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Kang the Conqueror (2021) #1-5
Kang the Conqueror: Only Myself Left to Conquer
Collects Kang The Conqueror (2021) #1-5.
The time traveler called Kang the Conqueror has led many lives across many eras. He has been a pharaoh, a villain and a warlord of the spaceways - even, on rare occasions, a hero. Across all timelines, one fact seemed absolute: Time means nothing to Kang. But the truth about the Conqueror is much more complex! Kang is caught in an endless cycle of creation and destruction, dictated by time and previously unseen by any but the Conqueror himself. A cycle that, once revealed, could finally explain the enigma that is Kang. It begins and ends with an old and broken Kang sending his younger self down a dark path. But is there any hope that he can change the tragic fate of his great love, Ravonna Renslayer, and find his way to a better future?
The time traveler called Kang the Conqueror has led many lives across many eras. He has been a pharaoh, a villain and a warlord of the spaceways - even, on rare occasions, a hero. Across all timelines, one fact seemed absolute: Time means nothing to Kang. But the truth about the Conqueror is much more complex! Kang is caught in an endless cycle of creation and destruction, dictated by time and previously unseen by any but the Conqueror himself. A cycle that, once revealed, could finally explain the enigma that is Kang. It begins and ends with an old and broken Kang sending his younger self down a dark path. But is there any hope that he can change the tragic fate of his great love, Ravonna Renslayer, and find his way to a better future?
110 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 9, 2022
29 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
September 2, 2022
This book honestly impressed me way more than I thought it would, as I didn’t actually think I’d like a book about Kang this much. And Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing are truly a fantastic writing duo, as both this and their recent Aquaman/Flash team-up book were great.
This one is a character study about Kang himself, but it’s even more so about the concept of how history always seems to manage to repeat itself. A very interesting look at not only the self-destructive nature of one man, but humanity itself.
I really liked what this had to say, even if the ending came a bit too quickly for my tastes. This does have me beyond excited for Batman Beyond: Neo Year (pun intended) though, as these two are writing it and look like they may finally give us a decent BB comic. Recommended for anyone interested in Kang, both this and the Timeless one-shots are perfect for new readers.
This one is a character study about Kang himself, but it’s even more so about the concept of how history always seems to manage to repeat itself. A very interesting look at not only the self-destructive nature of one man, but humanity itself.
I really liked what this had to say, even if the ending came a bit too quickly for my tastes. This does have me beyond excited for Batman Beyond: Neo Year (pun intended) though, as these two are writing it and look like they may finally give us a decent BB comic. Recommended for anyone interested in Kang, both this and the Timeless one-shots are perfect for new readers.
May 12, 2022
An entertainingly good origin tale starring Kang the Conqueror, enriched by great art and strong Doctor Who vibes.
Such a shame the homo sapiens tribe set in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event made my eyes and mind bleed, otherwise this could have been even a five stars read for me.
'Nuff said.
February 25, 2023
Time travel stories are the most difficult of stories to tell coherently. Marvel attempts it in the tale of Kang the Conqueror. It tries to tell that Kang is beyond time and the master of it. This tale is more along the lines of time being a circle, what has happened before will again and there is no escaping it.
I almost feel bad for Nathaniel Richards. It is almost as though he's caught in a time loop and he is desperate for freedom.
I also can't help but think that the MCU may have erred in choosing Kang as their next villain. His story is too complex for the confines of the big screen, the Loki TV show appears to attempt to rectify that and perhaps season 2 will do just that, but there is no guarantee. The MCU will have to figure out how to break the circle of Kang's story that this comic failed to do otherwise it may be an incredibly unsatisfying time for Marvel Studios and fans.
I almost feel bad for Nathaniel Richards. It is almost as though he's caught in a time loop and he is desperate for freedom.
I also can't help but think that the MCU may have erred in choosing Kang as their next villain. His story is too complex for the confines of the big screen, the Loki TV show appears to attempt to rectify that and perhaps season 2 will do just that, but there is no guarantee. The MCU will have to figure out how to break the circle of Kang's story that this comic failed to do otherwise it may be an incredibly unsatisfying time for Marvel Studios and fans.
February 6, 2022
With his MCU debut fast approaching, it's time for a look back into the past of Kang The Conqueror, and his ill-fated romance with his time-tossed lover Ravonna.
Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing are a pair of writers that continually fly under the radar, and yet continually turn out solid stories that deserve more recognition. Their rendition of the life and times of Kang The Conqueror can sometimes lean a little too hard towards over-writing (the dude monologues a LOT), but this time-twisting adventure, while a tad predictable since it's a time travel story, is another solid feather in their collective cap.
The transformation of Kang from his humble beginnings as Nathaniel Richards into the Kang The Conqueror we know and love/loathe is both subtle and inevitable. Along the way we get acknowledgements of a lot of Kang's incarnations and achievements over the years, and while this isn't exactly a definitive origin story as it might pretend to be, it's certainly a love letter to everything Kang's been through to get to the character he is today.
There's an effortless quality to the level of detail that Carlos Magno infuses into his pencils that I've not seen very often. All of his panels are packed with backgrounds and clothing folds, but it never feels like too much or going too far. It's almost as if a tamer, more grounded Arthur Adams has managed to draw five full issues, which would be an achievement in itself.
I'm sure a lot of people will be asking questions about Kang in the near future, if they're not already. This book's as good a place as any to start, and a solid entry into Kang's dynasty from an often underappreciated creative team.
Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing are a pair of writers that continually fly under the radar, and yet continually turn out solid stories that deserve more recognition. Their rendition of the life and times of Kang The Conqueror can sometimes lean a little too hard towards over-writing (the dude monologues a LOT), but this time-twisting adventure, while a tad predictable since it's a time travel story, is another solid feather in their collective cap.
The transformation of Kang from his humble beginnings as Nathaniel Richards into the Kang The Conqueror we know and love/loathe is both subtle and inevitable. Along the way we get acknowledgements of a lot of Kang's incarnations and achievements over the years, and while this isn't exactly a definitive origin story as it might pretend to be, it's certainly a love letter to everything Kang's been through to get to the character he is today.
There's an effortless quality to the level of detail that Carlos Magno infuses into his pencils that I've not seen very often. All of his panels are packed with backgrounds and clothing folds, but it never feels like too much or going too far. It's almost as if a tamer, more grounded Arthur Adams has managed to draw five full issues, which would be an achievement in itself.
I'm sure a lot of people will be asking questions about Kang in the near future, if they're not already. This book's as good a place as any to start, and a solid entry into Kang's dynasty from an often underappreciated creative team.
March 29, 2022
3.75
Some really great stuff. Especially the earlier issues. But the timey-wimey stuff got a bit too...timey-wimey and veered too far off into abstraction. What even happened in the last issue?
Some really great stuff. Especially the earlier issues. But the timey-wimey stuff got a bit too...timey-wimey and veered too far off into abstraction. What even happened in the last issue?
December 29, 2021
This was so good!
It starts off with an older version of Kang coming to instruct his younger self and from there we follow the young guy but all he wants is to save Ravonna but his elder self has forbid him from it and well he goes rogue and we see him in the cretaceous period or even the heroic period vs Doom but the real one is in the future as he goes forward and meets Ravonna's future selves and his mission is to save her and then the twists we see here is awesome and his mission to be never like his future self.. well time completes its circle and I loved this aspect of the volume.
The way the writers give him such a tragic origin and make him so relatable with "never love" and how he got his powers and all is so amazing and like humanize him in a way that explains his motives and drop so many great marvel easter eggs and try to align it with the continuity as much as they can. One of the better villain stories in Marvel history! A must read!
It starts off with an older version of Kang coming to instruct his younger self and from there we follow the young guy but all he wants is to save Ravonna but his elder self has forbid him from it and well he goes rogue and we see him in the cretaceous period or even the heroic period vs Doom but the real one is in the future as he goes forward and meets Ravonna's future selves and his mission is to save her and then the twists we see here is awesome and his mission to be never like his future self.. well time completes its circle and I loved this aspect of the volume.
The way the writers give him such a tragic origin and make him so relatable with "never love" and how he got his powers and all is so amazing and like humanize him in a way that explains his motives and drop so many great marvel easter eggs and try to align it with the continuity as much as they can. One of the better villain stories in Marvel history! A must read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 6, 2022
Color me impressed. When the singles for this started coming out, I assumed this was just a quick cash grab because Kang has now shown up in the MCU and Marvel just wanted to take advantage by putting something out. But then I started seeing people were liking it so I decided to grab the trade. Wow, this was pretty great. A deep, introspective look on the never ending time loop that is Kang. He went to his younger self to train him to not make his mistakes, which only set him on the path to become him. Plus his whole reason for telling his younger self, never love, plays out is a crazy way reading the stuff about Ravonna. A really well done story beat. Top it off with some really well crafted artwork and you have a book that comes highly recommended.
January 18, 2023
You have all this power but the only thing you can’t overcome is yourself. Loved the story and enjoy the character of Kang.
March 5, 2022
When I heard about this I thought it would be just another miniseries trying to capitalize on his appearance in a TV show, but this was pretty good. The writers give some background and personality to the character, while at the same time touching upon his appearance in multiple times as multiple people. He's a flawed human, scarred emotionally, and caught in a circle of tragedy, but doomed to repeat it because he never heals.
The art by Magno is outstanding, whom I don't recognize the name, but their style does look familiar, almost like the work of Gary Frank. Clean but very detailed, with large pinup shots as well as double-page spreads, all used effectively. One interesting thing is the emphasis that he wears a mask. In the past it's always been portrayed as his skin being blue with these raised ridges on it. But both the TV show and series try to move away from that idea. I this case it's clearly a mask because it is drawn like a ski mask with individual eye holes, revealing his skin color around his eyes. Not opposed to making it a mask but seeing his skin there looks a little weird, not something befitting Kang the Conquerer.
It's different and I'm looking forward to reading more from this pair of writers Lanzing and Kelly.
The art by Magno is outstanding, whom I don't recognize the name, but their style does look familiar, almost like the work of Gary Frank. Clean but very detailed, with large pinup shots as well as double-page spreads, all used effectively. One interesting thing is the emphasis that he wears a mask. In the past it's always been portrayed as his skin being blue with these raised ridges on it. But both the TV show and series try to move away from that idea. I this case it's clearly a mask because it is drawn like a ski mask with individual eye holes, revealing his skin color around his eyes. Not opposed to making it a mask but seeing his skin there looks a little weird, not something befitting Kang the Conquerer.
It's different and I'm looking forward to reading more from this pair of writers Lanzing and Kelly.
May 17, 2022
You gotta respect a comic that exists almost certainly only because the character appeared in the Loki Disney+ series, but that comic's actually pretty darn good. Detailed art, top-notch time travel storytelling, even pathos! Only Myself Left to Conquer has it all, which is far more than you could ask of the typical tie-in.
The book essentially tells the life story of Kang, from him being kidnapped as a child in the 31st century by his future self to him returning to the 31st century to kidnap his child past self. We've got a real Ouroboros on our hands folks! There's also a touching love story in Only Myself Left to Conquer. If you only know Kang from the Disney+ series, there's a lot more to discover here. For instance, the dude was also a technologically advanced Egyptian pharaoh who battled Apocalypse!
Only Myself Left to Conquer isn't necessarily going to win any awards, but it has a lot of strong moments that launch the book far above the usual tie-in range. It's also wonderfully standalone - usually I'd say "more Kang please!" at this point, but honestly, this was probably exactly the right amount.
The book essentially tells the life story of Kang, from him being kidnapped as a child in the 31st century by his future self to him returning to the 31st century to kidnap his child past self. We've got a real Ouroboros on our hands folks! There's also a touching love story in Only Myself Left to Conquer. If you only know Kang from the Disney+ series, there's a lot more to discover here. For instance, the dude was also a technologically advanced Egyptian pharaoh who battled Apocalypse!
Only Myself Left to Conquer isn't necessarily going to win any awards, but it has a lot of strong moments that launch the book far above the usual tie-in range. It's also wonderfully standalone - usually I'd say "more Kang please!" at this point, but honestly, this was probably exactly the right amount.
February 21, 2022
Pretty good origin story for Kang the conqueror, who is going to be the next big villain for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He Who Remains on Loki is a variant of Kang and Kang the Conqueror is slated to be in the next Ant-Man movie so I’m glad I read this because this explains his complex origin. His older self goes back in time to help his younger self and not make the same mistakes. He travels and conquers different eras of time and makes for an interesting villain. In the past he ruled Egypt as Rama- Tut and waged war with En Sabah Nur more commonly known as Apocalypse.
Read
December 5, 2022Kang the Conqueror; already glimpsed in his MCU iteration, and clearly being set up as a big bad for the coming phase, yet never the easiest villain to play convincingly. Someone I used to know always referred to him as Kang the Conquered, because for all his knowledge of past and future, his technology and legions and mastery of time, the silly bastard kept showing up in the present day and getting his arse kicked by the Avengers. And if you try to move away from the bathetic and make more of his epic potential, then you run into the trap which awaits any time travel story, especially one threading between decades of previous stories by dozens of different people, because it can very easily become confusing, insubstantial and/or plain ridiculous to have the character hopping back and forth across his own tangled timeline, especially when at least four other Marvel characters have been revealed as versions of Kang at other points in his life.
Still, sometimes it works – Kurt Busiek et al mostly pulled it off in the monumental Kang Dynasty, which will hopefully donate more than just its title to the forthcoming Avengers film, and so do Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Carlos Magno in this miniseries. I'm not sure how much of the material here is new story, how much simple restatement (because, again, decades of confusing backstory, of which I've only read a fraction), but it gets off to a perfect start with Kang, mournful on his throne, pondering that tale of Alexander the Great which, like Canute on the beach, has too often been not just eroded by time, but turned entirely back to front. Well, not here, and simply for knowing better than to trot out the 'no more worlds left to conquer' bullshit, the book had my attention. From there we flash back – at least within Kang's own timeline – to his youth in the 31st century: "My world was a utopia of pleasure and entertainment. My so-called betters called it post-scarcity. I called it boring." And just as he's finding his own way out of that resented tranquility, who should interfere but – himself, of course, older, wiser, stronger, yet also far more bitter, and determined that his younger self should avoid all the mistakes which brought him to that point. Never realising that all he's become is one more cage for the younger self hellbent on escaping every restriction. Particularly with the older Kang's insistence that the younger should never love, this story of the alienated son of privilege dreaming of blood and glory feels more relevant now than ever, recalling as it does the visions of all those incels and would-be warlords in the dark corners of the net. More than that, though, it's one of the oldest stories there is: wherever you go, there you are. Almost a platitude, yet the grander the scope and the more intricate the genre machinery you use in deploying it, the harder it hits me (see also: Westworld seasons 1-2; Mike Carey's Lucifer). So too here, with Kang always trying to outrun himself, get it right this time, unlose his lost love, yet for all his brilliance and superscience, still doomed to end up beaten and alone. The scale is vast, especially for only five issues; the visuals are spectacular, and especially in the fall of Chronopolis, the writing is magnificent. Never being able to do a proper ending means that Big Two superhero comics aren't usually a natural fit for tragedy, but play it just right and that can be the biggest tragedy of all.
Still, sometimes it works – Kurt Busiek et al mostly pulled it off in the monumental Kang Dynasty, which will hopefully donate more than just its title to the forthcoming Avengers film, and so do Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Carlos Magno in this miniseries. I'm not sure how much of the material here is new story, how much simple restatement (because, again, decades of confusing backstory, of which I've only read a fraction), but it gets off to a perfect start with Kang, mournful on his throne, pondering that tale of Alexander the Great which, like Canute on the beach, has too often been not just eroded by time, but turned entirely back to front. Well, not here, and simply for knowing better than to trot out the 'no more worlds left to conquer' bullshit, the book had my attention. From there we flash back – at least within Kang's own timeline – to his youth in the 31st century: "My world was a utopia of pleasure and entertainment. My so-called betters called it post-scarcity. I called it boring." And just as he's finding his own way out of that resented tranquility, who should interfere but – himself, of course, older, wiser, stronger, yet also far more bitter, and determined that his younger self should avoid all the mistakes which brought him to that point. Never realising that all he's become is one more cage for the younger self hellbent on escaping every restriction. Particularly with the older Kang's insistence that the younger should never love, this story of the alienated son of privilege dreaming of blood and glory feels more relevant now than ever, recalling as it does the visions of all those incels and would-be warlords in the dark corners of the net. More than that, though, it's one of the oldest stories there is: wherever you go, there you are. Almost a platitude, yet the grander the scope and the more intricate the genre machinery you use in deploying it, the harder it hits me (see also: Westworld seasons 1-2; Mike Carey's Lucifer). So too here, with Kang always trying to outrun himself, get it right this time, unlose his lost love, yet for all his brilliance and superscience, still doomed to end up beaten and alone. The scale is vast, especially for only five issues; the visuals are spectacular, and especially in the fall of Chronopolis, the writing is magnificent. Never being able to do a proper ending means that Big Two superhero comics aren't usually a natural fit for tragedy, but play it just right and that can be the biggest tragedy of all.
February 15, 2023
Kang battles his worst enemy - himself - both figuratively and literally. This is essentially more about Kang as a character than a story in the proper sense, but it's a compelling read, as you see him repeatedly trying to transcend himself. The story might not be as accessible to readers who don't already know something about Kang's convoluted chronology, however. (A-)
October 17, 2022
Depois de Thanos, Kang é o novo grande supervilão da Marvel que vai dar as caras nos filmes dos Vingadores no MCU. Era óbvio que a editora iria fornecer mais espaço para que o personagem ser desenvolvido nas páginas dos seus quadrinhos. Mas histórias com viagens no tempo sempre geram muita confusão nos leitores, prova disso é o próprio Kang que possui diversas facetas de si mesmo agindo contra os heróis da Marvel. Além dele, existe o Faraó Rama-Tut, o Centurião Escarlate, o Rapaz de Ferro e Immortus. Contudo, essa minissérie encadernada, por Kelly e Lanzing e com a arte ultradetalhada de Carlos Magno serve para fazer uma costura entre a maioria destas identidades e esclarecer para o leitor como é que existem tantas contrapartes de um mesmo personagem no Universo Marvel e nenhum ser uma variante, mas o próprio Nathaniel Richards, o Kang. Kelly e Lanzing montam esse quebra-cabeça de forma extraordinária, em que ficamos vidrados na história para saber como as coisas que sabemos pregressamente se encaixam. Quando acaba a história ficamos pedindo por mais Kang. Que seja assim no MCU também!
April 4, 2023
This could have been brilliant. The art is gorgeous. Unfortunately, the narrative falls apart rather quickly, unraveling into the usual Back to the Future double dumbass stupidity. Sure it’s fun, but none of it makes much sense. It does a nice job at the end to try and pull it all together again, but it’s still a mess. Basically, it’s just another retcon hack.
May 24, 2022
3.5 Stars.
Kang has always been an enigma to me and the entire Marvel Universe. Known as a Master of Time, his machinations and schemes have always been tricky to follow, but with his debut in the MCU, I knew it was only a matter of time before the comics would focus on him.
The easiest way to describe this story would be that Kang, despite always wanting to break out of the time loop he put himself in, does exactly what is needed to put himself back on his path. A living ouroboros. The writer and artists do an excellent job at giving the story hope and depth, while always heading towards the inevitable conclusion.
I enjoyed reading it, but it is not for the new Marvel reader.
Recommend. Kang, in any age, is tragedy and entertainment.
Kang has always been an enigma to me and the entire Marvel Universe. Known as a Master of Time, his machinations and schemes have always been tricky to follow, but with his debut in the MCU, I knew it was only a matter of time before the comics would focus on him.
The easiest way to describe this story would be that Kang, despite always wanting to break out of the time loop he put himself in, does exactly what is needed to put himself back on his path. A living ouroboros. The writer and artists do an excellent job at giving the story hope and depth, while always heading towards the inevitable conclusion.
I enjoyed reading it, but it is not for the new Marvel reader.
Recommend. Kang, in any age, is tragedy and entertainment.
February 11, 2023
Alexander wept because he could not conquer his world .
Alexander wept because he could not conquer himself .
But i am not Alexander .
I love this run
Alexander wept because he could not conquer himself .
But i am not Alexander .
I love this run
January 31, 2022
Really fucken weird.
Cool concept at the start when Kang mentors his younger self to become like the most ideal version of himself that he can be. After stating the one rule "don't fall in love" with younger Kang immediately falling in love, you're just sitting there thinking ok this is clearly going to go full circle, and then the comic waits until the last issue to do that twist as if you didn't guess it in the first issue.
Other than that, it was pretty good and enjoyable, especially for my first Kang comic. They also stole the concept of sending a person throughout an entire time stream from Doctor Who S7E15 The Time of the Doctor but it's whatever I'll ignore that it was still good.
Cool concept at the start when Kang mentors his younger self to become like the most ideal version of himself that he can be. After stating the one rule "don't fall in love" with younger Kang immediately falling in love, you're just sitting there thinking ok this is clearly going to go full circle, and then the comic waits until the last issue to do that twist as if you didn't guess it in the first issue.
Other than that, it was pretty good and enjoyable, especially for my first Kang comic. They also stole the concept of sending a person throughout an entire time stream from Doctor Who S7E15 The Time of the Doctor but it's whatever I'll ignore that it was still good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2025
Kang's past rivals Cable's as Marvels most confusing due to time travel wackiness and here...yeah, more of that. I leave this book knowing not what happened but knowing that I think I liked it well enough. First off, the art by Carlos Magno was really good. There were some truly amazing panels in here. The story about a young Kang learning from old Kang and he runs into more Kangs was what you might expect. It was overly verbose and still made little sense but there were some very cool moments. In the end, Kang leaves me at the same place I always start with him, meh.
December 31, 2021
4,5 stars.
Issues 1-4 read on 12/12/21
Issue 5 read on 31/12/21
Issues 1-4 read on 12/12/21
Issue 5 read on 31/12/21
March 2, 2022
FULL REVIEW *Spoiler Free*- https://youtu.be/PgufWMnIAuU
Other Writers Can Learn Plenty From This Fantastic Story
OVERALL RATING: 5 stars
Art: 5 stars
Prose: 4.5 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Pacing: 4.25 stars
Character Development: 4.75 stars
World Building: 5 stars
Other Writers Can Learn Plenty From This Fantastic Story
OVERALL RATING: 5 stars
Art: 5 stars
Prose: 4.5 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Pacing: 4.25 stars
Character Development: 4.75 stars
World Building: 5 stars
November 9, 2022
Wow! Always wondered about his orgin. Loved this retelling. My brain is fried from all the time travel. I hope Marvel doesn’t drop the ball on this extremely intriguing character!
December 15, 2022
Really enjoyed this collection. First two issues were a little underwhelming but somewhere around the 3rd it kicked into high gear and it delivered.
August 14, 2023
I picked up Kang the Conqueror: Only Myself Left to Conquer at SDCC because I wanted to buy something nice and self-contained for Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly to sign, and...holy fucking shit, I need to go back in time like Kang and tell them how great I think this book is. All I know about Kang I learned from the MCU and I guess Iron Lad's appearance in Young Avengers, but Lanzing and Kelly made him a truly fascinating and compelling character in this five-issue miniseries that follows a young Nathaniel Richards as he strives to not become the Kang the Conqueror who went back in time to tell him how to be a better Kang the Conqueror with two key words of advice: "Never love." (So of course Ravonna Renslayer plays a central role here, which makes me very curious about Loki S2.) While it may be cliché to reframe a supervillain as sympathetic because of his love of a woman, Lanzing and Kelly brilliantly play with established canon to tell a gorgeous, lyrical tale of a man who accumulates incredible power and uses it for both good and evil across centuries and millennia.
God, the writing here is so pointed and clever in crafting a character study that puts Kang at the center of the Marvel Universe but features cameos from so many other key figures that put him and his power in context. Lanzing and Kelly know how to use the rhythm of narration to punch beats and make you feel the emotion of every part of a thought and then knocking you out when you turn the page. They know how to use the repetition of phrases like "Never love" or "In the space between the stars" in ways that recontextualize them as Nathaniel/Kang uses or remembers them throughout his journey. And incredibly, while I initially loved Nathaniel Richards as a kind of Kid Loki, a younger version of a supervillain who's perhaps a little more on the good side, and found the way he referred to Kang, his much older self, as essentially a separate person interesting, we know that canonically he must become that person, and Lanzing and Kelly make this evolution gradual and believable. I have no idea how much of this story is their own invention, but I'm in awe of how they pulled it off.
But also, my God, the art! Artist Carlos Magno, colorist Espen Grundetjern, and letterer Joe Caramagna had me wanting to savor every page, every panel. Stylistically, it is perhaps just "good superhero art," but these fuckin' LAYOUTS, Christ. There are a couple double-splash pages that actually read left to right and then right to left and then left to right again as the narration carries you through various panels while a key image overlaps other. There are quite a few instances of the latter, where Kang or Ravonna cross the gutter onto other panels. It's just a visual feast.
This is one of those books that uses the comics medium to its fullest advantage, that thrilled me from panel to panel, page to page with a moving story of identity told with an epic immortal scope that's nonetheless written by mortals who've infused every word with a very human thoughtfulness.
God, the writing here is so pointed and clever in crafting a character study that puts Kang at the center of the Marvel Universe but features cameos from so many other key figures that put him and his power in context. Lanzing and Kelly know how to use the rhythm of narration to punch beats and make you feel the emotion of every part of a thought and then knocking you out when you turn the page. They know how to use the repetition of phrases like "Never love" or "In the space between the stars" in ways that recontextualize them as Nathaniel/Kang uses or remembers them throughout his journey. And incredibly, while I initially loved Nathaniel Richards as a kind of Kid Loki, a younger version of a supervillain who's perhaps a little more on the good side, and found the way he referred to Kang, his much older self, as essentially a separate person interesting, we know that canonically he must become that person, and Lanzing and Kelly make this evolution gradual and believable. I have no idea how much of this story is their own invention, but I'm in awe of how they pulled it off.
But also, my God, the art! Artist Carlos Magno, colorist Espen Grundetjern, and letterer Joe Caramagna had me wanting to savor every page, every panel. Stylistically, it is perhaps just "good superhero art," but these fuckin' LAYOUTS, Christ. There are a couple double-splash pages that actually read left to right and then right to left and then left to right again as the narration carries you through various panels while a key image overlaps other. There are quite a few instances of the latter, where Kang or Ravonna cross the gutter onto other panels. It's just a visual feast.
This is one of those books that uses the comics medium to its fullest advantage, that thrilled me from panel to panel, page to page with a moving story of identity told with an epic immortal scope that's nonetheless written by mortals who've infused every word with a very human thoughtfulness.
August 22, 2024
The title sounds like a memoir that doubles as a self help book.
Now that the MCU has abandoned Kang because of the controversy surrounding the actor (you could just recast him, but whatever), I feel like I’m missing out on a potentially cool villain, so I picked this up to learn more about him, and I sure did learn.
My biggest complaint would be that this reads more like a character summary, where we’re being told about his backstory, as opposed to a genuine journey where we experience the story with Nathaniel. If it took the time, and was confident enough in its story and characters to slow down the pace and let events breathe and feel like they have weight and consequence, then it would’ve been far more compelling. This speedruns through his origin like it’s trying to beat the world record of most rushed backstory, it’s so much exposition, mixed with 1 page of character dynamics, then EXPLOSION! And more exposition. This makes for a tiring/overwhelming read, that is just too much, like an info dump, not a conversation. The love story, which is a massive part of his motivation as a character, isn’t given enough time to develop, so in the end where he’s going through all the turmoil to get her back, I just don’t feel anything.
Despite how I didn’t care about the story or characters, I do acknowledge that they have potential and are good on paper (🥁🥁🟡). The concept of a time travelling genius who can see the human race has peaked and has nothing to conquer, goes back in time to rule everything, is pretty awesome. The constant foiling of his plans at the hands of the pesky Avengers or Fantastic Four, leading to the death of his beloved, which causes him to try to change his own past by mentoring his younger self, sealing his fate in the process is epic, and makes for a cool ending. Not to mention how he even tries to be a hero, but is unable to lose the conqueror inside him.
A concept only gets you so far, you actually have to put in the work to make people care, which this didn’t do. This is a fantastic blueprint for what could be a tragic, emotional and amazing story about Kang, but it just needs to be written by someone without ADHD. Needs more heart, and needs more conquering.
Now that the MCU has abandoned Kang because of the controversy surrounding the actor (you could just recast him, but whatever), I feel like I’m missing out on a potentially cool villain, so I picked this up to learn more about him, and I sure did learn.
My biggest complaint would be that this reads more like a character summary, where we’re being told about his backstory, as opposed to a genuine journey where we experience the story with Nathaniel. If it took the time, and was confident enough in its story and characters to slow down the pace and let events breathe and feel like they have weight and consequence, then it would’ve been far more compelling. This speedruns through his origin like it’s trying to beat the world record of most rushed backstory, it’s so much exposition, mixed with 1 page of character dynamics, then EXPLOSION! And more exposition. This makes for a tiring/overwhelming read, that is just too much, like an info dump, not a conversation. The love story, which is a massive part of his motivation as a character, isn’t given enough time to develop, so in the end where he’s going through all the turmoil to get her back, I just don’t feel anything.
Despite how I didn’t care about the story or characters, I do acknowledge that they have potential and are good on paper (🥁🥁🟡). The concept of a time travelling genius who can see the human race has peaked and has nothing to conquer, goes back in time to rule everything, is pretty awesome. The constant foiling of his plans at the hands of the pesky Avengers or Fantastic Four, leading to the death of his beloved, which causes him to try to change his own past by mentoring his younger self, sealing his fate in the process is epic, and makes for a cool ending. Not to mention how he even tries to be a hero, but is unable to lose the conqueror inside him.
A concept only gets you so far, you actually have to put in the work to make people care, which this didn’t do. This is a fantastic blueprint for what could be a tragic, emotional and amazing story about Kang, but it just needs to be written by someone without ADHD. Needs more heart, and needs more conquering.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2025
Review by Ozymandias (Watchmen)
Kang the Conqueror: Only Myself Left to Conquer is a brilliant meditation on ambition, time, and the inescapable tragedy of self-destruction. In a genre often dominated by simple battles of good versus evil, this story dares to dig deeper, exploring how a man can be both his own greatest creation and his greatest downfall.
The writing is sharp, almost poetic, capturing the endless cycle of Kang’s existence—his rise, his fall, his desperate clawing against the chains of destiny he forged for himself. Each twist in the narrative feels inevitable yet heartbreaking, because Kang’s greatest enemy was never the Avengers, or even time itself. It was always Kang.
Visually, the comic is breathtaking. The art captures the grandeur of ancient kingdoms, futuristic dystopias, and intimate, broken moments with equal mastery. Every panel feels heavy with meaning, as if even the smallest expression or gesture is echoing across centuries.
5 out of 5 stars. A masterwork of character study wrapped in the bright armor of comic book mythology. Kang’s tragedy is universal: no matter how far you run, you are always yourself—and sometimes that’s the cruelest fate of all.
Kang the Conqueror: Only Myself Left to Conquer is a brilliant meditation on ambition, time, and the inescapable tragedy of self-destruction. In a genre often dominated by simple battles of good versus evil, this story dares to dig deeper, exploring how a man can be both his own greatest creation and his greatest downfall.
The writing is sharp, almost poetic, capturing the endless cycle of Kang’s existence—his rise, his fall, his desperate clawing against the chains of destiny he forged for himself. Each twist in the narrative feels inevitable yet heartbreaking, because Kang’s greatest enemy was never the Avengers, or even time itself. It was always Kang.
Visually, the comic is breathtaking. The art captures the grandeur of ancient kingdoms, futuristic dystopias, and intimate, broken moments with equal mastery. Every panel feels heavy with meaning, as if even the smallest expression or gesture is echoing across centuries.
5 out of 5 stars. A masterwork of character study wrapped in the bright armor of comic book mythology. Kang’s tragedy is universal: no matter how far you run, you are always yourself—and sometimes that’s the cruelest fate of all.
December 13, 2022
Name: Kang: The Conqueror (2021)
Written by Collin Kelly
Kang: The Conqueror is probably the best mini-series from Marvel of the year. It is a 5 issue mini-series. The writing is perfect. The story serves as a great origin. It's a complicated origin but it's a great one. This series is a paradoxical story. It ends right where it begins. It's an origin of a Kang. And it's marvelous. The story explores the mythos of Kang. The series begins with a Nathaniel who was supposed to be Ironlad. But that didn't happen and the story took a different turn.
This series is about Kang trying to save his loved one, Ravonna. And the events surrounding it. The artwork is fantastic. So are the covers. The covers are just perfect. The story starts and ends with one sentence. "Never ever love". Recommending this to everyone. As Kang is in MCU, you will most certainly enjoy this series. This story has become one of my favourite Kang stories ever. Excited for the Timeless series to come.
Ratings:
Storytelling: 9.5/10
Artwork: 9/10
Overall: 9.25/10
Written by Collin Kelly
Kang: The Conqueror is probably the best mini-series from Marvel of the year. It is a 5 issue mini-series. The writing is perfect. The story serves as a great origin. It's a complicated origin but it's a great one. This series is a paradoxical story. It ends right where it begins. It's an origin of a Kang. And it's marvelous. The story explores the mythos of Kang. The series begins with a Nathaniel who was supposed to be Ironlad. But that didn't happen and the story took a different turn.
This series is about Kang trying to save his loved one, Ravonna. And the events surrounding it. The artwork is fantastic. So are the covers. The covers are just perfect. The story starts and ends with one sentence. "Never ever love". Recommending this to everyone. As Kang is in MCU, you will most certainly enjoy this series. This story has become one of my favourite Kang stories ever. Excited for the Timeless series to come.
Ratings:
Storytelling: 9.5/10
Artwork: 9/10
Overall: 9.25/10
November 17, 2022
You will have the power of a god.
This modern-day retelling of Back To The Future has Kang telling his younger self to never fall in love because it distracts him from his purpose in life. However, the young Kang(Nathaniel Richards) falls prey to love, and escapes his master. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.
Myself being a DC-fan, a coworker had recommend this to me. At first I thought Kang The Conqueror was similar to Booster Gold. I was wrong! When I first noticed his last name is Richards, I wondered if he could be related to Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Of course, not. 
Can’t Kang get anything right?! This conniving conqueror that I mistook for a robot is stuck in a loop. Has he always referred to himself in the third person?! This sci-fi comedy is really a tragedy. Children in grade school should read this to learn some real history.
February 4, 2023
More of a 3.5 but honestly a pretty solid sci-fi story for what is probably a flimsy promotional throwaway. Nathanial Richards lives in a uptopia that sees Francis Fukuyama’s famous proclamation rung true: history is over. There’s no innovation left, no events, and even no human touch. In his ambition for something more, Nathanial runs into Kang who takes him under his wing. It becomes a love story, stretched across time and millennia. But, as Nathanial discovers, love doesn’t last forever. The art is ok, the writing is pretty sturdy though rushed. You could probably predict the arc of the narrative within reading the first three pages but it’s the prose that keeps your attention here, as the story poses the question of just how does the good spirited Nathanial become the ruthless Kang? The answer is surprisingly simple and yet rings true.
February 25, 2023
I watched Ant-Man 3 and decided to read all of the Kang the Conqueror stories that my library has. Of them, I thought this one was the best.
My general sense of the Kang dynamic is that he is interesting when presented as a tragic figure. He's also interesting when he interacts with other villains like Dr. Doom. (This is something that comics learned after I stopped buying, but heroes fighting heroes and villains fighting villains is almost always more interesting than heroes fighting villains.)
The crimes Kang commits are so awful that they have to be shown off screen or else his stories are too unsettling.
As a general rule, the Avengers defeat Kang thanks to the help of his variants.
My general sense of the Kang dynamic is that he is interesting when presented as a tragic figure. He's also interesting when he interacts with other villains like Dr. Doom. (This is something that comics learned after I stopped buying, but heroes fighting heroes and villains fighting villains is almost always more interesting than heroes fighting villains.)
The crimes Kang commits are so awful that they have to be shown off screen or else his stories are too unsettling.
As a general rule, the Avengers defeat Kang thanks to the help of his variants.
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