The Chronicles of Conan – Volume 8 – Brothers of the Blade
May11

The Chronicles of Conan – Volume 8 – Brothers of the Blade

The Chronicles of Conan Volume 8 Brothers of the Blade And Other Stories   It was with great relief that I gave a cry of ‘Get thee behind me, Great God Set’ to the previous volume of writer Roy Thomas’s Conan adventures, which almost signaled the end of my love affair with this series. With this volume we are back on track. Issue #52, The Altar and the Scorpion, is a minor classic.  As a drifting mercenary Conan has come south to...

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Tall Tales : Journey Book 1
Apr11

Tall Tales : Journey Book 1

Tall Tales Journey:  Featuring The Adventures of Wolverine MacAlistaire Book 1 by William Messner-Loebs   Down from the Attic:  2   “Whatever darkness a man has inside him, he brings with him into the frontier.” Yep; all these years on and I still get a little frisson at seeing Joshua ‘Wolverine’ MacAlistaire stepping out of the concealing shadows and mouthing those words. On my trip to the fabled attic last Christmas it’s a sad fact...

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Tom Strong:  Book One
Mar13

Tom Strong: Book One

Utterly Rampant, Out-of-Control Racism in Comic Books! Tom Strong:  Book One   Down from the Attic: 1   I mentioned a while back that I had, last Christmas, been up in the attic of the house where I once lived, and there came across a treasure trove of golden oldies.  In fact, how the Hell I forgot these beauties is a mystery.  Well, maybe not; the end of a relationship and all that. Anyway, I decided I would review the batch some...

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The Chronicles of Conan – Volume 6 – The Curse of the Golden Skull
Feb28

The Chronicles of Conan – Volume 6 – The Curse of the Golden Skull

The Chronicles of Conan Volume 6 The Curse of the Golden Skull And Other Stories     The sixth volume of Dark Horse Books’ masterful collections of the ’seventies Marvel Conan comics opens with one of artist John Buscema’s finest and most attention-grabbing title pages. The Cimmerian and his mismatched companion, the Khitain thief Bourtai are in the scorching deserts to the West of that country.  Heat is baking off the sands and Conan...

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Hating Knightfall — and a New Year’s Resolution
Jan12

Hating Knightfall — and a New Year’s Resolution

Hating Knightfall — and a New Year’s Resolution   Yes, it’s that time of the year for making resolutions that we will in all likelihood not be keeping.  This year I’m not even going to bother with the usual – they’ll all be ditched by roughly January the 2nd in any case –so instead I’ll go with one that at least stands a bit of a chance.  I’m going to make an effort to start keeping up with what is happening in the comic-book...

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The Chronicles of Conan – Volume 4 – The Song of Red Sonja And Other Stories
Nov13

The Chronicles of Conan – Volume 4 – The Song of Red Sonja And Other Stories

The Chronicles of Conan Volume 4 The Song of Red Sonja And Other Stories   At the end of my review of the third volume in Dark Horse’s gorgeous reprintings of the ’seventies Marvel Conan tales, I mentioned that at that point deadlines were becoming rather a problem.  It appears that artist Barry Windsor-Smith had turned somewhat fanatical in adding ever-more detail to his panels.  As a result, issue #22 was a reprint of the debut...

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