Savage Sword of Conan Is Back!

Ah, look at that stunning artwork by Joe Jusko!
After the successful release of Titan Comics new Conan the Barbarian series we finally get a new and TRUE Savage Sword of Conan – the first since #235 from 1995!
Sure, Marvel had a short revival of the title in 2019 but that was only in name, the comic itself were like any other Conan comics at the time so it was a complete wasted opportunity. Now by the good people of Titan Comics, Heroic Signatures and Jim Zub we finally got the Savage adventures of Conan back in a black and white magazine-format. Exactly how it’s suppose to be!

But it doesn’t stop there. Not only do we get a Conan story by John Arcudi and art by Max Von Fafner, we get a Conan short story written by Jim Zub and a Solomon Kane comic by Patch Zircher. Last but not least, the introduction is by the legend Roy Thomas.. Wow, how could we simply live without this before 2024?
But let’s dive into the good stuff and take a short look at all the stories here.

Conan and the Dragon Horde

This is a story where Conan battles Tyrannosaur-Dragon-monsters and it’s about time! He’s fought dinosaurs before but never a fucking T-Rex (as far as I know) so if this isn’t enough for you to buy this issue, then shame on you! The story by Arcudi truly feels like a Savage Sword issue straight from the 1970’s and the art is in parts really stunning, but in parts not so much. I don’t know, it’s got a weird feeling at times where stuff doesn’t seem to fit.. but on the other hand, when it’s good it really feels like it could have been an oldschool Savage Sword issue. So all in all, can’t actually complain.

The art doesn’t shy away from violence and nudity which is great, however at times it feels too dark. I believe someone on Youtube made a point that it could have been made in color from the beginning, and then they make it black and white “artificially” and if that’s the case it doesn’t really work. I’m no expert so I won’t claim anything, but if it’s meant to be black and white I think the artist should create it in black and white from scratch. Otherwise it could look weird.

Sacrifice In the Sand
This is a Conan short story written by Jim Zub. It’s really a short story only depicting a desert battle and rescue scene, but what shines here is Zub’s writing. It actually feels like he’s trying to be Howard and he succeeds, and for only being two pages and one scene it sends out great potential that Mr Zub could actually write Conan better than many others. My girlfriend enjoyd this one as well and she’s only a casual Conan fan, but she has read both Howard’s Conan and El-Borak for example so she’s familiar with this pulp style.
Mr Zub, if you’re reading this, great work man! We need more of this!

Master of the Hunt, Part 1

We conclude this first smashing issue of Savage Sword with a Solomon Kane story. Holy crap, we’ve actually got Solomon Kane back and he’s in the right hands of Patch Zircher as well. The story is too short to comment on so you’re just have to check it out for yourself, but Zircher seems to have a good grip on how to tell a Kane story and the art is spot on, gritty and dark. If I’m gonna have some problems with this, then it would be that Kane has too big lips at some points in my opinion lol!
But all in all, Zircher does a great work and I can’t wait to read the next part and see if we get more stories from Mr Zircher. Well done Zir 😉

So in order to keep up with the running theme of everything in this first issue to be short, let’s sum it all up in short as well. If you’re a fan of Conan and Solomon Kane then you simply can’t miss out! This is overall a fantastic return for Savage Sword of Conan and I so dearly hope they can keep this up. The flag ship series Conan the Barbarian is great and gets the most attention, but I hope we can get more Savage Sword in the future!