Kurt Busiek

This one was a mixed bag for me. Both stories contained in this volume worked on one level (story and art respectively) and failed on other (art and story respectively).

First, Book of Thoth - this is origin story of one of the Conan's greatest antagonists, wizard Toth-Amon of Stygia. We follow him from his early days of youth in a problematic family with abusing father and [for all means and purposes] no-mother. Only person he has any love towards is his sister. Living in extreme poverty and forced by his father to beg and rob passer-byes in the street he is more than willing to grab first opportunity to achieve fame and fortune even if it means killing his friend and then orchestrating complete mayhem in Stygia to dark monstrous creature from the aeons past - Set. During this process Toth-Amon will slowly lose all of his humanity and soon turn his back to all people he loved. But his eternal hunger for power will be even too much for him and it will take rather unlikely allies to save his skin.

Story-wise this was excellent story, with powers of light and darking fighting through their avatars on Earth, population that gets pushed toward darkness thanks to thoth-Amon's actions used to push Stygians more and more to the brink until finally they can do nothing else but turn towards the cosmic darkness for safety.

Art is .... lets say not my cup of tea. This type of art is something Mignola is very good at and he makes it look very easy but believe me drawing characters on a high abstract level using only geometrical shapes and shade is very very complex thing and here it just did not work for me. While covers and some wide-shots truly look awesome rest of story did not click with me.

On the other hand second story - Mask of Acheron - had very decent art but story was ..... man. I might be wrong but this one seems o be comic adaptation of last Conan movie. Last I remember i did enjoy that movie but this story seems to be missing some of the pages. I dont know if it was rushed or actually missing story parts but it just jumps from one point to another without any explanation whatsoever. Weird.....

So as a whole mixed bag. But for me even with these .... issues? .... it was an enjoyable ride, especially the Book of Toth.

If you are fan of Conan give this one a shot but it might be good for you to first check art on the Net to see if it will sit well with you. Because lets not forget, comics are primarily bought for visual art.… (més)

This was a wonderful collection of early Conan's adventures. It starts with exquisite introduction given through small group of foreign conquerors (unfortunately Stygia - or some elements of it - seems to be in full force yet) roaming Cona's remote lands hundreds of years after his death. While investigating the newly conquered lands this group comes across what looks like to be Conan's final resting place and story starts.

And what a story. We follow Conan as he seeks adventure in the far north seeking the ancient world of Hyperborea. We follow him as he assists Aesir against Vanir warrior bands that ravaged Aesir's land during the ever lasting feud between two. In these stories Conan meets the true Northerners, their way of life, meets strange monstrous giants in the far north and gets enchanted [to border of madness] by beautiful yet bloodcurdling daughter of the ancient gods and finally reaches the mythical Hyperborea where he will learn that myths and stories are sometimes so different from the reality.

Stories are usual Conan action story, we follow him as he makes pacts with honorable men and fights the treason and cowardice, suffers from the betrayal and great loss and has one of his first encounters with the magic that ends especially bad for him (which explains his dislike for magic and wizards). I especially liked the story arc placed in Hyperborea, land of dark-magic immortals that have grown tired of .... life itself.

Entire story is full of links and references to ancient myths and people and these just add to the [already great] overall experience.

Art is excellent and what is more important consistent throughout the story arcs. Panorama's of the wild North and various creatures - be it ones encountered by Conan or those we learn about from the stories about creation of Hyperborea - are so wonderfully drawn, they are truly epic.

Recommended to all fans of heroic fantasy and Conan in particular.… (més)

Story of the Conan's origin - from birth to the day he decides to leave his village and go out to the world. Story is good, characters are all fleshed out and they play the role in Conan's life and decisions he makes (they are not just background noise). Story gives a great view on Conan's progress to the mighty barbarian we all like.

Art is magnificent, some pages are just so beautifully composed and drawn that they could be set as paintings.

Recommended to all fans of sword-and-sorcery, Conan and in general great art.… (més)