I truly think that Titan’s current incarnation of The Savage Sword of Conan is the most criminally underrated comic (or rather, comic magazine) being published right now.

Though it’s an anthology, it avoids the usual pitfalls you associate with periodical collections of stories; it allows a large number of pages to tell a (usually) complete story, as well as a backup and extras too. So every two months (given its bimonthly schedule), you feel like you’ve experienced a new Conan epic from beginning to end, as well as more besides.

This issue’s main story, by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, sees Conan acquiring a few new friends as they fight for their freedom after being captured on a pirate ship. That’s just the beginning of an epic tale that gives us a few twists along with the expected, barbaric action and violence. The art felt a bit underwhelming this time, being a little cartoonish in nature for my taste, but the story itself was riveting. The visual storytelling, despite the style, was clear and told the story well, so it wasn’t all bad.

A classic Robert E. Howard poem accompanied by epic artwork, a pinup and letters page are all included too, with a comedic, food-based story featuring Howard-originated character Breckenridge Elkins rounding out the issue. Lots of fun to be had with this story, despite its shorter length.

For the page count and the fact that each issue’s story is really allowed to breathe and develop over a longer duration, it’s hard to argue with the bang per buck value of The Savage Sword of Conan.

All this without concern that you’re picking up a random issue only to be dropped in the middle of a confusing storyline mired in continuity without a recap too; though there have been multi-part stories in The Savage Sword of Conan, they’ve thankfully been rare, and the longer page count makes each one off tale feel like it’s of adequate length anyway. The black and white pages don’t only keep the cost down, but also give The Savage Sword of Conan a nicely nostalgic, throwback feel too.

I’m a huge fan of The Savage Sword of Conan, and just picking up a random issue when I saw it in the wild has rekindled my love for sword and sorcery comics, and Howard’s characters in general. As you can probably tell by how many Conan and Red Sonja comics I’ve been reviewing recently!

Long may it continue, and I hope it finds the audience it deserves, if it hasn’t already.

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