104 replies to this topic

[DrSolarMOTA]

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #5
Brian Wood (W), James Harren (A), Dave Stewart ©, and Massimo Carnevale (Cover)
On sale June 13
FC, 32 pages
$3.50
Ongoing
Brian Wood and James Harren turn up the intensity in "The Argos Deception" Part 2!
Conan’s pirate days may already be over! Captured for his past crimes in Messantia, the Cimmerian faces public execution before a mob baying for his blood. But will he really lose his head—or is it all part of the plan?

• Brian Wood’s (DMZ, Northlanders) red-hot run on Conan continues!
• Art by rising star James Harren (Nation X, B.P.R.D.)!

"Brian Wood is not a writer that pulls punches." -- Comic Book Resources
"James Harren knows how to dig down deep and channel some fear for his monsters." -- ComicsBulletin


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This is the exact opposite of the REH Savage Sword #5 cover.  Not a fan.  Sorry Dark Horse.

[emerald]

Whoa.
Conan the 13 year old kid.
With bleached skin.

I'm all for artistic licence, but how the heck did we get to this from anything anywhere in Queen of the Black Coast?

[Aquilonia]

Everybody here just criticizes.
Before reading Emerald`s comment above, and after seeing the image of # 6, I thought to myself "wow, what a nice cover, very different approach. Mr. Carnevale is keeping his work fresh".
I like the cover and I`m very happy also to see that Dave Stewart is coloring the book since # 1. His colors are the best in the market! I love it.
But Conan`s skin shouldn`t be white, really.

Edited by Aquilonia, 27 February 2012 - 09:55 PM.

[emerald]

Aw come on, Aquilonia!
I've seen hundreds of Conan covers and this is the first ever to depict the Cimmerian as a pre-teen with ivory skin.

I am entitled to be surprised.

[Aquilonia]

You are right. The cimmerian looks pre-teen, really. It sucks. I`m with you on that. I just can`t figure out why Carnevale decided to go with this "child" approach.
But I like the colors, and the dinamic of the cover. Plus, we still have Dave Stewart on the book. Can`t wait to see his work on Harren`s pencils.

[VenariumDisease]

I don't think Conan the Waif is Carnevale's creation. I think he is bound to making a Conan which matches the interior art. I'm slowly starting to accept that that's just how it's going to be. That being said, this piece has excellent dimension, detail and sense of movement.

[Taranaich]

All I can say is: if Conan's 6' (at the very least), how freakin' huge is his friend there? Looks to be a good eight or nine feet.

[amster]

You guys all have it backwards. The guy with the goatee and the mace is Conan.

[emerald]

You guys all have it backwards. The guy with the goatee and the mace is Conan.

Geez, he's battling it out with pallid little pixies now?
The thrill level is so high as to be nigh unendurable.

Actually, if the cover featured the barbarian with that goatee I'd have been a lot less surprised.

[KG Thunder]

Bah. I think it's the cowlick way his hair is flying that reminds me of some 1950s children paintings or something. Also, and this is super nitpicky, the placement of his left nipple looks odd...

Not liking this at all.

[Officer Aggro]

...he placement of his left nipple looks odd...

Not liking this at all.

Neither am I. Conan looks terrible...absolutely terrible. And his entire left pectoral looks painfully warped and out of proportion. His opponent, however, looks fantastic. I especially like the angle of the mace - right in our faces. I wish he was Conan, like amster says.

[Ironhand]

When I first saw that pic, I thought, "Where's Conan?" Then I read Amster's comment, and now I'm waiting to see how and where Conan grew a goatee and got his head shaved.

This is the result of Cloonan poisoning the well. By the time this series is over, Conan will be 5 years old.

Edited by Ironhand, 28 February 2012 - 08:47 AM.

[VenariumDisease]

When I first saw that pic, I thought, "Where's Conan?" Then I read Amster's comment, and now I'm waiting to see how and where Conan grew a goatee and got his head shaved.

This is the result of Cloonan poisoning the well. By the time this series is over, Conan will be 5 years old.

That's what I was eluding to. I'd like to see what Carnevale would have come up with if he wasn't restrained by Cloonan's precedent. He's got the chops to deliver a great Conan cover for sure, but it's Cloonan's vision of Conan that's mucking it up.

[Slashing Sword]

Road of Kings was an ok story with terrible art but great covers... each of them. So far CtB covers are bad along with inside art. DH is back to its bad covers tradition.

[amster]

When I first saw that pic, I thought, "Where's Conan?" Then I read Amster's comment, and now I'm waiting to see how and where Conan grew a goatee and got his head shaved.

This is the result of Cloonan poisoning the well. By the time this series is over, Conan will be 5 years old.

That's what I was eluding to. I'd like to see what Carnevale would have come up with if he wasn't restrained by Cloonan's precedent. He's got the chops to deliver a great Conan cover for sure, but it's Cloonan's vision of Conan that's mucking it up.

I have to say that I agree. After issue #1, I was willing to cut Cloonan some slack, but come on. I mean, come on!

[ZackDavisson]

"James Harren knows how to dig down deep and channel some fear for his monsters." -- ComicsBulletin

Hey! That is a quote of me!

ADVANCE REVIEW: B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1
http://www.comicsbul...th-long-death-1

[Ironhand]

This morning I awoke from a dream in which I was looking at that cover. My first thought on waking was "It was only a dream. What a relief!" But no, it wasn't a dream. It's real. That picture of a 13-year-old (or maybe a well-developed eleven-year-old). He doesn't look old enough to break a bull's neck with his bare hands. Notice that he has even lost the stubble he had in CTB #1. Is this the warrior that Belit fell in love with? "fierce and hard as a gray wolf"? "tiger of the North, cold as the snowy mountains which bred" him? Is Belit some kind of cherry-busting pederast?

In one mad instant she was there--a tense white shape, vibrant with love fierce as a she-panther's. The dazed Cimmerian saw between him and the onrushing death, her lithe figure, shimmering like ivory beneath the moon; he saw the blaze of her dark eyes, the thick cluster of her burnished hair; her bosom heaved, her red lips were parted, she cried out sharp and ringing at the ring of steel as she thrust at the winged monster's breast.

"Mommy!" screamed Conan.

Edited by Ironhand, 29 February 2012 - 08:56 AM.

[Ironhand]

When I first saw that pic, I thought, "Where's Conan?" Then I read Amster's comment, and now I'm waiting to see how and where Conan grew a goatee and got his head shaved.

This is the result of Cloonan poisoning the well. By the time this series is over, Conan will be 5 years old.

That's what I was eluding to. I'd like to see what Carnevale would have come up with if he wasn't restrained by Cloonan's precedent. He's got the chops to deliver a great Conan cover for sure, but it's Cloonan's vision of Conan that's mucking it up.

Since Cloonan totally disregarded the precedent of the previous Conan series, I think that Carnivale or anyone else would be totally within their rights to disregard Cloonan's precedent. And I hope they do.

I'll give her chops for her Belit, but her Conan is fodder for the chopping block, or the shredder.

Edited by Ironhand, 29 February 2012 - 08:59 AM.

[Ironhand]

All I can say is: if Conan's 6' (at the very least), how freakin' huge is his friend there? Looks to be a good eight or nine feet.

Maybe he's a frost giant.

[Libaax]

Guys dont blame the cover artist for what the writer,interior artists are doing.

Carnevale is an awesome cover artist from his Northlander viking covers. This cover looks action filled, awesome if the little ivory skin kid wasnt suppose to be Conan.

So they can write new pastiche stories after Queen of the black coast ? I rather read new stories than bad copies of REH stories....