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The Chronicles of Conan
The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 10: When Giants Walk the Earth and Other Stories
A failed assassination attempt brings into Freeman’s possession Muramasa, the Devil’s Sword, an ancient samurai blade that brings misfortune and death to any who possess it. Wishing to spare Freeman and tame the sword’s malevolent spirit, Tiger Orchid, Freeman’s wife, takes the blade to Kowloon to train with a legendary swordmaster. But she’ll need to find him in Kowloon Castle, a slum so riddled with crime and destitution that it does not officially exist. But its dangers are all too real, and even a possessed sword may not be enough to stop a gun-toting criminal army bent on selling Tiger Orchid into slavery! Written by the legendary Kazuo Koike, creator of Lone Wolf and Cub, and illustrated by the incomparable Ryoichi Ikegami, Crying Freeman is adult manga at its most challenging: dark, violent, morally complex, erotically charged and regarded worldwide as one of the classics of adult graphic fiction.
168 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2006
49 people want to read
About the author
Roy Thomas
4,517 books273 followersRoy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.
Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.
Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 2, 2023
Issues 72-81
The first arc has John Buscema drawing more tales of Belit and Conan - they get kidnapped by some Stygian's flying on giant hawks. Thankfully the giant hawks are very well explained.
Howard Chaykin takes over the art for the last story arc - an odd one where Conan journeys to a valley ruled by Alexander the Great (lost in time and now a giant). Based on the REH story "The Lost Valley of Iskander". His artwork is fantastic.
The first arc has John Buscema drawing more tales of Belit and Conan - they get kidnapped by some Stygian's flying on giant hawks. Thankfully the giant hawks are very well explained.
Howard Chaykin takes over the art for the last story arc - an odd one where Conan journeys to a valley ruled by Alexander the Great (lost in time and now a giant). Based on the REH story "The Lost Valley of Iskander". His artwork is fantastic.
April 4, 2020
Volume 10 of the series collects issues #72-77 & #79-82 of the Conan the Barbarian comic series from Marvel. The first six stories are classic Conan greatness featuring his and Belit's return to Asgalun wherein Belit hears from her uncle that her father is still alive in Luxor. The character of Neftha is introduced on a Stygian vessel at sea and the story moves to the hawk city of Harakht which sees Conan performing a rescue of Belit and Neftha in the city after they are taken by the city's giant hawks.
Both imaginative and wondrous, Thomas tells a great story while traveling through the major cities of Stygia after last issue's burning of the Stygian fleet at Khemi.
A major detour is taken with the back 3 issues of the book with Howard Chaykin on art duties ( though still with the heavy inks of Ernie Chan ) and Thomas freely adapts Howard's "The Lost Valley of Iskander" putting Conan in the role occupied by Francis X. Gordon aka El Borak. A story in which Conan finds a lost city and tangles with more than his share of treacherous Stygians while carrying an eye ball needing for trade with the city so that Harakht and Iskander can remain at peace. I suppose this side trek was needed with Chaykin on art duties spelling Buscema.
Meaty stuff overall from the creators providing ample plot twists, fleshed out characters. drama, violence and even some humor. Thomas makes Belit's quest to find her father the focus and Conan is only too willing to oblige and help out. More intrigue to come!
Both imaginative and wondrous, Thomas tells a great story while traveling through the major cities of Stygia after last issue's burning of the Stygian fleet at Khemi.
A major detour is taken with the back 3 issues of the book with Howard Chaykin on art duties ( though still with the heavy inks of Ernie Chan ) and Thomas freely adapts Howard's "The Lost Valley of Iskander" putting Conan in the role occupied by Francis X. Gordon aka El Borak. A story in which Conan finds a lost city and tangles with more than his share of treacherous Stygians while carrying an eye ball needing for trade with the city so that Harakht and Iskander can remain at peace. I suppose this side trek was needed with Chaykin on art duties spelling Buscema.
Meaty stuff overall from the creators providing ample plot twists, fleshed out characters. drama, violence and even some humor. Thomas makes Belit's quest to find her father the focus and Conan is only too willing to oblige and help out. More intrigue to come!
May 17, 2019
Great Rib Hurting Questing! :D Barbarian Adventure and Action! :D
March 30, 2019
Another great volume. This continues the story of Belit but there are also some solo Conan moments. (We also find out in Conan's mind he and Belit have one of those "open" relationships. I don't think she sees things the same way.) We have hawk riders and giants and more. Also, the art continues to be great. I've said repeatedly that this Conan run is probably John Buscema's bet work, but I have to give credit to inker Ernie Chan. Some of the penciling in this volume is by Howard Chaykin, but still retains a strong sense of the Buscema art. This was by design of course, and considering Chaykin is a talented artist himself perhaps this wasn't a great thing. However, this also shows me Ernie Chan has more to do with the look of that art then I realized. The Conan run of the 1970s has so far been stellar.
May 6, 2025
Conan: The Detour Years
So in this volume, Roy Thomas, who has decided to flush one Conan story into, as he points out in his afterward, about three and a half years or Conan comics. So we have lots of time to kill and I am afraid this plays into one of Roy Thomas' biggest flaws. He will never write an A to B plot if he can cram a while bunch of detours and sidequests in between that A and B.
So at the beginning of this volume Belit returns home and learns a shocking secret....her father is actually alive. This leads her, and Conan, to Stygia and do they rescue her father? No. Do they make any real advancement towards this goal? Not really. They get into the country in a really epic issue where they burn down dozens of ships outside Khemi and then next thing you know we are in cities filled with giant Hawk-riders and deeply involved int he politics of this city and then before we can move on from that we end up discovering a city of the time-lost descendants of Alexander the Greats army.
All these are fun, but I struggled at points to be interested in because I wanted to see the main plot advance and it wasn't.
For art, most of this volume is John Buscema and is perfect, at the end we get the first half or so of a short run that Howard Cheykin will do. I found out in the afterward that it is inker Ernie Chan that was making Chaykin's artwork look so similar to Buscemas. I really liked it.
So in this volume, Roy Thomas, who has decided to flush one Conan story into, as he points out in his afterward, about three and a half years or Conan comics. So we have lots of time to kill and I am afraid this plays into one of Roy Thomas' biggest flaws. He will never write an A to B plot if he can cram a while bunch of detours and sidequests in between that A and B.
So at the beginning of this volume Belit returns home and learns a shocking secret....her father is actually alive. This leads her, and Conan, to Stygia and do they rescue her father? No. Do they make any real advancement towards this goal? Not really. They get into the country in a really epic issue where they burn down dozens of ships outside Khemi and then next thing you know we are in cities filled with giant Hawk-riders and deeply involved int he politics of this city and then before we can move on from that we end up discovering a city of the time-lost descendants of Alexander the Greats army.
All these are fun, but I struggled at points to be interested in because I wanted to see the main plot advance and it wasn't.
For art, most of this volume is John Buscema and is perfect, at the end we get the first half or so of a short run that Howard Cheykin will do. I found out in the afterward that it is inker Ernie Chan that was making Chaykin's artwork look so similar to Buscemas. I really liked it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2019
Volume #10 begins with Belit and Conan going back to Belit's home city in order to get potion to save her mentor N'yaga. This will set them on the road to Stygia where they will get involved in the inner politics of this sorcerer-kingdom with epic battles and monster encounters as a result.
All in all good collection, although stories are more comic(y?) here than in previous issues. Again lots of over dramatic postures, teeth barring and bombast dialog - everything that marked the action comics of the time. In any case it did not prove to be too much disconcerting to me thanks to the page organisation and composition.
Art is again great, Buscema's art again being more to my liking than the rest. Even with all the drama and bombast Buscema manges to give Conan story that epic feeling that somehow eluded the other authors of the period. H. Chaykin is also good but again not as good as Buscema (at least for me).
Coloring is not so good in the first few chapters (it is somewhat grainy) but gets back to quality of previous volumes 1/3 into the book.
Excellent volume, highly recommended to Conan and sword-and-sorcery genre fans in general.
All in all good collection, although stories are more comic(y?) here than in previous issues. Again lots of over dramatic postures, teeth barring and bombast dialog - everything that marked the action comics of the time. In any case it did not prove to be too much disconcerting to me thanks to the page organisation and composition.
Art is again great, Buscema's art again being more to my liking than the rest. Even with all the drama and bombast Buscema manges to give Conan story that epic feeling that somehow eluded the other authors of the period. H. Chaykin is also good but again not as good as Buscema (at least for me).
Coloring is not so good in the first few chapters (it is somewhat grainy) but gets back to quality of previous volumes 1/3 into the book.
Excellent volume, highly recommended to Conan and sword-and-sorcery genre fans in general.
September 14, 2022
Another highly enjoyable Conan collection. The highlight for me was the toad-god/demon that crawls up out of the well in He Who Waits in the Well of Skelos. I just don't think you can beat Conan fighting some huge slithering beast, and I'm always happy when he fights the beast to a retreat, rather than a death. I like the idea that these wonderful creatures are still out there somewhere rather than dead and defeated. For the same reason I liked seeing Conan fight the sea monster in this volume. There are also some fantastic panels when Conan is fighting on the giant hawk's back, really managing to convey a dizzying sense of height.
I never explored the Conan omnibuses that Marvel put out because I've always preferred these much more readable paperback editions, but I do really wish they'd include the cover art. It's noticeably missing.
This volume wasn't the best in the series and does at times feel like it's treading water between plotlines slightly, but I've not yet read a book in this series that I haven't really enjoyed, so it still gets a hearty recommendation from me.
I never explored the Conan omnibuses that Marvel put out because I've always preferred these much more readable paperback editions, but I do really wish they'd include the cover art. It's noticeably missing.
This volume wasn't the best in the series and does at times feel like it's treading water between plotlines slightly, but I've not yet read a book in this series that I haven't really enjoyed, so it still gets a hearty recommendation from me.
March 30, 2022
Really liked Roy Thomas's afterword where he goes into detail about how he adapted the original stories for these comics and the changes he made and added. Solid Conan comics besides that. I liked seeing the composition differences between Buscema and Chaykin's work.
December 5, 2020
Docked a star for the appearance of Howard Chaykin, who is pretty good, but no John Buscema.
December 26, 2023
There are some gripping moments but overall it's just another typical Chronicles of Conan volume.
March 5, 2013
Der schlechteste Band der Serie?
In diesem Band der Serie entfernt sich Roy Thomas am weitesten von Howards Vorbild, und das führt zu einiger Verwirrung. Während Thomas in den Vorgängerbänden qualitativ hochwertige Pageturner präsentierte, fällt dieser Band in dieser Beziehung extrem ab. Die Geschichte um Falkenreiter passt einfach nicht nach Hyboria, und auch die ganze Iskander-Affäre scheint sogar für eine Fantasy-Welt sehr weit hergeholt und wirkt wie ein Fremdkörper. Plotmäßig für mich definitiv der schlechteste Band in dieser Serie.
Das große ABER ist wieder mal John Buscema. Ich gebe zu, für seine Zeichnungen nehme ich sogar die mittelmäßigen Skripte in Kauf, und auch in diesem Band enttäuscht er nicht und bietet einige sehr beeindruckende Panels.
Informativ wie immer das Nachwort von Roy Thomas, wirklich mit das Beste an den Dark-Horse-Reprints. Selten hat man die Chance, einem solchen Epigonen der Comicwelt zuzuhören und nette Anekdoten findet Thomas scheinbar immer.
Über die Präsentation kann man sich nicht beschweren, Dark Horse gelingt wie in den Vorgängerbänden eine meines Erachtens sehr atmosphärische Neukolorierung, und die Qualität des Druckes, Papiers und Einbands stehen außer Frage.
Leider dauert es bis Band 12, bis Thomas wieder in Fahrt kommt. Für Komplettisten und Buscema-Fans natürlich trotzdem ein Musskauf. Alle anderen sollten sich eher direkt auf Band 12 stürzen.
In diesem Band der Serie entfernt sich Roy Thomas am weitesten von Howards Vorbild, und das führt zu einiger Verwirrung. Während Thomas in den Vorgängerbänden qualitativ hochwertige Pageturner präsentierte, fällt dieser Band in dieser Beziehung extrem ab. Die Geschichte um Falkenreiter passt einfach nicht nach Hyboria, und auch die ganze Iskander-Affäre scheint sogar für eine Fantasy-Welt sehr weit hergeholt und wirkt wie ein Fremdkörper. Plotmäßig für mich definitiv der schlechteste Band in dieser Serie.
Das große ABER ist wieder mal John Buscema. Ich gebe zu, für seine Zeichnungen nehme ich sogar die mittelmäßigen Skripte in Kauf, und auch in diesem Band enttäuscht er nicht und bietet einige sehr beeindruckende Panels.
Informativ wie immer das Nachwort von Roy Thomas, wirklich mit das Beste an den Dark-Horse-Reprints. Selten hat man die Chance, einem solchen Epigonen der Comicwelt zuzuhören und nette Anekdoten findet Thomas scheinbar immer.
Über die Präsentation kann man sich nicht beschweren, Dark Horse gelingt wie in den Vorgängerbänden eine meines Erachtens sehr atmosphärische Neukolorierung, und die Qualität des Druckes, Papiers und Einbands stehen außer Frage.
Leider dauert es bis Band 12, bis Thomas wieder in Fahrt kommt. Für Komplettisten und Buscema-Fans natürlich trotzdem ein Musskauf. Alle anderen sollten sich eher direkt auf Band 12 stürzen.
March 7, 2015
This collection of original Marvel run of Conan stories continues the story of Queen of the Black Coast. By far the best existing adaptation of this story, this collection is a worthy inclusion to one's library.
Roy Thomas handles the story with a loving hand and Steve Buscema accompanies it with some of the best illustrations that you can find in Conan comics (outside of the best of them all: Savage Sword of Conan).
I read this adaptation side-by-side with the two other comic book adaptations and I still feel that Roy Thomas made it work the best. Read my thoughts here:
http://susimetsa.blogspot.fi/2015/03/...
Roy Thomas handles the story with a loving hand and Steve Buscema accompanies it with some of the best illustrations that you can find in Conan comics (outside of the best of them all: Savage Sword of Conan).
I read this adaptation side-by-side with the two other comic book adaptations and I still feel that Roy Thomas made it work the best. Read my thoughts here:
http://susimetsa.blogspot.fi/2015/03/...
April 9, 2014
In the middle of the Belit-saga, Conan dumbs his pirate chick (to whom he is so much in luuuuuuv) and goes back having his own adventures. What a strange decision.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews