Brian Wood's Conan - clarity

[gurnard]

Did anyone pick up the first issue of Brian Wood's Conan the Barbarian?
I picked it up being a fan of Wood's work and enjoyed it immensely I am not a big fan of Becky Cloonan but I prefer this work to some of her earlier stuff. 

I do have a question though for anyone that has read it.  At the end of the book there are 4 pages with no dialog or text the story is just told in pictures.  Conan leaves the boat that he is on to swim over to another boat that is supposed to be sailed by Belit but it all goes a bit dream sequencey and I don't quite get what is going on.

Can someone explain what they think is going on in these pages?

thanks for reading

[The Adventurer]

[spoiler]When Conan and his crew spot the derelict ship Conan swims over to investigate, not from any concern for the derelict's crew, but because he's searching for Belit. Then there's a time jump, and a page of Conan having a sexy water dream with his vision of Belit. But then he wakes up (aboard his ship, apparently having returned at some point) in a fog and thinks he sees Belit's and her ship in the distance and calls to arms.[/spoiler]

Conan needs to stop thinking with his dick, or he's going to get into trouble I fear.

[Evil Pants]

Did anyone pick up the first issue of Brian Wood's Conan the Barbarian?
I picked it up being a fan of Wood's work and enjoyed it immensely I am not a big fan of Becky Cloonan but I prefer this work to some of her earlier stuff. 

I do have a question though for anyone that has read it.  At the end of the book there are 4 pages with no dialog or text the story is just told in pictures.  Conan leaves the boat that he is on to swim over to another boat that is supposed to be sailed by Belit but it all goes a bit dream sequencey and I don't quite get what is going on.

Can someone explain what they think is going on in these pages?

thanks for reading

Oh, I was wondering if someone else had caught this. It did have a dream sequence feel about it, BUT it's not actually clear where the sequence stops or starts, and Conan is actually wearing different clothes at the beginning and end of the sequence. It's a very rare misstep from a great creative team. I did like the issue overall though. Cloonan knocked it out of the park.

[locustsofdeath!]

That issue was the one that finally put me off Dark Horse's Conan titles.

In addition to REH's original works, I've read Conan in comics form since 1989. Savage Sword was always quality, but I stuck with Conan the Barbarian even during the worst of times, I hung in there when Marvel rebooted the titles, giving us the terrible Conan the Adventurer and the gawdawful and short-lived Conan. I started with Dark Horse's Conan title with high hopes that it would reach the heights Marvel's best Conan stories reached, and I waited, and waited...here a reboot, there a reboot, mediocre Conan to mediocre Conan the Cimmerian, and a slew of okay miniseries.

This is the issue that has finally put me off Dark Horse's Conan (that, and news of the impending Groo crossover).

First off, it's a terrible adaptation. Conan the smiling boy wonder has none of the presence, none of the grim determination, none of the weight of REH's Conan. When he holds Tito and the crew by swordpoint, it looked ridiculous, that this scrawny kid could intimidate a boatload of even the meekest of merchants. Hell, Belit (who is designed wonderfully, I have to admit) looks like she'll devour him in the throes of passion!

Here were have Conan barfing after drinking too much ale.

Here we have Conan yearning after a fantasy girl he's never seen.

Here we have Conan speaking with poetic pomp (REH's Conan could be quite the philosophiser, but he never waxed poetic like the pampered civil folk he detested).

I understand the writer is trying to make Conan more human, less myth - but why? What's the point of having a Conan story? He IS myth, he IS larger than life. I absolutely hate it when a writer comes along and purposely misinterprets another writer's creation for the sake of being different.

The art is okay. Belit is wonderful, but the Conan looks like a smirking twelve-year-old.

[Tiplodocus]

So if I was wanting to pick up a big fat Conan trade (I have fond memories of some of the Marvel ones - didn't they do a good Red Nails?), which book would I plump for?

(I might buy a collected Conan book as well as my paperbacks and me parted company a dozen house moves ago...)

[I, Cosh]

(I might buy a collected Conan book as well as my paperbacks and me parted company a dozen house moves ago...)

I think I have a couple of random Conan books in the airing cupboard which you can have if you want. Although I'll understand if you'd rather get a heftier volume for yourself.

[locustsofdeath!]

So if I was wanting to pick up a big fat Conan trade (I have fond memories of some of the Marvel ones - didn't they do a good Red Nails?), which book would I plump for?

Tips, you can't go wrong with the Savage Sword volumes: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Savage-Sword-Conan-1/dp/1593078382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329941507&sr=8-1.

and the Barry (Winsor) Smith collections are absolutely gorgeous, as well as great fun: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barry-Windsor-Smith-Conan-Archives/dp/1595824413/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329941527&sr=1-1. Red Nails is collected in Volume 2.

[Tiplodocus]

That's some lovely art in them books.

[gurnard]

@The Adventurer thanks for clearing that up.
@LocustsOfDeath being a new reader to Conan I thought he looked a bit wimpy and was expecting a character who at least looked like he had an above average amount of strength as opposed to my build without the belly :-)