Conan The Barbarian: Bound In Black Stone Is An Awesome Start To A New Series

The new Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Blackstone marks a new era for everyone’s favourite Cimmerian, and it’s a superb start. Written by Jim Zub (Avengers, Dungeons & Dragons) with art by Roberto De La Torre (Invincible Iron Man, King-Size Conan), it evokes the work of not just Robert E Howard, but also the dynamic Conan comic-creating duo of my youth – Roy Thomas and John Buscema.

What’s it all about? Official blurb and Scifi Ward blurb.

Here’s the official blurb:

“Armed with only his wits and weapon, Conan set out from his homeland of Cimmeria in search of glory and adventure. Now, years later, a mysterious scout warns him of an imminent threat on the march, one that could destroy Conan’s birthplace and the rest of the world. Will the Cimmerian and his new ally be able to stop this horde of invaders and discover the strange dark power that controls them?”

The collection is four comics combined that form a single story arc. (You get a load of other stuff too, but more on that later.)

The story kicks off with a 14-year-old Conan fighting in the Battle of Venarium. I knew this battle occurred, as it was mentioned more than once in comics and books. I think an older Conan has a flashback about it in one of the novels. But as far as I know, it has never featured as a story in its own right, and it was great to see.

Even though he is a young teen, Conan is still huge, muscled, and good at smiting. After the battle, he finds a cool sword and then gets a bit reflective. He realises he is filled with wanderlust and a need for adventure.

There’s a superb full-page panel that captures a snapshot of future adventures, featuring him in the Tower of the Elephant, a fight with a gorilla (which he does a few times), and even a picture of Bêlit. It’s nicely done, and although it wasn’t labelled, as a Conan fan, I knew what I was looking at.

The proper Bound in Black Stone story then begins with Conan travelling with a group of mercenaries in a small border town in north Aquilonia, on the border of Cimmeria. It is the nearest he has been to his homeland in eight years. It kicks off with a pub fight, like so many Conan tales.

A Pictish warrior woman called Brissa arrives and warns them all of an approaching army of undead ghoulish things. She warns that if they don’t clear out, they will all be slaughtered. They don’t clear out, and it turns out she was right.

Conan and Brissa decide to follow the ghouls to see if there is some way of stopping them. The ones they had encountered were just a scout party. Brissa says there are a lot more, and they are probably already in Cimmeria. The two head off into Conan’s homeland in search of an explanation and revenge.

A review of Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone

I’m a HUGE Conan fan. I have read every one of Robert E. Howard’s stories, and around twenty of the books that came out from the sixties onwards. I used to read the colour comics occasionally, but mostly read The Savage Sword of Conan, as it was easier to get in Hong Kong in the 70s (where I grew up). I still have the first 50 editions in my parents’ attic.

Bound in Black Stone is, in my humble opinion, a superb return to form. Jim Zub’s writing is strongly evocative of Robert E. Howard’s, which was on purpose, according to an interview at the back of the collection.

The story is a lot of fun. Lots of dark magic, ancient gods, and zombies – what’s not to like? It is a classic Conan tale of him and a hot, spirited female getting into fights and battling occult darkness and evil. It’s great fun.

I felt that the stalwart barbarian had more motivation and character depth than usual in this story. Not a lot, he is still steely-eyed and strong of spirit and thew, but just a little. He feels like a character who has ambitions and questions about himself. His return home after eight years of swashbuckling adventure makes him feel a bit more human. He is still a killing machine, but a slightly more relatable one.

Brissa is also a good character. She is strong, attractive, a fighter, and feisty. Very much the strong female that Howard would write, surprising as that is for the time he was writing. Think Valeria, Red Sonja, or Bêlit.

Then there is the art by Roberto De La Torre, which is superb. Some artists draw Conan in a way that frankly annoys me, but this is a Conan I like. It reminded me of Buscema back in the 80s Savage Sword days, except in full colour and on glossy, thick paper.

It is always clear what is going on, and everything looks superb. I think he used to draw some Savage Swords, so he knows how to draw muscular people lopping limbs off each other, and can create a decent monster.

So as far as story, writing, characters, and art go – I am a big fan.

The extra stuff you get in the Deluxe Collection

The collection is superb. It doesn’t just feature the prologue and the four main parts of the comic, there are also a lot of extra goodies. For starters, it has the best Hyborian map I have ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of Hyborian maps. It even includes Vendhya and Khitai, which is nice.

There is also a lot of extra art. Some are full-page masterpieces – usually at the start of a section. But at the back, there are also lots of very cool retro covers and bonus artworks, such as battle scenes and character sketches.

Then there are several essays. The opening one is Roy Thomas, who apparently came up with the title Conan the Barbarian (with approval from Stan Lee) back in 1970. It’s only a page, but it is really interesting. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and it was Roy Thomas and John Buscema who created some of my favourite Conan comics. 

Near the back, there’s a fascinating article by Jeffrey Shanks (a Howard guru) that gives a brief history of Conan and some other famous characters. I knew a lot of them, but not all, and I didn’t know how they fitted in with the Howard’s universe. It also gives an explanation of how Bound in Black Stone ties in with the Picts and links to other characters like Kull, Brule, and Bran Mak Morn. I don’t know how appealing this would be to non-Howard fans, but I found it fascinating.

At the end, there is an interesting interview with Jim Zub, the writer, about his influences and what he wants to achieve with this new Titan Comics and Dark Signatures series. He also gives an insight into how the comic was written, and there are a few examples of the slightly different process used. It’s pretty cool and something I have always wondered about.

Is Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone Deluxe Edition worth buying?

I loved this and am excited for the direction they seem to be heading with these new comics. If you already have all the comics, then maybe think twice about the hardback deluxe version. You’ll miss out on a gorgeous book, great art, and some fascinating essays, but I guess that would be a personal call.

For everyone else – by Crom yes!

If you’re in the UK, you can get this gorgeous hardback from Forbidden Planet by clicking on this link.

If you are in the US, you can get this mighty tome by clicking here for Amazon (Affiliate), Barnes & Noble, and Book a Million.