Reading – Conan and the Songs of the Dead

A few days ago Conan And The Songs Of The Dead*, by Joe R. Lansdale and Timothy Truman, arrived and I immediately jumped into the book, absolutely loving the look of Truman’s line art and the coloring work Dave Stewart put into the book. From the first page Truman’s art grabbed me, and by the end of the first chapter of the book (the first issue when the comic was originally published as a mini-series) I was sold on Lansdale as a Conan author. I have more to say, but if you’re in a rush all you need to know is:

This is a well-written, beautifully-illustrated Conan comic.

Right Into the Action

Lansdale and Truman don’t waste time getting into the adventure of their Conan tale, using just two pages to set the scene — Conan is wandering the desert — before introducing us to Conan’s companion in the story, Alvazar the rogue who quickly shows himself to be both comic relief and a deadly warrior in his own right. Unfortunately, Alvazar has gotten himself into a bit of trouble and it is up to Conan to both battle guards and then free the talkative rogue who, as the story progresses, appears to really want some rice. Alvazar is the comedic element of the story I expected to dislike but, proving just how good Lansdale is, I soon grew to enjoy.

Sorcery, Undead, and Ancient Gods

Conan And The Songs Of The Dead* brings us everything we need in a Conan adventure, with Conan encountering everything from a seductive djinn who speaks in riddles to an ancient god that is quickly defeated by the wizard’s hand and magic book that Conan is hunting throughout the story. And before you fear keep in mind that Conan also gets into a lot of fights, killing everything from wizard-crafted monsters to humans to undead and mummified beings. Seriously, Lansdale did a remarkable job of proving to me that he gets the character.

It’s Not all Great

At times Truman’s art feels just a little off. In general the artwork is some of the best work I’ve seen from Truman — he really seems to have been inspired while working on this book — but there are a few specific spots where the art feels wrong. A perfect example is the left-most panel in the image above; Conan’s anatomy looks twisted and distorted where his arms extend in inhuman ways from his body. But this one panel is my biggest complaint with the art in the book (there are other examples, but this one was the most jarring when I was reading the book) and to be fair one truly distracting panel from a book loaded with tons of great artwork is not a huge strike against the book’s quality.

Husbas, Disciple of Thoth-Amon

Yet again the sorcerer Thoth-Amon (see my Thoth-Amon bust review) indirectly touches Conan’s life. Behind the events of the story — and eventually becoming directly involved in the adventure — is the sorcerer Husbas, who is equal parts terrifying, funny, and insane. I usually seriously dislike humor in adventure comics but Lansdale’s sense of human must blend perfectly with mine because I really love what he did here. I guess that’s not really surprising when you consider how much I enjoyed Bubba Ho-Tep*, also Lansdale’s work, but I think it’s still worth noting that the humor in the book actually (in my opinion) contributes rather than detracts from the story.

Howard Purists May Shriek

As pointed out in the review at Comics Bulletin, the story may not be a favorite with hardcore Robert E. Howard fans. This is clearly the work of Lansdale and Truman, and it’s not simply a recreation of a Howard Conan story. As much as I enjoy Howard’s original work, I must admit that the recreations, adaptations, and completely new Conan tales can actually be enjoyable at times . . . and Conan And The Songs Of The Dead* is one of the best of the original Conan works out there.

While it doesn’t follow any of the Howard tales, as the Comics Bulletin review rightfully points out:

There are some subtle nods to the original body of work that many will appreciate. Mentions of the Fort at Black River and the appearance of a Pict tribe hint as to where Songs of the Dead falls into the Conan continuity. Also, there are mentions of the Old Ones and hints at horror beyond comprehension, both of which started with Howard’s first Conan story, The Phoenix on the Sword.

But, unsurprisingly, this post at the REHupa blog shows just how intensely hardcore Howard purists dislike anything not written by Robert E. Howard. The post’s author, Morgan Holmes, writes:

Let me just say here that it looks like Joe Lansdale watched the movies Conan the Destroyer and The Mummy Returns and then sat down and wrote the script for the comic book.

And that’s actually one of the nicest things he says about the comic. This post is well worth reading if you want a less-glowing peek at the tale — but not much of a peek, since Holmes uses the post to tell us that he wrote a review of the comic for Two-Gun Raconteur. I think I’ll order the issue with his review so I can get a better idea of what he disliked . . . because I really like the comic.

Closing Thoughts

Seriously, this book is highly recommended if you’ve ever enjoyed a Conan comic book. A fun story, clever writing, and excellent artwork have all come together to bring at least me a Conan comic I know I’ll read again at some point in the future. Other than the art issues I mentioned previously I do not have any complaints with the book . . . except maybe that it took me so very long to work my way to reading it.

This is absolutely not the first book you should ever read in the Conan series, but Conan And The Songs Of The Dead* stands very well on its own and is fully readable and enjoyable by anyone who has never read a Conan comic or story before.

And did I mention that it’s fun?