Conan the Slayer, Volume 1

Conan: Dark Horse Collection

by Cullen Bunn, Sergio Dávila (Illustrations), Michael Atiyeh (Illustrations)

Alone, on the brink of death, and with nothing but his sword, Conan the Cimmerian stumbles into a camp of Kozaki raiders. With a band of determined Turanian hunters at his heels, the Kozaki chief hesitantly offers the barbarian refuge. As Conan's grievous wounds heal, he gains acceptance into the clan and becomes a mentor to one of the chief's two sons . . . only to discover that mortal danger is closer than ever.

Penned by superstar writer Cullen Bunn ( Deadpool, The Sixth Gun, Harrow County ) and with art by Sergio Dávila ( Red Sonja ), this volume collects issues #1-#6 of the pulse-pounding series, Conan the Slayer!

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

152 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2017

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conan doing what he does best. Also expertly drawn. I'm sorry I doubted you Cullen Bunn. I was worried: I assumed this was going to be similar to Brian Wood's run -- a hip indie writer turned mainstream writer doing some work for hire on a tired character. But Bunn decided (wisely) to stay close to the traditional spirit of Conan.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes comic adaptations of Conan leave me shaking my head wondering of the writer ever even read a Conan story. Sometimes it seems the company saved a few dollars and hired a want-a-be high school artist to do the art. But this new series does a good job with both the art and story. Enjoyable read and a good feel for the character. Recommended

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

By the eye of Ishtar and the beard of Crom, our Cimmerian slayer has returned to the pages in true form. It seems that Cullen Bunn and Sergio Davila and Co. are rightful and worthy heirs to the throne. No traces of Brian Wood’s emo-Conan can be felt here - the head count is high and the blood flows freely. Bunn gets it. He understands the source material and respects the vision that REH laid out in the original Conan. That’s what the fans want. The folks who love this character are as forgiving as a Turanian sellsword, but don’t make our Conan a weak-kneed loafer who swoons at every passing bar wench. This title lives up to its name - Conan slays! Big recommend

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark Horse's newest Conan series is off to a tremendous start with this volume. Writer Cullen Bunn clearly understands what makes the character and his world work.

[Brian Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the storyline, especially the horror / supernatural aspects. The art... it illustrates the story well, but it’s not Cary Nord awesome.

[Ripley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apart from the Queen of the Black Coast story arc this was my favorite installment thus far. It is a legitimate horror comic. It brings lots of gore and the slaying of monsters and people. If you don't like beheadings I would stay away from this one.

[Juan Guillermo Vásquez Mejía · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gratamente sorprendido con este cómic...hecho a mi gusto

[Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is intended to be a prequel story to The Devil in Iron. It tells the story of how Conan ended up as the leader of the Zuagirs and gives him some added motivation for going to the island of Xapur in pursuit of Octavia. The art here is pretty solid and as a Conan story it's about as classic as it can get.

Since this is a new story though, perhaps they should've gone with a different plot than "Conan ends up as leader of yet another war band due to his superior abilities", as this is already the plot of several other Conan stories. The transition of power is rather hunky dory and lacks impact compared to how Conan has usurped leadership in other scenarios. This is mainly due to the supporting characters being somewhat tame.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn is this not a great return to form for this series. Granted, I appreciated the experimentation of the past few years, but eventually we would have to come back to blood and thunder and this is a particularly good writer/artist team up to do so.

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert E. Howard's close to archetypal barbarian has had a long and fruitful existence outside of the author's original prose stories. In the comics medium, the least of this is by no means Marvel Comics Conan series from the '70s and '80s, penned by Roy Thomas and drawn first by Barry Windsor-Smith and then (perchance in an even more iconic fashion, for what my penny is worth) by John Buscema. Many more have followed and I have not kept track to anything even remotely close to all of them (e.g. I still have not had the time to check out Kurt Busiek's interpretation of the character and stories, despite being a huge fan of his writing).

So, stumbling across this volume in my local library, after having read and loved the first volume of Cullen Bunn's Harrow County last autumn, I could not resist picking it up.

And it is not bad. However, I find Sergio Dávila's art a bit mixed. When it works, it works; when it does not, it does not quite cut it – especially not next to the work of Windsor-Smith and Buscema. Add to this that Bunn's story seems to be on and off Conan-esque. Bits of it seem to grasp the character very well, and at other times, I cannot help feeling that Bunn misses the mark quite badly. Not that it is bad storytelling per se, but rather that it is not good Conan storytelling.

The narrative is left unresolved, with the next volume promising the conclusion to come. The library does not have that volume, however, and the fact that I have not (yet) asked them to add it to their catalogue, despite the lack of an actual ending here, kind of says something.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really did not get into this at first. The art was pretty decent, but did not stand out and captivate me, and the story did not grab. However, picking it up, and putting it down again... and picking it up... and repeating this a few times, I eventually got to the point where I began to enjoy the underlying theme of the series. Blood in his Wake is a great subtitle for this volume, as really it is all about how Conan just leaves a trail of blood and death in his passing. Those who cross him. Those who help him. Those who are totally incidental. He is here portrayed not as a force of good, or of evil... but almost like some kind of elemental storm which brings destruction and chaos with it, regardless of its feelings; and perhaps in this book Conan begins to examine some of those feelings himself, in his own stoic way.

All in all, more interesting than I initially thought, but not one of the greats.

[Vladimír · Rating 3 out of 5]

Klasická "rež a rúbaj" Conanovka. Príbeh je relatívne predvídateľný a z opozeraných koľají ho občas vyvedú originálne odbočky. Kresba bola najmä z úvodu utrpenie ale následne sa trochu upratala. Dá sa čítať aj samostatne, keďže príbeh na nič neodkazuje. Komiks je teda príjemná jednohubka, ak máte na niečo v tomto duchu náladu. Nič viac tu nehľadajte.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things come full circle as Dark Horse returns to more traditional Conan stories to end their licensed run. This is more of what I'm used to, and what I enjoy most, with Conan battling both human and supernatural foe alike. Some may say this is "same old, same old", but sometimes even that's good. This is one of those cases.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good Conan here, but Bunn drops us in en media res with just a bit of information on where we've been and almost nothing about where we're going, and I miss the more coherent plotting from Dark Horse's previous series started by Busiek and co. years ago.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Badly injured, Conan stumbles into a camp of Kozaki raiders who take him in and soon he is mixed up in the quagmire of their ruling family's personal and political machinations. A classic Conan story, full of violence, death, vengeance, and eye-for-an-eye justice. Fun.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough. Not a whole heap to say about it.

It's a shame I can't find the next, and final volume, The Devil in Iron, which is a Howard story. I think it must have had an incredibly small print run because of the sudden end to the licence at DH before it went back to Marvel. :(

[Ralph Guiteau · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Conan being Conan, nuff said

[Dr NSCA-CPT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Exciting story with incredible art work.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a mess. This is Conan if all one ever knew of it was what somebody airbrushed on the side of a panel van.