Customer Reviews

The Savage Sword of Conan Volume 3 (v. 3)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The artwork is not as incredible, nor is the writing as good as in Volume 2. Most of these stories are short, abrupt, somewhat unsatisfying. They begin to be a bit formulaic in this volume (except for Chapter 6, "Child of Sorcery" which is told from the perspective of one of the women Conan encounters - a very sweet story.) This volume feels hasty, like a rushed production schedule was affecting the quality. There was a noticeable profusion of scribal errors: Words not misspelled, but just wrong (for example, writing "namor" instead of "armor".) One panel had frames for narration, but no words written therein! And I noticed a few times where narration did not match the pictures - for example, the narration says "touched his tunic" when the character is wearing a vest and the touch is obviously on his bare shoulder - or "grasped his throat" when the picture clearly shows the character being grasped by the wrist.

Inattention to detail, slack writing, artwork not up to par; Of three volumes so far, it would seem that _Savage Sword_ hit its peak in volume 2 and is now declining. Still, it is enjoyable and well worth the purchase price.

I also noticed that the last 100 pages of my copy are printed on a different paper, whiter and slightly thicker than the dull newsprint that has been used up till now.

When I was young, mid to late 70's, I would read issue after issue of Savage Sword more than any other comic or magazine. It was my favorite, and I had quite a large number of issues. Unfortunately, I lost my collection in a fire in the late 80's. When I found that Dark Horse was re-printing the issues of Savage Sword as volumes, and that those volumes would be available here at Amazon, I jumped at the opportunity of obtaining and re-reading those amazing stories again.

The sorcerer Thoth-Amon, Red Sonja, Captain Boraq D' Sharaq, the list goes on and all of them, fantastic characters and some of the greatest fantasy stories that were ever written! I became a 12 year old again.

If you collected and read Savage Sword, any of the other Conan comics, novels, or are just a casual fan, then by all mean, I HIGHLY recommend these volumes (currently, as of Aug. 26, 2008, one through three, with volume four to be released in October 2008)! The stories are just as we remember them in all of their black and white savagery, sorcery and plundering greatness!

Robert E. Howard is by far one of the greatest fantasy writers who ever lived.

Enter the Hyborian Age, and you will not want to return.

The Savage Sword of Conan series is a must read for any fan of Robert E. Howard's famous character. These black and white comics are more mature than the color series published by Marvel. The stories which are based on Howard's actual work, and many are, are very true to the original story line. I highly recommend for any fan of Conan. If only the new movie could have been as good......

Man, I love these Savage Sword reprints. How did the Marvel Comics team publish such richly illustrated adventures on a monthly basis, and put out a color comic at the same time? They must have had some help from the dark wizards whose spells make Volume 3 such powerful fun.

This, Volume 3, represents the output of thirteen issues published in late 1977 and 1978, not including a two-page map of Hyboria from 1975 tacked on at the end. You get three sprawling adaptations of stories by Conan creator Robert E. Howard, including "Beyond The Black River," considered his very best Conan story by many Howard-ophiles. It's hard to argue with that judgment here, as Conan does battle with brutal Picts threatening helpless settlers in the frontier forest of western Aquilonia. It's like a John Ford western with swords and witchcraft, a gripping two-parter drawn with flair and lush intensity by the one and only John Buscema along with the able Tony DeZuniga as co-artist.

Just as good in the same Fordian way, though miles apart both geographically and spiritually, "The Scarlet Citadel" is another Howard adaptation which sings in comics form, inking this time by an inspired Frank Brunner whose work I hope to see more of. This time, the story is even better by my lights, with Conan as an imprisoned king trying to save his people from a conniving band of marauders led by a cruel and powerful wizard. There's a sense of involvement with Conan's plight, and that of another wizard he befriends, that lifts this out of the straight pulp-adventure category, even if the bloodshed is ample and gleefully twisted. At one point, a disemboweled jailer is resurrected for the sole purpose of lifting a gate. The ending is so good you may lose your head - and you won't be alone in that state.

If the rest of the stories can't quite be as fine, it's hard to quibble with the more than 130 pages devoted to these two stories alone. The fact is that Robert E. Howard wrote only so many Conan stories, and Vol. 1 and 2 contains many of them. You only get one other pure Howard Conan story here, "Jewels Of Gwahlur," a satisfying-if-less-thrilling item that features the Cimmerian in thief mode trying to hoodwink some priests out of their divine treasure with the help of a nubile young woman who pretends she's a god. Things get hairy when the temple they are in turns out to be occupied by more than a few visiting clergy...

Beyond that, you get a Howard poem about Conan illustrated by the legendary Barry Windsor-Smith (it's not much, but it was maybe the last thing he did for Marvel and Conan and worth having for that alone) and some Howard stories once removed, either reworked by scripter Roy Thomas or rewritten by L. Sprague de Camp (and sometimes also Lin Carter) which Thomas then adapted for the comic. De Camp's reputation with Conan enthusiasts is at best spotty, and since I have not read his Conan stories first-hand, this represents my first exposure to his work. I liked it more than I expected to.

The worst of it is also the longest story, "The Flame Knife," which takes an unfinished Howard story and turns it into a sometimes exciting, often shambolic adventure that goes on and on for over 100 exhausting pages. An assassin, a mountain tribe, naked chicks, zombie attacks, and an evil overlord with designs to rule the world, "The Flame Knife" has everything, too much in fact, including a villain from Conan's past whose presence in the story makes zero sense. I took it with a grain of salt, and suggest you do the same.

A couple of other weaker stories - a gauzy Thomas piece apparently for teenaged female fans, "Child Of Sorcery," and a dim-witted de Camp monster tale called "The Lair Of The Ice Worm" - are warnings of how tricky Conan stories get when written from whole cloth rather than Howard ideas. Neither are completely bad, however, and a couple of the other de Camp adaptations are actually terrific.

"The Curse Of The Monolith" is a clever variation on a theme Howard employed in other, non-Conan works with a nod to penpal H. P. Lovecraft. Here Conan is laid out defenseless before a sentient pile of goo. It works precisely because neither de Camp nor scripter Thomas try to push it too far into the cosmic realm, and for how artists Gene Colan and Pablo Marcos manage to solve the tricky issue of depicting a moment-by-moment battle where Conan can hardly move.

"Hawks Of Shem" is a nifty potboiler featuring the most wonderful character in the book, a mad king convinced he's a god as his domain plunges into civil war. He's like a priggish Caligula missing a screw or two more.

Thomas does a great job pacing these stories, and throwing in clever lines (either his own or the original authors) in the right places to make them sing. "All mistresses are actresses in their way," he observes of one dissembling character in "Hawks Of Shem." Leaving aside the weaker fruit and the fact that Conan is moving farther by necessity from his long-dead creator's designs, Vol. 3 is a rich and inspiring collection of mostly-good-to-great stories that will leave you wanting more.

I'm sad to say that I am now reading the last of the Savage Sword Volumes. I really enjoyed them while they lasted. I read them while walking on a treadmill for exercise. You can't go wrong with any single one of these. Well worth the money.

If you like inked art these savage sword conan collections are the way to go. No need to buy each individual issue. These conan collections are huge. The paper could be of a better quality however. It doesn't matter much because it's line art but durability could be an issue over time.

Robert E. Howard fans will really enjoy this publication. It is a compilation of comics from the 70s and is a faithful reproduction of the Howard stories. The art is excellent. All in all a very enjoyable read.

Back during the Seventies Roy Thomas kept the legacy alive of Conan and Robert E. Howard. The book is a tremendous value and a great treasure! All of the stories and art is outstanding. Roy Thomas and John Buscema are my favorite duo! If you can find Conan The Barbarian #275, scarce, which is the last comic (1993)in the series read the last page testimonial by Roy Thomas. He gives credit to his his team members during the years and the last paragraph goes like this "But--did I say "last"? Nay, the ultimate place on this illustrious list, be it written first or last, is that of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Cimmerian, and who has been, as the contents page of Savage Sword has ever proclaimed, the "Soul and Inspiration" of everything we've tried to do. We're only sorry he hasn't been around to enjoy the fruits of his labors during the 1930s, and we'll never quite forgive him for taking himself away from us far too soon. With his talents like these behind him, is there any doubt that Conan, in one form or another, will be a Marvel mainstay for a long, long time to come? Thus, no tears-just a parting reminder: Conan The Barbarian in Savage Sword of Conan #218, by Mike Docherty and - Roy Thomas" Kudos to Roy Thomas. Job well done!! Conan is now in Dark Horse comics along with Solomon Kane, Kull, and a recent story Pigeons From Hell. Get on board at Dark Horse you'll be glad you did.

Must Reads: Conan Hardcover by Roy Thomas and Conan The Phenom, Blood & Thunder, The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn, One Who Walked Alone by Novalyn Price, Conan The Dark Barbarian by Don Herron, The Last of the Trunk, Selected Letters of REH, All Weird Works by Paul Herman, all by Rob Roehm, The Never Ending Hunt - Wildside Press a complete Bibliography of REH by Paul Herman, The Black Stranger & Other American Takes that has the scariest story ever - Pigeons from Hell, Two-Gun Bob, Almuric, Solomon Kane, Bran Mac Morn, The Best of REH 1 & 2, Red Nails and Beyond The Black River, Lord of Samarcand, and all Conans by Marvel and Dark Horse.

More awesome Conan stories with great artwork!!!
Thanks Dark Horse. Tons of reading material at a great price... can't go wrong with these large paperbacks.

This is a good volume - so far. I received it damaged from Amazon, but that has nothing to do with the content. The issue of The Savage Sword of Conan that introduces Red Sonjia is in this one. The art is excellent, although in Black and white and really, there is very little to say about the quality of writing, it's macho, violent, and barbaric fun. Great bathroom reading.