Conan Volume 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories (Conan (Dark Horse)) [Paperback]

Kurt Busiek (Author), Cary Nord (Illustrator), Thomas Yeates (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Conan (Dark Horse) | Publication Date: March 15, 2011

When the internationally famous barbarian hero returned to comics, with an all-new fresh start by award-winning writer Kurt Busiek (JLA/Avengers, Astro City) and dynamic artists Cary Nord, Thomas Yeates, and Dave Stewart, the result was instant sell-outs and multiple printings to keep up with the demand. Now Conan's earliest adventures are collected in a handsome 192-page collection. Catch all the action and savagery as he wars with the murderous Vanir, meets the Frost Giant's Daughter, and is taken as a slave by the ancient sorcerers of Hyperborea! This top-selling new series faithfully expands on original author Robert E. Howard's literary creation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The popular barbarian is back in full-color painted adaptations of the original pulp novels by Robert E. Howard. Conan, the dark-haired Cimmerian warrior, leaves his homeland, inspired by his grandfather's tales of Hyperborea, a paradise in the far north. He befriends an Aesir chieftain by showing his skill in battle and joins a raiding party. After a particularly bloody battle, Conan, the last man standing, is visited by the Frost-Giant's daughter, a nymph made of ice. He eventually finds his way to the fabled lands of Hyperborea, where the countryside's beauty comes at a terrible price. These tales, like the originals, are long on swordplay and short on character development. Even so, Conan has an endearing earnestness that hearkens back to the golden age of pulp fiction: what Conan lacks in intelligence he makes up for in brute strength. The illustrations are lush, adding a new vibrancy to this fantasy world. Rounding out this collection of the first six and a half issues is a biography of Howard and Nord's highly amusing audition piece for the job as Conan penciler. (Apr.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (March 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593073011
• ISBN-13: 978-1593073015
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The young and wide-eyed Conan returns in a comic book, May 7, 2005

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conan Volume 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories (Conan (Dark Horse)) (Paperback)

The initial caveat here is that the cover for this trade paperback collection of the first six-and-a-half issues (more on that in a moment) of the Dark Horse reincarnation of "Conan" represents some amazingly bad choices in terms of color given the comic books reprinted inside. The key color in the art of Cary Nord, Thomas Yeates and Dave Stewart in these comics is brown and has been since the cover of issue #0. The yellows in the stories are never as blindingly yellow as you get above the title on the cover and the with the blue and red emphasized in the shot of Conan on a snowy battlefield makes it seem like the art inside consists of bright primary colors when the real attraction is a much more subtle use of colors and shadings.

Once you get to the stories the big question is how do the stories written by Kurt Busiek with the art of Nord, Yeates and Stewart compare with the original stories by Robert E. Howard (and stories finished and/or created by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter) coupled with the famous cover paintings of Frank Frazetta in those Lancer paperback editions in the 1960s and the classic "Conan the Barbarian" comic book written by Roy Thomas and drawn most notably by Barry Windsor-Smith and John Buscema. The goal of the new comic book that premiered in February 2004, of course, is to be both different and faithful.

"The Legend" (#0) uses the discovery of an ancient statue of Conan to unearth his legend. Howard's original words define the arc of the character: "Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet." The comic goes back to the little known early days of the Cimmerian when he was sixteen and first ventured into the lands of the Aesir. At this point he has already stood at Venarium and sent a score of Aquilonians to hell (apparently there is a self-imposed prohibition to going back before Howard's starting point). Young Conan wants to see the ancient world in general and the land of Hyperborea in particular, but for now he has joined with the men of Asgard against invading Vanirmen. After meeting the Frost Giant's Daughter, the young Conan is taken as a slave by the ancient sorcerers of Hyperborea. Obviously the point here is to take things slow and not be in a hurry to get to the days of Conan as a thief.

In terms of the art I would characterize it as a cross between Frazetta and Arthur Rackman. Yeates became part of the artistic team starting with issue #3, and I think his addition takes away from the overall effect of the art. The biggest commonality between the early days of this comic book "Conan" and Marvel's version is that the artwork was so detailed that the artist could not manage the schedule. The early issues of "Conan" were closer to paintings than traditional comic book art, but now the lines of the drawings stand out a lot more. It is a subtle but telling difference. My only concern is that Conan looks a bit hefty as a teenager and the only real indication that he is relatively young is that he does the wide-eyed bit a lot in these stories. He does not have to be as skinny as Windsor-Smith's early art, but there should be some room left for him to bulk up in the future. Then again, at least it is easy to understand why a Cimmerian teenager finds it easy to kill Aesir, Vanirmen, and Hyperboreans.

The key issue here is #2, which retells the title story of "The Frost Giant's Daughter" and gives everyone a point of reference to compare with Howard's original story and issue #16 of "Conan the Barbarian." I think it stands up pretty well in comparison to both, which would mean "Conan" has passed its first big test. Perhaps the best thing I can say is that I am still reading the title each month and I did not bite at all on Marvel's attempt to revive the character a while back. However, six-and-a-half issues bothers me, since there had to be better ways of filling up the space to make the page count come out right. There is ample reason to believe this is some sort of marketing ploy because there was only 8 pages left of #7 to include (although Conan saying, "Bury them. Bury them deep. Deep in the cold earth" is a nice exist line for the guy). Remember, this is the same company that put out an issue #0 for a quarter as a way of whetting our appetite for the new series. Issue #1 went to a third printing, which is a pretty good sign and when you read these stories you can understand why so many fans were willing to at least give this "Conan" a try.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good. Good. Good., April 19, 2005

By 

D. Maguire - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conan Volume 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories (Conan (Dark Horse)) (Paperback)

Beautiful book. The art by Nord and Stewart is fantastic - really captures the raw nature of the subject matter. Busiek's writing is great - giving us a young Conan venturing into the world. This Conan is not the unconquerable hero we are accustomed to. He is young and naive, makes some big mistakes, and lets down everyone counting on him. His survival from this first adventure is, for him, bittersweet.

Unbelievable how good the first seven issues of this new series is.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Top 5 Comic Books of 2004, December 1, 2004

By 

Guy L. Gonzalez "Malcontent" (Bloomfield, NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conan Volume 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories (Conan (Dark Horse)) (Paperback)

One of the hardest things to do in comics is taking on a well-known character loaded with history and making him seem fresh and exciting without "updating" or "ultimizing" him. Even moreso when the character isn't at least somewhat based in the world we live in. Kudos to Kurt Busiek for pulling it off masterfully. Plus, Cary Nord was born to draw Conan and Dave Stewart's coloring complements him perfectly, making this one of the best looking comics around, too. Robert E. Howard would be proud.