Conan The Barbarian #8 Faces His Greatest Enemy

Conan the Barbarian made many enemies in his long life, but one name has stood out above all others. So how did the feud between Conan and Thoth-Amon begin?

Jason Aaron, Gerardo Zaffino, Gerry Brown, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham puts Conan into conflict with his greatest foe.

After a long time away, Conan returns home to Cimmeria, and his village. Things aren’t as they seem though, as a malevolent magical force has taken over. Can Conan put a stop to the curse, and learn more about Thoth-Amon, the source of it?

So far, Conan has been very good but fallen into a fairly predictable pattern. This issue breaks out of that, swerving into territory we haven’t seen so far. Conan is in over his head, and Aaron shows him use every tool in his arsenal- most of which were explored in the rest of the run to date. He also shows a side we haven’t seen yet- a scared Conan- which allows Aaron to further break the mold of the story he’s been telling so far.

Zaffino’s line art is wild and out of control, which fits the curse perfectly. It also makes Cimmeria feel very different from any other locale we’ve visited in the series so far. He also makes the action feel more brutal, but uses swords, arms, and trees to create sight lines to guide the reader’s eye across the page. Wilson uses mostly blues to convey the dire tone of the story, with splashes of bright colors (especially red) to add horror and tension.

Now that we’ve met Thoth-Amon, the world of Conan has opened up so much more. It will be exciting to see where the story goes from here.

Conan the Barbarian #8 is available now from Marvel Comics.