The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 5: The Shadow in the Tomb and Other Stories

The Chronicles of Conan

by Roy Thomas, John Buscema

The return of Conan is at hand. By the mid 1970s, Robert E Howard's seminal Sword and Sorcery hero had cut a path through the comic-book world, restored to vivid life by prolific writer Roy Thomas and his host of talented artists.Of those artists, none contributed more to Conan's legacy than the legendary John Buscema. Taking the lush and detailed realism that had already been established in the comic-book series, Buscema pushed the look of Howard's creation in an entirely new direction, illustrating what would become the definitive version of Conan for an entire generation of readers.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Sword and Sorcery, Fiction, Adventure

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Roy 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.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This extra length volume contains Conan the Barbarian issues #27 - #34 due to the fact Dark Horse didn't want to break-up a three part story line into two volumes. All the stories were penciled by John Buscema and inked by Ernie Chua and Conan to me has never looked more savage, brutal, and imposing. Buscema drew Conan like no one else with the exception of Frank Frazetta, but comic-wise Buscema to me always drew the best Conan.
The strongest tales in this book were the three part adaptation Thomas did of Norvell Page's "Flame Winds" novel inserting Conan in the Prester John role placing Conan in the eastern region of Khitai. One of the best lines is on page 158 when Conan, who is following the chatty rogue Bourtai, says "Crom, but you could talk the brass off a bald monkey!"
One thing that bugged me about this volume in particular were at least four spelling errors which took me out of the moment each time I spotted one.
Otherwise, the book is strong with the second story being Howard's "Moon over Zimbabwei" featuring Conan's deadly run in with a double whammy of huge snake and quicksand along with his first encounter with Stygian soldier-of-fortune Thutmekri who first appeared in Howard's story "The Jewels of Gwahlur" and the fourth story being "The Hand of Nergal" which is a tale started by Howard, but finished by Lin Carter featuring the the funky blue colored vapor bats.
Buscema is still feeling out Conan and the ebb and flow and thus I didn't think the book hit its stride just yet. Still, a wonderful collection of Conan yarns that made me happy.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plots of these Conan stories start to blend into one another after a few volumes. Each story feels like a rehash of something I've already read. Many of the plots are very similar, the characters are very similar, and even the overall storyline seems to not go anywhere. It's hard to guess how Conan got to where he is at the start of each story. It seems like one story ends and the next starts weeks after with no explanation of why Conan is doing what he's doing.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more of this series I read the more I learn just how unique the Marvel Conan series was at the time. The stories to this point have been a mixture of adapted Robert E. Howard Conan stories, adapted Robert E. Howard non Conan stories which are altered into Conan stories, adapted stories by other authors which are adapted into Conan stories, other authors using their characters in Conan stories (Elric for example), and some totally originally stories thrown in as well. I don't think I've heard of a comic series having such a diverse collection of source material.

I also didn't realize how tight the continuity was on the early Marvel Conan stories. I assumed the stories were mostly one shots, or at least multi part stories that stood on their own. But actually Marvel not only attempted to maintain a tight continuity from issue to issue, but they even wanted the stories to present Conan's life chronologically. In comics, that's a more novel concept than you'd think.

This volume was a longer form story for the most part, and was the first long run by artist John Buscema. I've always though John's best work was on Conan. For whatever reason, the newly redone computer coloring in these volumes works better on Buscema's art than it did on Smith's, at least in my opinion. Not sure why that would be, but the art is truly clean and gorgeous here.

Overall I'm really loving this series and would rank the original Conan the Barbarian series (as well as the black and white magazine series, Savage Sword of Conan) as some of my favorite comic series of all time.

[Κεσκίνης Χρήστος · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ο Κόναν είναι απόλαυση σε κάθε περιπέτειά του. Εδώ λάτρεψα την ομώνυμη ιστορία σχεδόν όσο λάτρευα τα παλιά ασπρόμαυρα ελληνικά κόμικ. Επός

[Jim Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I mention that I'm a bit of a nerd and that I've always loved Conan?

#5 in the collection compiling all the old Marvel Conan stories.

It is exactly what you'd expect it to be.

There were an extraordinary amount of typos in this volume. Other than that, though, exactly what you'd expect it to be.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 5: The Shadow in the Tomb and Other Stories kicks off straight after the previous book with Conan finding himself getting enlisted into the Turanian army following a rescue of Lady who is more than she seems! :D As ever this winds him into epic trouble but the story neatly weaves around Conan adventures neatly tying them all up together in a story that works brilliantly! :D As ever the trademark action and humour is present through! :D So you will find yourself on the edge of your seat but at the same time your ribs will be hurting throughout! :D

As you would expect The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 5: The Shadow in the Tomb and Other Stories makes the point that of all the people he meets, even though he is the Barbarian the peoples in power and the like that he meets are less honourable and civilised under everything than he is himself! :D The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 5: The Shadow in the Tomb and Other Stories is full of plot twists throughout though as Conan conquers and equally hoodwinked in epic fashion! :D Conan's encounter with Thutmekri sets up a potential rival to him and his confrontation with the giant ape ranks as a epic battle! :D Conan's 'rescue' of Dalboori is hilarious if questionable motives! :D Lol

Conan's trip to Turan is brilliantly staged and the scrapes he gets into are unexpected but this is a Conan who has yet to learn everything and the situations he find himself in are often the consequence of this! :D Conan's joy at getting a Galley and treasure has a hilarious twist! :D Conan's reaction to it is also completely practical and rib hurting! Bail! :D Lol

Thomas and Buscema produce and amazing book full of bright vibrant colours and and s a script to match that really hits the epic at every turn! :D The new recoloured look really makes the art come of the page! :D the world building is immense as well with the art and palette being distinctly different wherever Conan goes! :D

The character development works brilliantly throughout as well as we can see how the character of Conan starts to develop and take the legendary characteristics that he has later! :D The whole book has sharp visceral edge to events the events that take place match up perfectly with this! :D Conan's reaction to the changing circumstances if filled with dry wit the perfectly dovetails with the feel of the book! :D The circumstances the he finds change on pane by pane basis and this gives the book a break neck feel as you never know what circumstances you are going to find next! :D George R R Martin strikes routinely and Conan's and you can never be sure which of Conan's Redshirts * cough friends will be in the firing line that gives the book tension throughout! :D

The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 5: The Shadow in the Tomb and Other Stories by Roy Thomas Review in every way producing a roller coaster crazy epic ride of a book! :D The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 5: The Shadow in the Tomb and Other Stories by Roy Thomas Review works on every level! :D The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 5: The Shadow in the Tomb and Other Stories by Roy Thomas Review is full of adventure, heroics, knocking things on heads, rib breaking humour and action packed throughout! :D Crisp high five! :D Make sure you have the next one! :D

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is the art great? Yes. Yes it is. I'll start off with a positive :). Do I like the IDEA of Conan? I do - I have tried to read the prose and I really like the Busiek/Nord run from Dark Horse.
I picked up these volumes because I was on the fence "should I buy the Omnibuses of Conan that have been recently published by Marvel?" Before I do I had better be sure I like this early Marvel run as much as everyone else does.
It turns out I do not. That's not to say I didn't like the stories a bit. They are quick reads and fun adventure yarns (hee hee "yarns" fits, long and rambling describes the overall Conan arc). But, as another reviewer pointed out, the stories are VERY disjointed and I had expected some world building and growth as Conan traveled the world. That is one thing Roy Thomas (the writer) seemed so proud of how he incorporated so much of the myth from the creator of Conan REH and how he didn't use stories of older Conan before the chronology demanded it. But if you read the "behind the scene stories" by Thomas at the end of these volumes you will see how he would steal willy nilly a REH story of a completely different character (or a Conan story from different writers) and fit it to Conan. So a lot of these stories are NOT canon.
So - not much on world building and, in this volume at least, there is no connective thread. No side characters Conan builds relationships with, no quest he is on, no narrative drive. Just little episodic stories which are okay but I prefer my heroes to be clever - Conan wins in the end because he is strong and won't give up not because he outwits anyone. So it felt like "Conan meets strong foe, Conan is quicker or stronger than foe, Conan wins". I am over simplifying it but sometimes it felt like that. And Conan as a main hero...kind of a dumb brute. Busiek didn't portray him like that but in this volume there isn't much personality.
But yes the art is amazing.

[Shannon Schmelzle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really strong volume from the Dark Horse, The Chronicles of Conan TPB collection. I very strongly wish this was more in print so people didn't have to rely mostly on Omnibus'. The Roy Thomas memoir at the end I find almost worth the price of admission itself.

So in this one we take Conan right back into Turan and then into Khitai as a spy. Some of these stories have not aged wonderfully, but most are still fun.

But the big news here is this is the first volume completely drawn by John Buscema. THE Conan artist. No offence to anyone else who has ever worked on him, but I'm sorry, I just find Buscema to be the best. Especially here when he is inked by Ernie Chan. I agree with Roy, Chan adds some detail to Buscema's clean linework that just makes it look great.

And because I can't help myself from beating this dead horse. I like the Dark Horse colors. In fact, I think they look even better on Buscema's artwork then on Smith's. The bright colors just pop.

[The Geeky Viking · Rating 5 out of 5]

From a time long before the American comic book industry succumbed to sub-par blue tick creators and their SJW-woke-bullshit agendas, Marvel was putting out high quality books like Conan, led by high quality creatives such as Roy Thomas and John Buscema, that still hold up today. This series is a classic, and it illustrates the power of the medium when done right. Classic sword and sorcery tales bursting with action, intrigue, kick-ass characters, both male and female, and tons of monsters. Highly recommended!

[Quinton Baran · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art in this book is good throughout, and the stories are interesting, but not particularly memorable. I again enjoyed the essay by Roy Thomas at the end. One of the last items sums up pulp stories: "And that, in the end, is what pulp fiction is all about: fun!"

[Al Capwned · Rating 2 out of 5]

The weakest volume of the series so far. It took me longer to finish than the others, I found it to be quite boring.

[Helmut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buscema tritt aus Windsor-Smiths Schatten

Direkt die erste Geschichte wirft den Leser mit den unglaublichen Zeichnungen John Buscemas vom Stuhl. Durch Ernie Chans fantastische Tuschung und die sehr gute Neukolorierung kann man sich kaum sattsehen an den üblen Gestalten beim Banket in der Brigantenburg, in die es Conan verschlagen hat. So geht es entsprechend auch weiter: Großartige Zeichnungen, die heute noch so begeistern wie vor 30 Jahren. Roy Thomas' Dialoge altern dagegen weniger gut, sein Stil ist markant, wirkt aber heutzutage doch sehr laberig mit der Tendenz, alles zu kommentieren, was auf dem Panel oder daneben passiert, und die immer wieder verwendeten sprachlichen Klischees sind ermüdend. Umso spannender sind dann wiedereinmal aber Thomas' Anmerkungen am Ende des Bands, tolle Insiderinformationen aus erster Hand.

Gesammelt sind in diesem 5. Band der "Chronicles of Conan" die Ausgaben 27 bis 34, hauptsächlich Einzelgeschichten ohne engen Zusammenhang, und wer die ausufernde und gegen Ende sehr gequält in die Länge gezogene Belit-Saga kennt, die bald folgen wird, weiß das zu schätzen - wie im literarischen Original eignet sich Conan einfach besser für Kurzgeschichten als für bandübergreifende Epen.

Dark Horse setzt mit dieser Reihe Maßstäbe, was Reproduktion so alter Comics angeht, sowohl vom editorischen (textuelle Aufbereitung, Anmerkungen, Zusammenstellung) als auch vom materiellen Standpunkt (Papier, Druck, Farben, Bindung) aus gesehen eine durchweg herausragende Präsentation, die sowohl Fans aus alten Zeiten als auch Neuleser zufriedenstellen wird. Das einzige, was dem Aficionado fehlt, sind die Originalcover.

[Matty Dub · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Turanian arc is getting a little long in the tooth for me, it also baffles me that Conan would work for the army of his nemesis, Prince Yezdigerd. Despite that, the volume’s quality does ramp up in the end when he is sent on a mission to Kithai. The art by big John evolves nicely throughout the volume as well.

[John Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The master of Sword and Sorcery. Great stories that scare and delight; a hero, who's strength and cunning go unrivaled, and a good dollop of other-world building that make all Conan's novels great reads.

[Antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME ART! ALL OF THEM.