In Review: Conan The Barbarian #4

Synopsis: Years after the battle of Venarium, a weary Conan returns to his homeland to see rest and solitude. However, a mysterious scout rides in to warn the Cimmerians of an imminent threat on the march from the Pictish wilderness. Will Conan and his new ally be able to hold off this new horde of invaders?

The Story

Having taken the battle to the undead warriors in the last issue. Conan and his men take a leap of faith into a chasm that seemingly doesn’t have an end. As Conan falls he is enveloped by blackness until he meets a lone Pict Warrior who tells him the origins of the undead warriors and of a mysterious black statue that seems to take hold of his tribe. The Warrior asks Conan to fight and destroy the black statue that has caused this terrible evil. It’s a call to battle that burns bright in Conan’s blood as he charges forth in a fight that will free his people and cleanse the land of evil.

The Artwork

Roberto De la Torre produces some brilliant artwork for this issue. I really like the sequence of panels where we see Conan falling through the chasm that they all lept into in the last issue. But the best panels are when Conan meets the Pict Warrior. I really enjoyed the way in which each panel during this sequence worked in tandem with what the warrior was saying. It’s a brilliant example of a comic book writer and artists working well together and the give and take involved between the writer and artist.

Overall

Jim Zub’s first story arc of Conan with Titan comics comes to a crushing conclusion with Conan and his men doing what must be done. However, we do get a bit of a tease on the last page that suggests that the threat from the vanquished black statue isn’t quite over. So it will be interesting to see how this all pans out as the series moves forward.