Jimmy Palmiotti and Mark Texeira team up for their first major Dark Horse project, on the highest selling title in our stable — Conan. Kurt Busiek, Cary Nord, and company continue the early adventures of the barbarian—with new cover artist Leinil (Superman: Birthright) Yu — sending him into his first big city, which he finds more treacherous than the savage lands up north. After Greg (Freaks of the Heartland, The Matrix comics) Ruth’s guest spot as artist in issue eight, where we saw a glimpse into Conan’s brutal childhood, we begin the monthly title’s second major story arc. His entry into civilization also throws him into the middle of a murder mystery, in which a local nobleman has been killed, and it falls to Conan to figure out who did it — or take the blame himself.
Palmiotti (Beautiful Killer, The Pro, 21 Down) and Texeira (Black Panther, Sabertooth, Ghost Rider) have spun a classic yarn drawing together some of the best tropes of the Conan stories they were raised on — a bar brawl, a princess in distress, an evil wizard guarded by monsters and the undead, and a willful warrior woman. Actually, that’s pretty much a day in the life for Jimmy, and a rip-roarin’ comic for your Halloween pleasure. Conan and the Daughters of Midora is a special forty-page mini-epic with the character at his meanest, with a painted cover by Texeira and a screwed-up twist ending that leaves Conan less impressed with kings and princesses than before. I figure the best way to get the idea of a book across is to let the writer talk about it. So, ladies and gentlemen, Jimmy Palmiotti—
“Getting started on this book was probably the most intimidating project I’ve ever taken on. I dug out my Howard books and gave them a good read through once again and started jotting down notes. What I wanted to achieve was something a die-hard Conan fan could sink their teeth into, to bring some out-of-control barbarian action and adventure to the story. I figured this was my one shot at taking on a character so dear to me and I wanted to include every element that appealed to me and try to create a classic.”
Jimmy and Tex put all they got into one issue with Daughters of Midora, while Kurt and Cary continue to take their time rolling out Conan’s epic saga — his first venture into civilization, in Nemedia, where he’s acccused of murder, pursued by a female assassin, and ever under the serpentine gaze of his greatest foe of all—Thoth-amon.
Dark Horse has proven itself the only game in town for out-of-control barbarian action and adventure. Check out our best-selling bloodfest.
-- Scott Allie