“THE STORY YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU’D SEE – THE DEATH OF CONAN! It’s all been leading to this! The thief, the reaver, the slayer – CONAN meets his ultimate fate at the hands of the CRIMSON WITCH! But what lies beyond? And find out the secret history of the Crimson Witch and her mysterious underlings! Plus: The next chapter in the all-new novella ‘BLACK STARLIGHT’!”

By BOB FREEMAN — PM Library Writer

In what can only be described as disturbing, Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar finally tease the ultimate fate of Conan the King.

One can’t help but wonder if Aaron and Asrar will actually pull the trigger. I for one hope not, but I have to remind myself, these are imaginary tales — not canon.

In truth, only Robert E. Howard’s tales are gospel. Everything else is fan fiction.

There is the original Marvel canon to consider and Roy Thomas continues to be the benchmark for Conan’s adventures. Sure, Roy dropped the ball on occasion, but by and large, he had a grasp for the character that few writers have been able to match.

That includes Aaron.

While this issue is by far the best in in the run so far, 10 issues into a 12 issue run is a strange place to finally hit one’s stride. And maybe that has been the biggest problem that Conan the Barbarian’s relaunch has faced — pacing.

Ultimately, the tale seems padded, stretching what could have easily been a three issue arc into twelve segments, the vast majority of which have been lackluster at best.

That said, this chapter, “The Children of the Great Red Doom”, is a terrific horror piece, visually unnerving and uncompromising. Asrar is at home with these gory bits, gloriously illustrating deeply disturbing images juxtaposed with the almost sweet and endearing relationship between the children and their mother.

The crux of the matter is this, The Life and Death of Conan is a lot of things. As I’ve said from day one, the plot is solid. The execution has left a lot to be desired. It is a grotesque monstrosity in all the best ways imaginable. As a horror fantasy, it gets high marks, visually and thematically, but as a Conan story, well, so far, it has missed the mark far more times than it hasn’t.

As the flagship title representing the Hyborian Age in the Marvel Universe, it is an unfortunate affair… and yet, I still hold out hope that somehow it redeems itself as this tale reaches its conclusion in the next two issues.

It won’t erase what came before it, but there is still a chance for Conan to actually show up in this book and that’s why I’m sticking around.

On a scale of 1-10 skulls of my enemies, I’d rate this issue a 6.