Broken Frontier

King Conan at last discovers the full machinations of Ra-Sidh and the Stygian Empire, and finds himself face-to-face with the oldest of the dark gods.

The Aquilonian forces band together against an undead army, while their King and a small retinue of others take the battle to their enemy -- a defrocked priest of Thoth-Amon and the most ancient of the dark gods that he intends to call forth. Sad for Conan and crew, but friggin’ awesome for fans, the dark god cometh, and Conan is thrust into a fierce, bloody, and desperate battle he can’t hope to win.

Editor Scott Allie called Conan and the Midnight God "the biggest Conan tale yet" (insofar as the Dark Horse franchise is concerned), and definitely, in sheer scope of the tale, this is 100% accurate. Personally, I love it when Conan is put up against the supernatural, my favorite Conan comic tale of all being The Skull of Set (original Marvel graphic novel from the 80’s by Moench and Gulacy). And while Midnight God doesn’t quite have that golden oldie’s flawless pacing and intermingling of plots, it successfully illustrates what a beautiful blend Conan and epic end-of-the-world conceits can be.

Joshua Dysart wraps up his Conan opus with the very best issue of the series yet, and in fact I’d even say "by far." Earlier issues, for all their quality, were awkwardly paced, and while the pieces for an excellent story were present, the script as a whole didn’t gel, and the story’s been more an oddity, with the occasional, exceptional sequence, but overall a pile of loose-hanging threads to what should have been a monumental Conan yarn. Transitions and moment-to-moment clarity have always been Dysart’s weaknesses, even as far back as his highly enjoyable Violent Messiahs. As with his past work, it all comes together in the end, and the final issue is straight-up kick ass and wonderful, but it’s a shame the previous four issues couldn’t have held the same cohesive quality.

Will Conrad also gets a chance to go to town and prove his worth in this issue, depicting Conan’s furious battle with the epynonymous Midnight God. I was never sold on Conrad as being the best choice for a dark supernatural tale, no matter his Buffy background (his work needs some serious spandex to treat it right!), but he manages a pretty gritty Deodato riff here, and his illustrations of the god are phenomenal, truly a majestic presentation that showcases the being as off-the-charts in stature, an other-worldly element. With the potential shown, Conrad is adamantly here to stay, a rising star in the mainstream world, and hopefully, he’ll be able to blow everyone away with his upcoming Kull series.

So a flawed mini, but a gorgeously realized ending. Hats off to everyone involved here - it was about time we got a King Conan tale, and I certainly can’t argue with the ambitions connected to the one we got, no matter its faults. Dark Horse’s Robert E. Howard corner is one of the absolute best things going on in the industry right now, and Conan and the Midnight God is one of their more memorable offerings. Check this one out and get ready for some big, big stuff!