BOOK REVIEW: CONAN THE BARBARIAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE by Jim Zub & Jonas Scharf

BOOK REVIEW: CONAN THE BARBARIAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE by Jim Zub & Jonas Scharf
Titan Comics via New South Publishers
Paperback, $34.99, August 2025
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
88%

Conan the Barbarian may have been Robert E Howard’s most famous and enduring character, but he was far from his only memorable hero.

Howard, who killed himself in 1936, aged just thirty, had enjoyed some success with 17th century privateer turned sword-wielding missionary Solomon Kane, Texan adventurer El Borak, occult investigators professors John Conrad and John Kirrowan, and 16th century French mercenary Dark Agnes de Chastillon, and this novel graphic novel pulls these characters from throughout time into Conan’s Hyborian world to battle another Howard creation, Kull of Atlantis’s nemesis Shuma Gorath.

Cimmerian warrior Conan bands together with these strangers, drawn together by Eldritch magic in a time crossed tale involving the nearly-unstoppable beast from another dimension invoked by a sigil carved in black stone.

Exciting, involving and cleverly woven together, there’s no pre-requisite knowledge of each of these characters required to enjoy this fantasist tale. The fact that they are all so different, yet share the common trait of all Howard’s heroes – bravery, a fierce sense of justice and thirst for knowledge and experience – is testament to the author’s skills and the pulp fiction genre he wrote towards.

As always the artwork by Jonas Scharf (colours by Jão Canola) is superb, not only complementing the story and dialogue, but taking it boldly into new realms. Here, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

 

Category: Book Reviews