Broken Frontier

The crown weighs heavy on the head of Conan, but with all eyes toward his successor, a lackluster story is told.

Conan is about to get a major upheaval. People who have never read a tale of the Cimmerian will now be buying the series, and it's all thanks to a powerhouse duo that has made a name for themselves, largely outside of the big two. Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. From Demo and Channel Zero: Jennie One, the two have proven they're amazing together, and on their own projects, such as DMZ and American Virigin, they're great solo.

This is not that book. Conan the Barbarian starts next month; at the end of January, fans still have the old guard and concepts in place, and it's focusing on Conan's rule as king.

Much like the old guard, gods, and concepts, much of The Phoenix on the Sword is antiquated. Told primarily as a flashback, Conan covers a time he had to deal with a traitor. This isn't the issue; the plot is competent enough. The writing is from another era.

Remember books when characters would say their name aloud for the new reader? Remember when characters would tell their plot, aloud, to another character, even if both of them knew it? Much like Brian Michael Bendis effectively killed the thought bubble in recent years, these concepts are just antiquated. Speaking the dialogue aloud almost comes off as a Victorian-era play or stage show.

Maybe this style works for Conan. Conan is a very traditional concept (barbarian warrior, check). that shouldn't be modernized too much; sure, he's been transplanted to the then-modern Marvel Universe as part of What If? Yet, even if such a boisterous and dated manner of dialogue works for Conan, hope remains that Wood can make it enjoyable. As it is, readers are treated to a story that, dialogue-wise, could have come out of the Marvel Bullpen in the 1960s; we're one or two exclamations from a "True Believers!" line.

Visually, the book works. It's gruff and gritty, darkly inked, with blood sparingly, but strongly, used. Faces might be a little overwrought at times, but beyond the muscular physique, nothing in the world of Conan is truly supposed to be that beautiful.

This issue might work for the older fans of Conan. For those who have been reading the current age of mainstream comic books, the writing is just dated. The plot is fine, but dialogue is a large hurdle, and it doesn't read as real. Modern fans are best advised to wait for Wood and Cloonan to come in and make a book like this work for a larger audience.