Conan Chronicles Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Out of the Darksome Hills

Conan Chronicles Epic Collection

by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, Cary Nord

The legend returns! Conan the Barbarian stars in epic tales by comic book veteran Kurt Busiek - including classics adapted from the works of original author Robert E. Howard! Whether he's warring with the violent Vanir or meeting a Frost Giant's daughter, Conan's savage sword is always close at hand and ready for battle! The story of "The God in the Bowl" is presented in all its terrifying detail - introducing Conan's notorious adversary, Thoth-Amon! But who is Janissa the Widowmaker, and what role will she play in the Cimmerian warrior's life? Beware the Horror on Uskuth Hill - and the Thing in the Temple! And when two Nemedians walk into a bar, it's no joking matter. Prepare for swords and sorcery of the highest order with the greatest barbarian of them all! COLLECTING: VOL. 1: CONAN: THE LEGEND 0, CONAN (2004) 1-19

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Marvel, Sword and Sorcery, Collections

496 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 2019

About the author

Kurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.

Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.

During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).

Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.

In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.

In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.

In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.

Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.

Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Horse comics decided to do a Conan the Barbarian series after Marvel fucked it all up and killed it off (surprise?). They talked Kurt Busiek into writing it and Cary Nord for the art. Well, let me tell you, it's awesome. Busiek's decision to use Howard's stories and follow the essential timeline is brilliant. Interspaced with issues devoted to a young Conan, this is a series that will be appreciated both by the Conan fan and the Conan novice.

This version is, as Conan should be, quite violent. Conan's adventures ranging out from Cimmeria to the "wider world" and his attempts to understand civilization are quite interesting and give Conan a great deal of character and depth. The artwork complements this tale.

This first volume collected issues 1-19. All of the stories are quite good, some amazing, and encompass a variety of tales from Conan's run in with the Aesir and the Vanir, his journeys to places like Zamora or Hyperborea and how he earned the emnity of Toth-Amon.

This will have a treasured place in my collection. Great art, better stories and a great almost chronological style to Conan's life make this a must have for any Conan fan. But, as I said, even a novice can appreciate this as it will give you a great understanding of Conan. The stories based on his youth were superb!

[Maven_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conan Chronicles Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Out of the Darksome Hills by Kurt Busiek

Conan Chronicles Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Out of the Darksome Hills gathers the first nineteenth issues of Kurt Busiek’s acclaimed Conan run (originally Dark Horse Comics material) along with the prologue Conan: The Legend #0, presenting vivid sword and sorcery adventures featuring the Cimmerian as he battles Vanir warriors, faces off with Frost Giants, and encounters foes like the sorcerer Thoth-Amon. The collection adapts classic Robert E. Howard tales into comic form while threading in new arcs and character moments to enrich Conan’s broader legend in the Hyborian Age. Intense action, mythic landscapes, and the primal spirit of Howard’s world pulse through these pages.

Reading this felt like stepping fully into Conan’s fierce, unpredictable world: Busiek’s writing captures his instinctive ferocity and shrewd survival instinct with a grounded, rugged charm, and the art by Cary Nord and others hits with raw, visceral detail that makes every sword swing and looming threat feel immediate. Some supporting characters feel less developed and the portrayal of women has aged awkwardly, but the core energy and pure barbarian adventure kept me hooked and genuinely immersed in the Hyborian Age.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Because it is a thrilling, sharply drawn start to an epic retelling of Conan’s legend that honors the spirit of the original stories.

[Francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

So...in the early 2000s Marvel lost their rights to Conan for some reason, they weren't publishing the regular comic or the Savage Sword magazine and so they just let it go. Dark Horse was, however, ready to catch it with both hands and to put some great artists on it. Now Marvel has gotten Conan back and they are republishing the Dark Horse years of the comic in their epic collection, which is just great. These were actually the first Conan comics I read back in the day.

I actually own a lot of these in floppy issues as the early 2000s were the years where I was buying monthly issues religiously, but it's great to get a nice edition like this, even if it is a paperback, collecting the first 20 issues of the series. The treatment isn't the same kind of luxury treatment given to the original Marvel years of Conan coming out in Hardcover form, but it's still pretty nice, with good paper and colors, which is important for a book that actually looks really beautiful.

Cary Nord's decision to have the comic be uninked, with just the colors put on his pencils, gives the art a certain painterly feel which feels appropriate as a way not only to distinguish Conan from superhero comics but also as a way to hint at the distant past where the stories are set. Busiek is great at adapting Howard's original Conan stories while filling in the gaps between them as a way to make the story flow in a more chronologically smooth way. A great book and if you are not familiar with Conan also a great way to get into it, very new reader friendly. 

[Builyyy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essential Conan comic. Artwork is superb -- can't say enough good things about it. Very evocative of the Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age. They went with a mature style without censoring the violence or mature themes.

Stories are interesting and are more or less standalone. It is a mix of retellings and new tales from Howard's canon. They aren't just about Conan fighting progressively more evil baddies either. Conan actually has something to lose here -- either honor, friendship or love which helps keep the tension high even if Conan himself is practically invincible.

Overall, a wonderful addition to Conan canon that proudly stands alongside Howard's short stories.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art and writing were great. I loved reading through the stories, and appreciated the modern coloration and organization. Overall it was pretty fun and awesome. After reading the Savage Sword and regular Conan comics from the 70s, 80s, which were drawn with such impressive precision and detail, especially the Savage black and white art and the way it plays with shadows, I just don't find myself quite as impressed as I could be. It's still fantastic, just not to the legendary status.

I hope they can make more omnibus editions of this series. I'm loving the new Zub stuff as well so maybe one day Heroic Signatures can reprint this as well? Who knows.

In total I would highly recommend this particular Dark Horse series for new Conan readers. It really gets the point across, has a much more palatable comic style and easy to read and understand stories. Conan is spot on, it's pretty great. After checking this out, I would point anyone and everyone to moving on to the Roy Thomas work, both Savage Sword and regular Conan the Barbarian. BUT don't even think of touching any of that until you read Robert E. Howard's original trilogy via Del Rey. His prose and storytelling power, worldbuilding, characters, drama, clever plots, I just can't stress enough that he is the best writer I have read.

[Craig Childs · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Empires have risen and fallen in these lands--and not always the empires of men. They have known the touch of forces darker, fouler than you can easily imagine. But there is something within man that, however degraded, cannot be easily broken. And the foulest of invaders can still be beaten back, though the effort is great and the cost staggering. But even a shattered enemy leaves behind remnants, relics."

Conan Chronicles Epic Collection, Vol. 1 compiles the first twenty issues of Dark Horse's Conan written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Cary Nord.

Dark Horse obtained the rights to the Conan character from Marvel in 2003. Most fans credit them with breathing new life into what had become a staid, toothless franchise. Dark Horse went back to the original Robert E. Howard stories for their source material. They updated the look of the comics by using larger art panels with less dialogue and narration. They brought back the gore and edgy mature content from the old Savage Sword of Conan incarnation, but this time in full color.

Cary Nord's art brings an entirely new aesthetic which I enjoyed just as much as Barry Windsor-Smith's groundbreaking work at the start of the series in 1970.

The Conan Chronicles Epic Collection will eventually be a complete collection of all 151 issues published by Dark Horse comics between 2003-17. (Marvel has announced a separate Hyborean Tales Epic Collection that will assemble the various mini-series and one-shots from the Dark Horse years that exist outside the continuity of the main series.)

Highlights of this collection include:

The one-shot prologue Conan #0 "The Legend", which won an industry award for Best Single Issue of 2003.

Issue #3 adapts one of my favorite Conan stories "The Frost Giant's Daughter". The art is fantastic as Nord captures the dreamy, ethereal quality of the short story. He also corrects the worst part of Windsor-Smith's previous adaptation. Now Conan is garbed in weather-appropriate furs instead of running around snow-covered mountains in his loincloth.

Includes a long origin story that covers Conan's birth and childhood up to the Battle of Venarium. These episodes are interspersed throughout the series, acting as breaks between long story arcs. Gary Ruth takes over as illustrator for the six origin story issues (#8, #15, #23, #32, #45-46). These were previously gathered into the 2008 graphic novel Conan: Born on the Battlefield.

Issue #9 "Two Nemedians Walk Into a Bar…" typifies the difference between Dark Horse and Marvel interpretations of the character. Marvel tends to write Conan episodically with each issue having its own conflict, action sequence, and tidy resolution. Dark Horse, on the other hand, adapts longer stories across more issues and allows for deeper characterization. This particular issue is a light comedy that emphasizes Conan's oft-mentioned but rarely seen "gigantic mirth".

Issues #10-11 adapt Howard's original Conan story "God in the Bowl". It is not one of Howard's better stories but this adaptation works anyway. Writer Kurt Busiek focuses on the detective aspects of the story; Demetrio investigates a crime for which Conan stands accused, and then Conan fights the city guards in an attempt to escape. The comic ends exactly as the prose story did. All in all, this version is superior to Roy Thomas' first comic adaptation in 1971 (in Conan the Barbarian #7). However, the ending here feels anticlimactic because it stays faithful to Howard's story, whereas Thomas added an exciting extended fight scene between Conan and the serpent-child of Set.

Issue #12 created a minor controversy in Conan fandom. "The Hanamar Road" relates the backstory of Janissa the Widow Maker and her master Bone Woman, including a scene of Janissa being raped by a demon. The art was not overtly offensive, but some readers felt the story point was inflammatory and gratuitous.

Bonus features:

- Several covers from previous reprints and collections of the series.

- Essays on the origins of the Robert E. Howard stories and their comic adaptations, also all reprinted from earlier collections. The most prominent is a chronology of the Conan stories that serves as the basis for the Dark Horse series.

- Unused drafts of artwork from both Nord and Ruth.

[Jeffrey Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the glory days of Lee, Kirby and Ditko, Marvel Comics could never be the same. But the Seventies brought us new (soul) gems in the work of writer/artist Jim Starlin and his auteur-buddy Steve Englehart, which I eagerly devoured like an image-starved Galactus. 1970 had already seen the first issue of Conan the Barbarian by Roy Thomas and Barry (Windsor-)Smith, although, like Lee & Buscema's Silver Surfer, I had blinked and missed it during an early I'm-too-grown-up-for-comics phase. By the time I had grown out of the French existentialists and rediscovered my love for bandes dessinees (so much more sophisticated than 'comics', don't you know), these classics were already out of my price range and I would have to wait (quite some time, as it turned out) for the collected editions...confusingly, from a different publisher, Dark Horse.
The new millennium also saw a new team re-inventing the Conan of the Comics, Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord, whose work, originally published by Dark Horse, is here re-issued by (even more confusingly)...Marvel Comics! For me the definitive Conan will always be BWS' elegant, pre-Raphaelite barbarian, but Cary Nord's illustrations run a close second. Particularly striking are those issues where the colourist Dave Stewart works directly onto Nord's pencils. However, I use the term 'illustrations' advisedly: whereas BWS started off copying Kirby's action layouts and only later began adding the loving detail which lifted his work to another level, Nord sometimes seems more enamoured of the static detail than the sequential movement, to the detriment of his storytelling. Sometimes there are too many panels of talking heads (although that could be the writer's fault) for my liking...But this is a minor cavill, considering how action-packed most of the stories are, as one would expect of any adaptation of Robert E. Howard's character.
Only two of REH's Conan stories are adapted here: 'The Frost Giant's Daughter' and 'The God in the Bowl'. Of the original stories, I particularly liked the sequence set in Hyperborea as it deals interestingly with one of my favourite subjects, what the philosopher Henry Corbin calls the 'banal dualism' of myth and history - and how they are transcended in legend. On the subject of legends, I was particularly pleased to see a story featuring the artwork of Fifties EC Comics legend John Severin, who died in 2012 at the age of 90! - and who, along with his sister Marie, had worked on the early issues of Marvel's Kull the Conqueror (another REH adaptation).
Two stories drawn by Greg Ruth (detailing episodes from Conan's childhood) and one by Bruce Timm of animation fame provide a welcome contrast to the finely-detailed illustrative style of Nord and Severin; but I could have done without the ugly covers to some of the early issues provided by Joseph Michael Linsner, one of which even 'graces' the collection's cover - although it has the advantage of leaving the prospective buyer in no doubt as to the amount of blood 'n' guts inside. The emptor should also caveat the casual misogyny without which Conan just wouldn't be Conan - but, again, I could have done without the origin story for Janissa the Widow-Maker, original to Busiek as far as I know - the demonic vileness of which is only accentuated by the loving detail lavished on it by Nord and Tom Mandrake (another fine artist in his own right). At least by this point the issue covers are being provided by Leinil Francis Yu; and they are striking and memorable for all the right reasons.
If Conan is a guilty pleasure then I'm looking forward to feeling guilty all over again when I've read the next collection...

[John_H92 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only complaint is that I started reading Dark Horses Conan series by Kurk Busiek so long after it's publication. Well that sometimes the faces look a little weird but other than that it's an absolutely fantastic series with incredible art and great story telling with some expansion on Robert E. Howard's original tales.

[Xroldx · Rating 3 out of 5]

After loving Vol 5 so much I decided to track down other Epic Collections as well starting with volume 1.

This isn't as good as Vol 5. I don't like the art and Conan is kind of the mindless guy I remembered from the movies.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the Darksome Hills is excellent, clever, filled with great art, dynamic settings, three-dimensional characters, heroics, cunning, daring do, adventure and action! Crisp high five and highly recommneded! Get it when you can!

[Liz Thoth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fantastic stories of Conan! The art and writing is top notch. This review is really for #1-4 of the marvel epic collection reprints. (Originally published by dark horse) After reading multiple versions of Conan, I believe the Kurt Busiek are the best volumes to jump into.

[Brysen Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

They say your first will always be special. The Kurt Busiek run with Dark Horse was my introduction to Conan in Comics. I'd read a good chunk of the original RE Howard stories before this and man this run of the comics really do them justice. Dark and Gritty and some of the best.

[Urgewyrm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly the essential Conan comic following the original story beats as written by Howard. The artwork is gorgeous and the stories are classic.

Old time fans and the Conan curious can and will appreciate this.

[Cail Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute BLAST. I love Conan.

[Philip James Ahlschlager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! Diving right into the next one.

[William Corrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Single handedly sparked my interest in the Conan universe. Between the artwork and the story telling, absolutely phenomenal

[Burton Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and readable. Wish we had a comic comic that read like this but had the art of the older comics.

[Al Capwned · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories are very good, some others not so much and the art is not really my favourite thing from this book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic. First Conan I've ever read. Loved it