In the early 1970s, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian exploded on to the comics scene. Writer Roy Thomas teamed with a young artist named Barry Smith, and together the two mapped out some of the most stirring and memorable Conan adventures to come along since those written by Howard himself. Over the course of their 24 issue run together, Thomas and Smith defined Conan for a generation of comics readers, and now those stories are collected here in a series of trade paperbacks. Featuring completely remastered color and text corrections, and containing material not available for nearly thirty years, these books are the perfect companions to the upcoming all-new Conan series from Dark Horse.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The coloring ruined it for me.,
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This review is from: The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 2: Rogues in the House and Other Stories (Paperback)
I must agree with many other reviewers: it was a mistake on the part of the digital colorists to attempt to add volume to the images. Smith himself, when he colors his work, goes for a more subdued approach... His colors try to subtly enhance his gorgeous line work, not drown it in computerized gradient effects. And drowning is exactly what we see here, especially in the "Rogues in the house" segment. That piece actually looked much better in black and white than it does here in colour form.The choice of colors itself was sometimes dubious; the ethereal veil of Atali, daughter of the Frost Giant Ymir, is here coloured a heavy green; that makes it appear like rough wool rather than like "a fabric so fine no human hand could have woven it". Despite this unfortunate problem, this collection is certainly a worthy addition to any fan of the classic series. It just could have been better had the colors been as in the original comic, or handled by the same studio that recolored volume one.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fine comic storytelling,
This review is from: The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 2: Rogues in the House and Other Stories (Paperback)
With "Rogues in the House and Other Stories," the second volume of Dark Horse Comic's reprint of Marvel's "Conan the Barbarian" comic series, the team of writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor Smith finally hit their stride, and begin producing not only the finest Conan adaptation, but also some of the finest traditional comic stories ever to see print. They were both talented professionals, and knew and loved the character that they were working with.
At their best when adapting authentic Robert E. Howard stories, this collection contains "Rogues in the House, " and the perfect "The Frost Giant's Daughter." Another story, "Garden of Fear" is a Howard adaptation from a different character, but suits Conan fine. The original stories, as well as new characters such as the faithless Jenna, add context and flow to the adaptations, seating them in a definite time-line that Howard never attended to. Barry Windsor Smith's art in this volume is leaps and bounds above his derivative work in Chronicles of Conan vol. 1, "Tower of the Elephant and Other Stories." He is closer to the style that would make him famous, and elevate him above mere comic book artist. Unfortunately, this trade paperback edition is not without it's flaws, mainly being the lack of original covers and some unnecessary modern coloring effects. The covers are noticeable absent, as Roy Thomas often mentions them in his "Behind the Swords" commentary at the back of the volume.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When Conan Came To Corinthia...,
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This review is from: The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 2: Rogues in the House and Other Stories (Paperback)
For Conan traveling along mountainous Corinthia along the Road of Kings, life stunk. Fortunes would be lost, betrayals endured, and eternity glimpsed in the mad embrace of a homicidal gorilla. Conan had his complaints; not so fans of the Conan Marvel comic books.
This second volume of the "Chronicles Of Conan" series, collecting issues published in 1971-72, finds Conan writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith at an early zenith. Gone are the cruder line drawings and sillier prose of the issues collected in Volume 1. Here you get some terrific, visceral excitement with engaging back stories dripping with political intrigue and characters worth remembering for more than the way they stomached a Cimmerian scimitar, like Murilo the deceptively tough-nosed fop, Jenna the deceiver, and Burgun the noble thief. All three show up for the three-part adaptation of Conan creator Robert E. Howard's "Rogues In The House", a stand out of the entire comic series for its weaving of diverse storylines both sordid and surreal. You see from reading this and Vol. 1 how well Thomas set things up, introducing Jenna and Burgun in earlier issues in such a way "Rogues" reads like a continuation of Conan's busy life, not a detached episode as Howard wrote it. Thomas even finds a way to flesh out a single paragraph of Howard's "Rogues" to fill an entire issue, showcasing his deep-drilling imagination for not the last time. As "Rogues" develops, Conan is pressed by Murilo to help him kill a mysterious priest who lives, like so many Conan villains, in a vast fortress dwelling barbed with deadly traps. Howard gave this story a lot of strange twists that exposes much about the skullduggery of both the priest and Murilo, who observes Conan, a mere thief, is the "most honest" of the three. An abruptly-scripted conclusion (which appears the same way in the Howard original) and Windsor-Smith's occasional difficulty at penciling faces are but the most minor speed bumps in this white-knuckle adrenalin ride. The rest of the book is not nearly as good, the nadir being another Howard adaptation, "The Frost Giant's Daughter", which involves Conan chasing a laughing woman through the snows, hoping to catch and rape her. Yucky, yes, but it could have been transgressively interesting if it wasn't so threadbare, and disconnected from everything else here, being the only story set far from Corinthia. The digitalized color work of this recent publication only makes matters worse, cementing the piece's awkward reality. Of the other stories, "Garden Of Fear", "Dweller In The Dark", and "Web Of The Spider-God" make arresting use of diversely exotic locales within the greater Corinthian area, but also suffer from the series' Achilles heel: Throwing a random monster into the action whenever a big finish was needed. You still get two strong tales, and a third ("Dweller") which is something more, casting Conan as the kept man of a haughty queen, but the predictability grates, and would grate more over time. The word "great" seems more apt here, though, especially with the sublime handling of "Rogues Of The House", which showcases how cleverly Thomas and Windsor-Smith could mesh adult sensibilities in a kid's medium. Howard's original stories were nearly 40 years old when they got the Marvel treatment; now it's nearly 40 years later and the Conan comics seem just as enduring.
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