By BOB FREEMAN – Paint Monk’s Library Writer

Conan is fighting, and surviving, in skirmishes with Stygian assassins while in the service of King Yezdigerd of Turan., climbing the military ladder from mercenary to Great Commander, all the while becoming seasoned for sacrifice to the death god Razazel.

If you’ve been following along, you already know where this review is headed. I’ve not been overly enchanted with Marvel’s relaunch of Conan the Barbarian. While the plot is solid enough, the actual execution has missed the mark, in both words and pictures.

Conan deserves better. Robert E. Howard’s legacy deserves better.

But rather than continue to dwell on the negative, let me point out three things I do like about this book:

Esad Ribic’s Covers

Ribic has produced six covers for Conan the Barbarian thus far and each has been a thrilling depiction of the Cimmerian that compliments the interior tale, though, to be fair, this is my least favorite of the lot.

Overall, it is Ribic’s color pallete that sells it. With a thin line to frame the illustration, it’s the muted, earth tones that bring the pictures to life.

Matthew Wilson’s Colors

If you had told me going into Marvel’s relaunch that the best feature of the comic would be its colorist I would have scoffed, but let’s face facts, Wilson is a force of nature.

With a definitive command of color theory, Wilson makes each and every panel pop off the page, often doing the heavy lifting when the line art falters.

John C. Hocking’s “Black Starlight”

As we encounter the sixth installment in the serialized prose tale from Perilous Worlds, Hocking delivers another exciting chapter in this sequel to his 1995 novel, Conan and the Emerald Lotus.

Conan pastiches are really hit-or-miss (mostly miss), especially those Tor novels from the mid-90s. Hocking was one of the better authors to pen tales of everyone’s favorite Cimmerian and Black Starlight, while not great, is a serviceable addition to the stable of Conan yarns being spun anew.

CAPSULE REVIEW: We’re halfway through Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar’s The Life & Death of Conan. So far, their track record is not a good one, but their are flashes of brilliance, more than enough to warrant sticking around to see how it all ends, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I am looking forward to see what creators come along next.

I long for the thrilling days of yesteryear, when the likes of Thomas and Buscema tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under their sandaled feet.

As for this comic, I rate it 5 of 10 skulls of my enemies.