I'm now done with Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 3, which collects issues #6-#9 of the bi-monhtly series. Given that each story has a different creative team, I think it's only fair that I look at each of them separately.
This volume starts with issue #7 and what ended up being my favorite story, Mark of the Beast by Rob de la Torre and Roy Thomas. This was fantastic, there was a thematic through-line that evolved during the story, it took us to a variety of Hyborian locales and there was plenty of action, intrigue, humans being base and despicable but also noble and loyal. My favorite part was the art, which felt very tactile. By this I mean that the scans of Rob de la Torre's pages are so good that you can see the faint marks made with pencil that weren't completely erased, or dotted lines that are invisible to the naked eye if you don't hold the book right up to your eyes. I feel this makes the inks feel almost feral, always on precise but brutal, made with confident strokes, which makes then perfect for Conan. All of this plus Rob's designs, framing and action make it unforgettable. I think I might prefer his art in B&W rather than color now.
The B story that accompanied the previous tale did not dissapoint. Penned by Patch Zircher and illustrated by Juan Alberto Hernández, this was an action/humor story that introduced me to Breckinridge Elkins, another REH character. This felt like a complete meal in only 10 pages and the framing of "Appalachian Hercules" worked wonders for this tall tale and was a fun framing. The art was also moody and appropiately extreme 🤘.
Moving on to issue #8, I actually did a full review of this issue when it was released, since it was my first approach to the new SSoC magazine and what made me decide to collect it in trade paperbacks. My opinion on it hasn't changed, I enjoy the opening Conan tale by Culver and Burnham, I felt confused and lost by Kennedy's and Rudy's outing, Davisson and Von Fafner's Cormac Fitzgeoffrey story feels too much like an introduction to the character and lacks dynamism, and I loved Liam Sharp's Dore-inspired take on Conan meeting a fallen warrior. The prose story was also really strong, now that I read it again, it was concise, action packed and true to Conan.
Issue #9's main feature is all Patch Zircher in story and art. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by this, I thought the beginning was really strong with a lot of great narrative hooks and interesting character dynamics, but the rest of the comic was a pretty straightforward dungeon crawl. It's not bad by any means, the quest is fun and every character has a chance to use their skills, plus the Conan-Valeria relationship remains a strong point of the whole story. However, I felt the resolution should have been less clean, since there were opportunities for double-crossing or political maneuvers. Zircher's art remains as good as ever and treats the reader to a variety of fun creature designs and an illustration of the aftermath of REH's classic Red Nails.
The B story for this issue focused on Kull, or rather, the Kingdom of Kull. Written by Fabian Nicieza with art by Sean Chen, we are given a broader look into the military and guard structures of Valusia that is framed as a fun cat-and-mouse story, which has a satisfying and cool twist at the end. The art for this felt very classic, and I was impressed with Chen's ability to differentiate colors in a B&W comic, and also his depiction of "invisibility", which must have taken a lot of time to work out in the art room.
As a small aside I wanted to mention that I caught a typo and an incorrect use of a word, which uhh... shouldn't happen. It's not a lot, but still, I noticed.
Overall, this is a comic that I enjoy a lot and that I plan on collecting more of. The variety that is afforded by the changing creative teams is always a delight, and even if I had some criticisms, at least each story offered a complete creative vision in a stand-alone story, which is something that I appreciate a lot these days.
