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Conan the Barbarian Vol 1: Bound in Black Stone

Written by: Jim Zub
Essays by: Jeffrey Shanks
Art by: Roberto de la Torre
Colors by: Dean White & Jose Villarrubia
Lettering by: Richard Starkings of Comicraft
Map Illustration by: Francesca Baerald

“I can tell you’re different. You lust for something more.”

“I did. I traveled north to Asgard, south to Nemedia, then through Corinthia, Zamora, and other spots I barely remember. Each one a new experience, yet also very much the same.

In every port…more HONORLESS DOGS.”

After a brief (crossover-filled) return stay at Marvel’s House of Ideas, Conan the Barbarian gets a proper “Suggested For Mature Readers” reorientation. Written by the Millennial Roy Thomas, Jim Zub and providing plenty of bone-crunchin’, red-spreadin’ Sword ‘n Sorcery visuals by Roberto de la Torre, Dean White, and Jose Villarrubia, Conan The Barbarian Vol. 1: Bound in Black Stone is a hellishly fun reintroduction to Conan storytelling at the peak of it’s (and the creative’s) abilities.

Collecting the first four issues of the new ongoing, preceded by a hefty, stunning-looking Free Comic Book Day 2023 prologue issue, this new Conan volume 1 seems dead set on returning the character and his audience to the character’s roots as a reaver and roustabout. And my alliteration aside, it kind of fuckin’ nails it. Though the new series takes a more expansive, serialized approach to the character’s mythos (something Zub also made great use of during the newest Marvel Comics stint when he could), the creative team’s characterization and the title’s visuals are spot-bloody-on.

We re-enter the Hyborian Age with a lengthy look at Conan before he set out to forge his legend. Zub and company have one hell of a time during the FCBD Issue, showing us just how and why Cimmeria holds such a special place in the Barbarian’s stony heart, and how its honor-bound but endlessly bloody way of life tempered the grey-eyed hunk we know today.

From there, the arc kicks off properly. We introduce not only the new character Brissa of the Gurian Tribe, a badass new Pict who brings a sorely needed Belit/Red Sonja-esque energy to the title, but also the title’s main threat, which fully leans into the old-school eldritch vibes we’ve come to know and love from Conan the Barbarian. Brissa has brought word of a ruthless, unfeeling horde of undead that have swept across the face of the world.

A horde that, naturally, now has Cimmeria directly in its path.

From there, Zub and company drive Conan and Brissa on an unholy chase. They are trying like mad to warn Conan’s kinsmen of the threat while simultaneously trying to suss out the horde’s goals (and who might be pulling their necrotic strings). Zub, at this point, is a well-practiced hand at Conan storytelling. He displayed a keen understanding of his ever-changing characterization and the sort of stories and subgenres he could operate well throughout. Bound in Black Stone is no exception, but it showcases a wonderful “level up” for Zub’s writing. Especially in the realm of Robert E. Howard and his joyously fun “Weird Tales.”

Not only is he unshackled by the expectations and content restrictions of “Big Two” comic publishing. Able now to have Conan chop heads and engage in more lusty pursuits at the story’s leisure. However, the explicit shift toward more serialized storytelling allows Zub to show a grander scope and granular character details. Things that often get lost in more “one-and-done” styles of comics. But that’s not to say that this new volume isn’t user-friendly! Far from it. Alongside the beefy backmatter of the series, which finds pulp scholar Jeffrey Shanks turning an academic’s eye toward the REH canon, Bound in Black Stone could easily be someone’s first Conan experience. Such is the handle on the cult icon and the readability of the opening yarn.

It certainly doesn’t hurt at all that it looks goddamn phenomenal. Framed tightly by the exquisitely old-school lettering of Comicraft’s Richard Starkings, Roberto de la Torre’s pencils, lavishly colored by the cinematically 70s tonality of Dean White and Jose Villarrubia, are a constant knockout. From a shockingly tender, almost pastoral look at Conan’s memories of Cimmeria to multiple dynamite double-page splashes. Either of Conan and Brissa’s immense talent at death-dealing or (my personal favorite) a vision from beyond the veil of time, thrumming across the page as if alive. No matter the challenge, de la Torre and the colorists more than rise to the occasion, making a damn strong case for Bound in Black Stone being the best-looking modern Conan run so far.

To be sure, I am kind of the perfect audience for something like this. But even beyond my markishness, Conan the Barbarian Vol 1: Bound in Black Stone is a triumph—not only a visually rich and expansively binge-able new take on REH’s most popular creation but an impressive and powerfully produced new run with grand ambitions and an eye toward cinematic violence in equal measure. By Crom, I love it, and I think you will, too.

Conan the Barbarian Vol 1: Bound in Black Stone is available now from Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures.