Conan the Barbarian #9

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Vasilis Lolos

Pretty much, every month I marvel at just how much I am enjoying this take on Robert E. Howard's classic character Conan.  I'm going to try not to focus on the fact that Brian Wood and his collaborators have made me like a barbarian character that I always found boring before, and instead just talk about the quality of the art in this series.

This title opened with (and later featured again) Becky Cloonan.  Since then, we've seen art by James Harren, and now Vasilis Lolos.  These are some pretty street-cred indie artists drawing a series set in a medieval world where people solve their problems with swords.  These artists bring a pretty different sensibility to a character who most people still associate with Barry Windsor-Smith and John Buscema, and that is a big part of why this series is so awesome.

Lolos draws the hell out of this issue, including an incredible scene with wolves attacking Belit the pirate queen.  Conan finally finds the man who has stolen his identity and has been devastating the Cimmerian countryside.  We learn that there is a connection between the two men going back to their shared childhood, in what ends up being a little bit of a morality play on the dangers of bullying, but I can forgive that, as the rest of the book is terrific.

It's been great to see Lolos drawing again, and I look forward to reading the second volume of his OGN series Last Call, which has just been solicited for December in this month's Previews.  It's always great when someone you respect artistically gets back in the game.