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geekwayne's review
4.0
'The Cimmerian' is a graphic novel with adaptations of two Robert E. Howard stories featuring Conan the Barbarian. Each story has a different creative team.
'Queen of the Black Coast' is adapted by Jean-David Morvan with art by Pierre Alary. Conan finds himself hired by a pirate ship as his usual muscle. He finds himself captivate with the ship's captain, a woman who matches his fierce passion. They find themselves in the ruins of a forgotten city guarded by winged terrors.
'Red Nails' with adaptation by Regis Hautiere with art by Olivier Vatine and Didier Cassegrain takes Conan to a lost city where a group of people are trapped and at war with each other. With each death, one tribe drives a nail in to a post. Conan finds himself in the midst of this madness.
Each story concludes with the complete text of the original story, which is a real treat. The adaptations and art are spot on. I preferred the first stories team, but both were worthy. It was great to see these stories in a current adaptation.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Ablaze, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
'Queen of the Black Coast' is adapted by Jean-David Morvan with art by Pierre Alary. Conan finds himself hired by a pirate ship as his usual muscle. He finds himself captivate with the ship's captain, a woman who matches his fierce passion. They find themselves in the ruins of a forgotten city guarded by winged terrors.
'Red Nails' with adaptation by Regis Hautiere with art by Olivier Vatine and Didier Cassegrain takes Conan to a lost city where a group of people are trapped and at war with each other. With each death, one tribe drives a nail in to a post. Conan finds himself in the midst of this madness.
Each story concludes with the complete text of the original story, which is a real treat. The adaptations and art are spot on. I preferred the first stories team, but both were worthy. It was great to see these stories in a current adaptation.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Ablaze, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
zare_i's review
4.0
Well this was unexpected and accidental find. Based on Conan stories that are now in public domain and unable to use the name of our hero in the title of volumes these are more ... unrestricted comic adaptations of Conan stories.
And I have to say I like it. These are stories in which Conan is shown as what he truly is - force of nature, force of life that aims to live to the fullest no matter the consequences. In first story we witness Conan joining the forces with Belit. As story progresses and as Belit loses her life we see Conan, dark and vengeful waiting on the murderer of his beloved to exact his revenge.
Second story is one I did not come across before - again, we witness Conan as he sells his martial skills to the greatest bidder and ends up in the mysterious city with no windows, city so large that entire civilization is living within its walls that never saw the sun of the outside world.
Conan is not part of the civilized world, as a matter of fact he is disgusted with civilization. He is powerful man that hates tricksters of any kind and trusts only in himself and power of his body and mind, and people who prove to be worthy of his trust that he might call friends. He is not above brigandry and outright murder, he chases women in a manner that would make him unpopular today but in all of this he is honest. He does not represent himself to be something he is not and while he might be considered epitome of might-makes-right he has a code of honor and tries to get into conflict only with people who truly deserve to meet the edge of his sword.
Art in these two stories is different but rather good. Art style is very European but it works.
As cover blurb states this version of Conan's stories is uncensored one so there is gore and sex, in a manner that reminds me of Metal Hurlant in a good way (which closes the circle because all of the techno-barbarian stories from Metal Hurlant were definitely inspired by Conan's adventures).
So overall this is very different adaptation from Marvel one. Maybe closes thing to this way of storytelling are DarkHorse adaptations, that I truly enjoyed. I am not fan of making everything dark and deadly realistic but for Conan, deadly swordsman and one-man army, approach taken by Ablaze truly works.
Highly recommended to fans of Conan and more dark fantasy approach to his adventures.
And I have to say I like it. These are stories in which Conan is shown as what he truly is - force of nature, force of life that aims to live to the fullest no matter the consequences. In first story we witness Conan joining the forces with Belit. As story progresses and as Belit loses her life we see Conan, dark and vengeful waiting on the murderer of his beloved to exact his revenge.
Second story is one I did not come across before - again, we witness Conan as he sells his martial skills to the greatest bidder and ends up in the mysterious city with no windows, city so large that entire civilization is living within its walls that never saw the sun of the outside world.
Conan is not part of the civilized world, as a matter of fact he is disgusted with civilization. He is powerful man that hates tricksters of any kind and trusts only in himself and power of his body and mind, and people who prove to be worthy of his trust that he might call friends. He is not above brigandry and outright murder, he chases women in a manner that would make him unpopular today but in all of this he is honest. He does not represent himself to be something he is not and while he might be considered epitome of might-makes-right he has a code of honor and tries to get into conflict only with people who truly deserve to meet the edge of his sword.
Art in these two stories is different but rather good. Art style is very European but it works.
As cover blurb states this version of Conan's stories is uncensored one so there is gore and sex, in a manner that reminds me of Metal Hurlant in a good way (which closes the circle because all of the techno-barbarian stories from Metal Hurlant were definitely inspired by Conan's adventures).
So overall this is very different adaptation from Marvel one. Maybe closes thing to this way of storytelling are DarkHorse adaptations, that I truly enjoyed. I am not fan of making everything dark and deadly realistic but for Conan, deadly swordsman and one-man army, approach taken by Ablaze truly works.
Highly recommended to fans of Conan and more dark fantasy approach to his adventures.
spellsandmonsters_'s review
4.0
Thank you NetGalley and Ablaze Publishing for the ARC.
The Cimmerian Vol. 1 includes two Conan stories. "Queen of the Black Coast" and "Red Nails".
"Queen of the Black Coast" is a story about Conan and Belit becoming lovers and discovering and sailing the seas while plundering cities. They come across an abandon city that nobody has been able to enter or come out of alive. The first part of this story was not extremely exciting to me. It wasn't bad at all it just wasn't what I was expecting. There was back story building, which is necessary. Then events take a turn and I was hooked. Conan became more brutal and there was more action involved. Overall I enjoyed this first story.
"Red Nails" is the second story and follows Conan and Valeria. Valeria is being hunted by a group of men. Conan finds her first. Together they must flee a dragon and they wind up in what appears to be an abandoned city. After searching for a while they come across other people and eventually learn the secrets of the city. This second story was way more action packed and entertaining to me. I really enjoyed it. I feel like it showed more of how Conan can be as a warrior. Also Valeria is so bad ass. I would love to read more tales of the two of them.
As a whole I would recommend this first volume to fans of Conan and fantasy fans. It was a pretty entertaining read. Warning: there is nudity and it is graphically violent.
The Cimmerian Vol. 1 includes two Conan stories. "Queen of the Black Coast" and "Red Nails".
"Queen of the Black Coast" is a story about Conan and Belit becoming lovers and discovering and sailing the seas while plundering cities. They come across an abandon city that nobody has been able to enter or come out of alive. The first part of this story was not extremely exciting to me. It wasn't bad at all it just wasn't what I was expecting. There was back story building, which is necessary. Then events take a turn and I was hooked. Conan became more brutal and there was more action involved. Overall I enjoyed this first story.
"Red Nails" is the second story and follows Conan and Valeria. Valeria is being hunted by a group of men. Conan finds her first. Together they must flee a dragon and they wind up in what appears to be an abandoned city. After searching for a while they come across other people and eventually learn the secrets of the city. This second story was way more action packed and entertaining to me. I really enjoyed it. I feel like it showed more of how Conan can be as a warrior. Also Valeria is so bad ass. I would love to read more tales of the two of them.
As a whole I would recommend this first volume to fans of Conan and fantasy fans. It was a pretty entertaining read. Warning: there is nudity and it is graphically violent.
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