First let me say that I really don’t understand the love for Richard Corben. I often see him lauded as an amazing force in comics and a great master, but I’ve always found his work to be kind of weird and ugly, and generally not appropriate for whatever it’s attached to. Now, that said, I feel like he kind of dialed it back a notch in this volume, and its use only during flashbacks makes it compliment Giorello’s work. Also, the coloring in this volume is much better than in the previous, and makes it feel less cartoony.
 |
| WTF, Corben? |
As far as the story goes, I like this volume. The old adage, ‘you can’t go home again’ rings true for Conan as he returns to his homeland to find that it hasn’t changed so much, but he certainly has. With his more worldly experience, he sees his home as less pure and idealized. He is really becoming an adult, and faces the choice of settling down or returning to the world as a sort of new man.
Along the way, we hear various tales of Conan’s grandfather, Connacht, a man who was very important to young Conan. He too had ventured beyond the borders of Cimmeria, into the greater world, and it had changed him as well. But Connacht’s journey was very different, and his choices different as well.
This volume feels a bit like a rest and reflection. My hope is that it is a calm before a storm, and that the next volume will be all the stronger for it. Another little treat in this volume is the brief adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s poem Cimmeria. Very cool.
Conan: Volume 7: Cimmeria
Author: Timothy Truman
Artists: Tomas Giorello, Richard Corben, and Jose Villarrubia
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
ISBN: 978-1-59582-283-3
Pages: 192
-Matt
No comments:
Post a Comment