Conan the Barbarian: Queen of the Black Coast #2 Review: One Big Fight

Time to strap on your toga and grab your oversized Greek fantasy sword- it’s time for the second issue of “Conan the Barbarian: Queen of the Black Coast.”

Where we last left Conan he finally met the pirate queen Belit and now tensions are running high. In Conan terms, that means one long drawn-out battle scene with lots of dead bodies, blood and Conan looking good doing it. That’s exactly what you get in this issue. This whole issue is nothing but one big fight scene with almost no story. What else do you want out of a Conan story?

One thing you don’t want is an expository narrator. That what this comic has and it’s used to describe exactly what is going on in the panel as if the reader can’t decipher it all by looking at the action. This may be a call back to the old Greek epic poem storytelling style of the narrator describing the action to an audience. The problem is that works in an epic poem because the narrator needs to describe to the audience what’s going on- in a comic, you have the art.

The artwork does a wonderful job to show off the action scenes. Becky Cloonan knows how to make Conan kill people in the most horrific ways imaginable. She even made an underwater fight scene, which usually look cheap, look like a well-choreographed ballet. It’s also safe to say that this comic has one of the best looking blood in comics today.

As usual, if you’re looking for story in a Conan story, look someplace else. If you’re looking for great action, with lots of people dying at the hands of one action hero and a hot, almost-naked woman, then the second issue of Conan the Barbarian: Queen of the Black Coast is one of your best bets. Just ignore the expository narrator and this comic will be enjoyable. Don’t worry, Crom will understand.