Review – Conan Thoth-Amon Bust

Cary Nord’s artwork brought to life, Conan’s villainous adversary Thoth-Amon had to come home with me today when I discovered this Conan Thoth-Amon Bust* for 50% off at Austin Books’ clearance store. In the fantastic Conan: The Ultimate Guide to the World’s Most Savage Barbarian* (which I really need to share with you guys as a “reading” post one of these days), it is said of Thoth-Amon:

He was Conan’s lifelong foe, yet it’s not certain the two of them ever met. He nearly caused the Cimmerian’s death on at least two occasions, some three decades apart — but it’s entirely possible that he and Conan never even knew of each other’s existence.

I had thought I would be smart and pull out my Conan trade with the Thoth-Amon design that inspired this statue, but I quickly discovered that The God in the Bowl and Other Stories* is the exact volume that Gina took with her on her trip. I have the Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor-Smith version of the story handy — The Lurker Within in The Chronicles of Conan, Vol. 1* — but that doesn’t help at all with this version of the character so the best I can do in this review is show the statue and give my thoughts. But if you haven’t been reading Dark Horse’s ongoing Conan series I will say that all ten volumes that are out are fun reads. It’s a truly impressive series with excellent writing and gorgeous artwork.

A Beautiful Sculpt

Sculpted by Tony Cipriano, this statue comes in at over 10-inches tall with Thoth-Amon’s arm outstretched as if he’s in the middle of casting a spell. The robes are well-designed, but it’s the character’s face that really stands out as a great work. Maniacal Thoth-Amon with teeth clenched as his insane eyes stare directly at us, the sculpt shows every fold in the skin and looking at the statue makes me realize I need to find the Nord-inspired Conan to go along with this statue. My only complaint is the eyes — they’re really weird — but without the book handy I’m not sure if this is a flaw in the statue or just the way Thoth-Amon was illustrated in the comic.

Paint

The robes are brought out with a great wash job, and if you look at the photos I think you’ll agree with me that this is a masterful job. What’s really impressive is that this is a run of 2,500 pieces; Dark Horse must have either found one guy and kept him trapped on the assembly line for years or they have an excellent QC team watching every piece that left the factory. Either way, the paint is generally great . . . but again those damned eyes look weird. This page at Comic Vine shows Nord’s Thoth-Amon, but not clearly enough to show if the eyes are as weird as they appear on the statue.

Not sure what I mean about the eyes? Check the picture below and you’ll see Thoth-Amon staring at you with his weird, bizarre eyes.

Pure Evil

In Kurt Busiek and Len Wein’s Conan: Book Of Thoth*, illustrated by Kelley Jones, we follow Thoth-Amon’s rise from a young beggar-thief to a twisted and terrible sorcerer. It’s a great story, and the cover shows Thoth-Amon much like he appears in this statue, but there’s little reason for me to even be talking about this book except that finding the statue today led me to taking down my Conan comics and now I’m re-reading this story. It’s weird how something as random as stumbling across a statue at a store can have me curled up on the couch surrounded by books . . . but it’s certainly a fun way to send a Friday evening.

Closing Thoughts

I never would have bought this statue at $50, but at $25 it was an instant snatch as soon as I had it out of the box at the store and started looking it over. It’s described as a 7-inch bust, but the hat stands about 9-inches and the hand stretches past 10-inches and it’s much larger and more substantial than I expected based on the official 7-inch measurement. And I can tell I’m loving the design and look of the statue because I poked around a little online to see if I could find a good deal on a Cary Nord-inspired Conan statue.

This Conan Thoth-Amon Bust* is something I wouldn’t have grabbed a decade ago — it’s only over the last seven or eight years that I started to realize that Conan is a lot more than the old movies — but today it’s an excellent addition to the statues and toys that decorate our living room. At least it will be when the redesign is completed; I’ve been spending the last few days boxing up all of the toys and statues in the living room so unfortunately it is time for Thoth-Amon to return to his box. Good night, evil sorcerer, and I’ll see you again in a few weeks when the living room redesign is completed.

Philip Reed will need someone to remind him to go to bed, because between Conan: Book Of Thoth* and Conan: The Ultimate Guide to the World’s Most Savage Barbarian* he’s going to get lost in reading and lose track of the time.