Well, I guess I’m really slow on this one. Desiato and Billy already reviewed this. This makes my review near obsolete. But damn it, I’m going to review it anyway! I actually have to thank Billy on this one. His opening paragraph on his review is what hooked me, when he compared this to Conan. I have always loved Conan and….well, more on that in a bit.
This issue was awesome! A coming of age story with monsters, dragons, and gore oh my! I didn’t pick up this issue when it came out. It had sold out at my local comic shop. Thankfully, a friend of mine is an employee there and he had set aside a copy for himself but decided he didn’t really want it. Well, luckily when I went to pick up my copy of the Planet Hulk HC, he asked if I had picked up Skaar yet. He said a kid came in earlier and wanted a copy and he considered giving it to him, but that kid isn’t friends with the guy and I am so ha ha little kid! Ok, maybe too much barbarian reading today has turned me into a jerk.
Sorry to bore you guys with that story, but it seemed apropos of this review. This issue was indeed very good. I do however, have two complaints. One is that (I never thought I’d say this) Pak packed too much into this issue. I love the fact that I definitely got my money’s worth, but it seems that more stories could have been told about Skaar growing up. I guess this is a minor complaint, but it still seems a valid one to me. I suppose that maybe Pak had wanted to, but if this is indeed a maxi-series, perhaps Pak has too much story to tell to dwell on kid Skaar, oh well.
The other complaint is Garney’s pencils. His art seems to have gotten worse since the last arc of Wolverine he just did! Oh well, I heard in an interview that Garney admitted himself that the pencils were very rushed. He thought that he didn’t have a good enough feel for the character yet and that his art will improve. I can buy that, I mean most every art style changes over time, whether it be comic or cartoon. So I guess these aren’t really complaints, since there seem to be valid explanations, I guess they’re more observations. Anyway, great first issue and I hope Pak can keep it up. This definitely seems more like Planet Hulk than World War Hulk which to me is a good thing.
3 and a half stars
By Crom! I must read more Conan! I once heard a story about Robert E. Howard and his creation of Conan. I heard that when he was writing the story, that he actually imagined Conan standing over him with a battle axe forcing him to write about Conan more! That’s kind of how I feel right now. I have always loved Conan. My father has all 275 of the first series of Conan comics. I started to collect the new dark horse comic myself. Sadly, I quit reading it a little while after Busiek left in an attempt to cut back on my comics. But it seems the mighty Cimmerian could not lie dormant in my mind forever and I fear he is now forcing me to read all of his comics with his fierce barbaric rage!
4 stars
“Conan! What is best in life?”
“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women.”
Tags: Conan, Conan the Cimmerian, Darkhorse Comics, Greg Pak, Hulk, Marvel Comics, Ron Garney
