Marvel Comics saw huge success with their Conan comics in the 1970s (though the first comic book adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s pulp character appeared in the 50s, in a Mexican anthology). Bound by the Comics Code, however, their Conan titles couldn’t be as violent and mature in content as the source material. So, in 1974 they launched the black and white, adult-oriented, magazine-sized title, The Savage Sword of Conan. Impressively, this publication ran for 21 years and 235 issues.

In the years since then, Conan has been published by Dark Horse Comics and ventured back to Marvel too; from 2022 onwards, Titan Comics have acquired publishing rights to Conan the Barbarian, and this is where his current comic book home is.

In 2024, Titan revived The Savage Sword of Conan in a very similar format to the original; a magazine-sized, black and white anthology aimed at mature readers. The first volume collects the initial three issues of this new series; so is it worth reading?

It very much is, with gorgeous artwork and stories, mostly one-and-done in each issue, which feels truly epic given both the overall format and the page count of each one. Conan is joined by other Howard creations such as Solomon Kane in their own stories, adding some variety to proceedings.

There’s a real old school feel not just in terms of its format, or the wonderful black-and-white art, but also in the very pulpy tone of the stories. There’s plenty of monsters here too, and the creature design is almost always excellent.

There’s a good variety in art styles too, with some lovely, almost sketchy illustrations by Richard Pace being a particularly strong fit for Conan, in my opinion.

There are even short prose stories too; given the size of each magazine in terms of page count, it really feels like this collected edition gives you a lot of value for your money; there’s a ton of content here. Way more than you’d expect from a usual comic book trade paperback collection.

Though each magazine’s covers are beautiful, full colour paintings, they’re mostly reprinted within the collection’s pages in black and white (the book’s cover being the exception of course). It’s a shame that this is the case, but given that the rest of the book is black and white, it’s easy to see why this has occurred.

If you’re a fan of the violent, sexy, old school sword and sorcery that Conan is typical of, you should really enjoy this new incarnation of The Savage Sword of Conan. I certainly did, and I’m already quite a way through volume 2 at the time of writing!

You can buy The Savage Sword of Conan Volume 1 from Amazon.

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