Conan, the well-known barbarian of Cimmeria, enters the mercenary's path. Bloody battles with demonic hordes await him, the pay of the commander of the Khorajan army, as well as a battle with an immortal vampire, whose hero will catch the eye. Life in Conan's company of free comrades is not easy, as you will see for yourself.
Barbarian obedient soldier?
I spent the last days with Conan, the famous Cimmerian, and his mercenary company. I must say right away that I am a new volume of adventures of this warrior, I am delighted! This is the fourth installment of the new Egmont series, which aims to convey to its readers the entire story of Conan, from the common thief to the luxuriant king, in chronological order. Free Companions is a long, monumental comic book novel. Almost 500 pages full of the highest quality frames takes us on a journey full of adventures, fights and blood.
Conan’s Life Journey
It would be difficult to briefly tell what this volume is about. The creators have collected the plot of several novels and works by Robert E. Howard – the creator of Conan, Solomon Kane and several other famous characters. It is safe to say that this writer was an outstanding writer of middle class, not to say low-flying, literature. Nevertheless, his works cannot be denied their charm and amazing atmosphere. The author was also famous for the fact that his stories about the brutal barbarian from Cimmeria were very scattered across the universe’s timeline – once his hero was a king, sometimes a warrior, sometimes a budding thief. It was up to the readers to organize all the events in the correct order in their heads. The authors of the comic book, however, meet the needs of the audience and present us with Conan’s life from beginning to end. In volume four,Free comrades , we meet the hero in the role of globetrotter. He joins the mercenary army and in time becomes one of its commanders. Then he will be the general of the legions of a beautiful princess, leader of a free company of Cossacks, a fugitive in the swamps, and finally a captain of pirates. I think this is the juxtaposition of roles that a warrior plays in only one comic book volume shows us how much is going on in him!
A tragic vampire
It is also worth mentioning one story, which appeared in this volume as if “for the attachment”. Akivasha’s Grief is a story about a vampire whose loneliness has become a curse. She almost manages to trap Conan in her snares, but the barbarian manages to escape. The woman throws her demons to chase the man, but her fury turns into… sadness after a while. As it turns out, this character is not a villain per se , but rather one of the most tragic characters in the universe created by Howard. Akivasha’s sadness, in turn , from the story, which would seem to be added by force, becomes the most profound narrative of the entire volume.
A decoration for the shelf straight from Cimmeria
Immediately the reader’s attention is drawn to the volume of the comic, which is truly impressive. To this should be added a hard cover, and we will get a beautiful edition of Conan’s adventures, which will decorate our shelf. The interior also does not differ from the cover – I have not seen such good and detailed drawings in a picture novel for a long time. The craftsmanship of cartoonists is especially visible in battle scenes. To say that they are equal to the movies is to say nothing. These frames beat the movie battle scenes on the head! Each character shown on the pages of the comic book is a separate story, the fate of which we can only guess. Creators hired on the Conan seriesthey are real artists, you can see it on almost every page. At the end of the volume, we also get the classic set of covers and concept sketches in Egmont’s items. In addition, we can read the thoughts of the creators and people working at Conan. A very interesting read that allows you to take a look behind the scenes of the making of these beautiful comics.
Who wouldn’t want to be Conan …
Each of us associates Conan with the invincible barbarian (sometimes with the face of the famous Arnold), whose muscles can barely fit in any clothes. He is not afraid of anything, he will not let any beautiful woman pass by, and the white-headed ones are pushing themselves to his bed. Does the comic change anything in this image of the protagonist? No! Is it wrong? Not again. Despite how damaging the depiction of women in the Cimmerian stories, or how primitive and primitive Conan is the protagonist, he has an irresistible appeal. It is because of this simplicity that Howard’s stories have become so popular, and generations of readers have read and will likely continue to read his stories. Moreover, Free Companionsthey reveal one of the barbarian’s weaknesses that I have not encountered before. It turns out that his primal instincts tell him to fear… magic! The very ending of the volume also makes us wait impatiently for what will happen to Conan, this time in the role of a pirate captain. Will he and his crew get money and fame? Or maybe quite the opposite?
The spirit of Howard’s stories locked in comic book frames
In Free Companions from the very first pages you can feel the spirit of the stories by Robert E. Howard. A great adventure, monumental battles, bloody clashes and lots of beautiful women make the characteristic dark fantasy atmosphere felt on every comic book page. The larger than usual volume of the picture novel also means that we will spend much more time with him than with his short counterparts from the world of Star Wars, for example. Great fun and an amazing adventure that leaves the reader waiting for more. So let’s wait, hopefully not too long …
