Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Sergio Davilla
Colourist: Michael Atiyeh
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

 

Any relationship Conan The Slayer #11 has to the similarly named Buffy The Vampire Slayer is purely co-incidental. The difference is obvious when you think about it. One is a half-naked, superstrong warrior dedicated to battling evil in all its forms and the other is Conan. Or is that only in my dreams?

Moving on.

A little-known secret when writing Cimmerian fantasy fiction is to take a pile of Scrabble letters, toss ’em on the table, pick some at random and use them as the names of people and places in your story. So, in Conan The Slayer #11 this tried and trusted method results in Jehungir Agha, Xapur, and Khosatral Khel. I’ll let you decide how they should be pronounced.

In Conan The Slayer #11, one is the ‘big bad’, one is a place and one is an evil giant. I’ll catch you up on who’s who and what’s what in a sec. Conan The Slayer #11 is an adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s tale ‘The Devil In Iron’ and sees Conan and the beautiful Nemedian Princess, Octavia (is there ever any other kind?) lured to the remote island of Xapur (that’s one) by Jehungir Agha, (that’s two). Xapur is home to an ancient fortress city guarded by the demonic giant Khosatral Khel (that’s three and now you’re all caught up as promised) who has bad intentions towards Conan and his beautiful companion.

Having demolished a giant snake, Conan and Octavia make their way through the passages of Xapur towards a showdown with both Jehungir Agha and the giant Khosatral Khel. As Conan  does the bloodthirsty battling chores, Octavia (feminists look away now) pouts prettily and barely manages to keep her leather chest covering in place (and we’ve all been there before…).

In Conan The Slayer #11 The Devil In Iron doesn’t actually put in an appearance in which is a bit of a disappointment, but other than that it’s old school Cimmerian shenanigans that sword and sorcery fans with thrive on. A very special mention has to go to Thomas Grindberg, whose immaculate cover art channels the late, great Gene Colan at his most brilliant and best.

 

 

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker