This is another title that I jumped right into without
reading previous issues and I have to say that it wasn’t a bad experience as a
new reader to the series. There’s something about the character of Conan that fires that neuron in the brain that controls excitement. In
Conan’s world being a barbarian is actually not a good thing, but then you see
just how bad-ass he is and you can’t help but think that everyone else in his
world is wrong… barbarians are cool!
In this series Conan is tracking down a disowned Princess
that’s been stolen away from him. Of course the world questions Conan’s
intentions with the Princess, but readers familiar with Conan know that deep
down inside he’s a bit of a softy for the women. The Princesses captor is a half
day ahead of him and has managed to get him and the Princess captured for
execution. Conan makes it to the kingdom the night before and starts causing a
ruckus instantly. He jumps down to face the Executioner and under estimates his
opponent, but I’m sure that his opponent has under estimated Conan as well.
This book is pretty good and appeals to that savage
barbarian in all of us that wants to go out with a sword and kill a sabretooth
tiger or something similar. What’s needed to make a successful Conan book is his
supporting cast. Since you can’t really have character development for Conan,
you have to have a cast of characters around him that are interesting and that
can actually change. Basically, Conan doesn’t change the world changes around
him. One character that is particularly interesting is the kidnapper who is
constantly trying to slit the Princess' throat even though he knows he’ll be
killed next. The guy has either hit rock bottom or has a very strange tendency
for suicide in the worst possible way.
Roy Thomas (there's not much he hasn't worked on) really understands the world of Conan and his
character in general. He also understands that that there is no twist on the
character. You either do Conan the way he is or you fail at Conan. Thomas does a great job of keeping the story
interesting by cutting back and forth between the different points in time for
the story.
The art is actually very good. Usually when a story is a
spin-off of the main series the art tends to be pretty shaky. With Road
of Kings artist Mike Hawthorne brings an attentive eye to the world of
Conan and captures the world as much as he does the muscles. Again, because the
story takes place both in the recent past and the present, Hawthorne is
challenged to draw the same setting twice and he manages to change the details
to match the setting. In the day time the ground is blown out and bright as if
the sun were beating down on it. At night the ground is cooled off and full of
details giving these two scenes similarities in geography, but they are not
just carbon copies of each other.
Road of Kings was good, it was even purchase good. I would say
that if you’re not looking for swords and magic that you’re probably better off
passing on it, but if you’re tired of summer events or mystery thrillers than
perhaps you should unwind your mind with some Conan and let his sword do all
the thinking for you.
Overall Score – 7.9/10
*Not for everyone, but still really good*