-stamp size, making it more of a collector's checklist than a satisfying reproduction of any of the art involved. show less