Groo vs. Conan 2 (August 2014)

Groo vs. Conan #2 So Groo vs. Conan is already an imaginary story wrapped in the adventures of Sergio Aragonés as he runs around with (presumably) temporary dementia. But then he and co-writer Evanier feel the need to wrap another imaginary element around the finish. The last few pages, where Groo and Conan fight, are all in the imagination of one of the townspeople.

The mix of art, with Yeates’s Conan often in front of Aragonés Groo backgrounds, is mildly successful. Each artist does fine on their own, but the combination is distracting. It isn’t supposed to look real and it doesn’t… it also doesn’t come off as the most imaginative way to fuse the two styles.

The best stuff in the comic is Sergio’s adventures running around half naked as he tries to escape Evanier and his doctors.

Aragonés and Evanier don’t seem to know how to best exploit the series’s gimmick.

B-

CREDITS

Writers, Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier; artists, Aragonés and Thomas Yeates; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Richard Starkings; editors, Dave Land, Katie Moody and Patrick Thorpe; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

Groo vs. Conan 1 (July 2014)

Groo vs. Conan #1 Groo vs. Conan. Even the title takes a moment to digest.

Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier fully embrace the absurdity of it, including the middle part of the comic–the majority of the comic, in terms of pages–being the two men walking around talking about doing such a crossover and how crazy it would be.

So why do it? Well, in the comic, Aragonés gets bumped on the head and thinks it’s a great idea.

As for the actual Conan and Groo scenes, the issue is mostly setup. Groo gets confused about who he’s supposed to battle and why and his concerned potential victims head to find Conan to save them. Tom Yeates draws the Conan pages. He does a fantastic job. Aragonés does fine with the Groo stuff and the “real world” stuff, but Yeates doing fantasy is treat as always.

The issue’s amusing without being particularly successful.

B-

CREDITS

Writers, Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier; artists, Aragonés and Thomas Yeates; colorist, Tom Luth; letterer, Richard Starkings; editors, Dave Land, Katie Moody and Patrick Thorpe; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

King Conan: The Conquerer 1 (February 2014)

297106 20140226101215 large King Conan is a fine enough Conan comic, I suppose. Timothy Truman has the lingo down, Tomás Giorello and José Villarrubia do well on the art. It’s moody while still appropriately classical.

But it’s just a Conan comic. It’s a pretty one, in line with the other pretty Dark Horse Conan comics, lots of romanticism and heroism. I love how Conan’s not necessarily a good guy but he’s a moral one, which goes far.

The problem’s Truman’s plotting. He’s adapting a novel, presumably faithfully, but he’s done little to make it a dynamic reading experience in the comic book form. There’s a very nice double-page spread and some of the panels are well-done, but the narrative doesn’t compel.

The bookends might be part of the problem. Truman’s playing dangers to Conan without winking at the idea he might get killed. No one has a stake in anything here.

C+

CREDITS

The Black Hand of Set; writer, Timothy Truman; artist, Tomás Giorello; colorist, José Villarrubia; letterer, Richard Starkings; editors, Everett Patterson and Philip R. Simon; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.