Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus, Vol. 7

Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus

by Christopher J. Priest

He was the writer that would put Black Panther back on the map of popularity in the late ’90s, but in the ’80s, Christopher Priest was editing—and writing—tales of Conan the Barbarian! The seventh volume in this popular Omnibus series collects the first half of Priest’s run, as the writer assembles a cast of engaging supporting characters around Conan, including the haunted Tetra and the courageous Captain Delmuro, sending them in pursuit of treasure held by the wicked thief, Keiv. Priest also introduces to the color series one of the great super-villains in Marvel’s Conan mythos—the Devourer of Souls. The dark reaver is one of Conan’s most formidable foes, and their legendary battles begin here! 

COLLECTING: Conan the Barbarian (1970) 172-194, Conan the Barbarian Annual (1973) 10-11

Genres: Marvel, Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Adventure, Graphic Novels Manga

680 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1987

About the author

Formerly (before 1993) known as James or Jim Owsley.

Christopher James Priest is a critically acclaimed novelist and comic book writer. Priest is the first African-American writer and editor for Marvel and DC Comics. His groundbreaking Black Panther series was lauded by Entertainment Weekly and The Village Voice and will serve as the basis for the 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe adaption.

Besides Black Panther, Priest has written comics for Conan, Steel, Green Lantern, The Crew and edited The Amazing Spider-Man. He also co-created Quantum & Woody along with Mark Bright and co-founded Milestone Media.

After a decade long hiatus he is currently writing comic books again and recently concluded a stint writing the comic book Deathstroke (2016-2019).

In addition to being a writer, Christopher J. Priest is also a baptist minister.

Reviews

[Alberto Martín de Hijas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tras años de decadencia, la serie empezó a recuperarse con la llegada de Priest/Owsley que aportó argumentos sólidos y con una buena etapa de Buscema, seguido por un Semeiks competente (Y que mejorará con el tiempo)

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 2.75/5
Hey, we got four great omnibus' worth of epic sword and sorcery comics, untainted by the identitarian scourge infesting modern comics (and everything else. Despite the hallowed and lengthy Roy Thomas run, I can't help but be a little salty when it comes to these later collections. Having Christopher Priestst's name on a book does elevate one's expectations slightly. Admittedly, the only thing of his I've read is his 2018 Deadpool run, which although solid at times, was tainted with the horrendous stain of the aforementioned identitarianism, but the man has a solid reputation within the industry. So when I started reading, and the writing was that bad I'm surprised their wasn't a foul odor emanating from the pages, I was shocked and disappointed. Said disappointment eventually turned to anger as it got worse and worse, to the point where, about a third of the way through, I was done with it. I wasn't going to read any more. I decided to read one more issue, having seen some comely wenches early on in the next arc, and to my complete surprise, it actually got rather good. I've had lots of runs deteriorate significantly at a certain point, but I can't think of too many that became so much more readable, so much more like the character at the drop of a hat. Maybe it had to do with Ernie Chan inking John Buscema for a consistent run, because up until then, the legend had been severely underserved by the inker he was saddled with. Shout out to Ernie Chan by the way. The man doesn't get anywhere near enough credit. Sadly, as if to prove my point, the final few issues saw a new art team come on board, and the writing suitably fell off a cliff once again, to the point where I didn't even read the last few issues. I'd experienced the best this book was capable of and wasn't going to subject myself to such mediocre writing, but sadly art as well. Thank God this was a shorter omnibus. Oh, and it's no accident either that the cover for this book, selected from the original covers didn't feature an attractive woman imperiled, being rescued by Conan. You know, because modern Marvel.
So basically, the middle half of this is pretty damn decent, with the start and end being little more than expensive toilet paper. A tad harsh perhaps, but after a hundred amazing issues, setting for such paltry fare seems such an unpleasant and unnecessary task. Tis better to have loved and lost...
3.75 for the good arc, 2 for the crap either side.


OmniBen.

[Ben Duerksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Priest taking the writing helm for this portion of the run provided some needed consistency for the series after what was, in my opinion, a definite downturn after Thomas’s departure. Although I don’t think the story conceptualization was necessarily back to the detail and overarching vision the series got with Thomas, especially as related to its positioning within Howard’s Hyborian timeline, the writing itself is a welcomed improvement over the issues covered in volume 6. Also, for my money it doesn’t get much better than John Buscema pencils with Ernie Chan finishes; Chan’s bold outlines I think really bring Buscema’s works to life. Those only last until around issue 192, unfortunately, when a different team took over who I found extremely hit or miss. Some panels look great, while others make you wonder if someone was a little tipsy while they drew. Characters’ eyes and anatomies in particular made me raise my eyebrows pretty consistently. Overall just very spotty, though the landscape panels were consistently well done.