Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1
"Emerald Waters"
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Jesus Merino
Colorist: Jao Canola
Cover Artist: Roberto de la Torre
Publisher: Titan Comics
Tides of the Tyrant King is the annual Conan "event" book. It takes place across three eras of time, and features characters that have ties between them all. It sounds complicated, but it's really not.
Don't Drink the Water
In the Thurian Age (the time before Atlantis sank into the ocean), a grand shaman named Gonar the Seeker is able to see all things in all times at once. This means he is uniquely suited to see the arrival of the eldritch horror called the Woeful Eye, which threatens everything… literally.
In the Hyborean Age, Conan of Cimmeria encounters a bewitching and mysterious woman named Zuleika, who appears to be hunted by undead creatures. She carries with her a vial of a "healing potion" that Conan recognizes as the green waters found beneath a black stone spire he'd encountered many years earlier...
In the Modern Age—London's Chinatown in 1924, to be exact—former soldier Stephen Costigan finds himself in an opium den, losing track of reality. That is, until he's given a bizarre and mysterious vision, just before he meets a mysterious and alluring woman named Zuleika. Once again, she is being pursued and requires assistance. In the end, Stephen is offered a chance to be made whole if only he drinks from a basin of green waters...
Back in the Hyborian Age, a hooded and cloaked figure with glowing green eyes begins a hunt for Conan...
Blood in the Water
It's always interesting how these event miniseries manage to mix together so many different Robert E. Howard characters, even when they are from different places and times.
A quick note for the Howard faithful before I continue: the Stephen Costigan used here is the one from the novella Skull-Face. He is not to be confused with the more widely known Sailor Stephen Costigan that starred in a variety of humorous, Texas tall tale-style stories. That Stephen Costigan starred in more Howard stories than any of his other characters, save Conan.
Okay, back to it. The Stephen Costigan we get here is a broken shell of a man. Injuries received during the War shattered both his body and his mind. The body healed; the mind did not. We're given enough time inside his head to see that he had nothing left but the drug until his encounter with Zuleika. Seeing the young woman in distress seems to have brought him back to life—it's too bad he's clearly chosen the wrong side. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the guy with the glowing green skull and the creepy voice is not on the side of the angels.
I have never read the Skull-Face novella, so I'm not sure if any liberties are taken here or not. Which is fine by me, because I can get a little nitpicky sometimes (I know, you're probably gasping and saying "No!" right now), and this way I can just enjoy the story. You can't help but feel bad for Costigan when you first see him—it's another classic case of "war destroys everything." But then he chooses the wrong side, and now you just know bad things are going to happen.
And what about the Conan part of the story? Well, we find him with an ale in his hand, effectively people-watching. One of his favorite activities. He's currently in between jobs and looking for a new challenge when in walks Zuleika. He sees a hooded figure following her, and decides to join the procession.
Conan is no stranger to fighting the living dead, and the struggle here gives the issue the dose of action you'd expect from one of the barbarian's tales. Afterward, when Zuleika shows him the "potion" that's really the waters of Thulsa Doom's followers, you can't help but hear the ominous "Bum, Bum, Bum!" in your head.
At the end of the day, this is largely a setup issue. I am glad that Savage Sword of Conan #16, which came out last week, covered the backstories of Zuleika and the hooded figure from this issue's end. That would have been way too much to cram in here, and would have slowed things to a crawl. Now that all the players have been introduced and started to circle each other, I'm looking forward to seeing where this one goes.
The Deep Waters
Jim Zub continues to etch his name in the annals of Conan authors. His narrative voice continues to be appropriately Howardian, and he has the Cimmerian's character down to a science at this point. Zuleika is an interesting and mysterious character, and Costigan is a tragic one. The jumping back and forth through time can get a little confusing, especially when some characters exist in multiple periods, but he keeps it clear and easy to follow here.
Jesus Merino's art is clean—maybe a little too clean for a Conan story with so much weird horror looming in the background. Don't get me wrong, his art is great with strong character work. It's just that his characters are a little too "pretty" for the story being told, and there's not enough dirt and grime. I'm not used to seeing Conan and his ilk not covered in some combination of blood, mud, or other fluids.
The colors by Jao Canola, much like the art, are a bit too "bright" and "clean" for me. There is a strong use of shadows in scenes like Conan's tavern introduction, but even the opium den Costigan spends all of his time in appears a little too colorful and inviting. The various green glows tied to Thulsa Doom do have an appropriately eerie tone, so the brighter palette isn't all bad here.
I don't want you to think that I'm saying the art and colors here are bad—far from it. Everything is solidly done, and exactly what you would expect from a big "event" book. It's just that this is a Conan book, and to me the work just doesn't hit the right tone.
Still Waters
Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King #1 is a solid start to this year's Robert E. Howard event series, bringing together multiple characters from different eras—with Conan in the center of it all, naturally. The issue is largely setup, but it's still buoyed by strong character work. The art and colors are clean and bright, maybe a bit too much so for a Conan story. Despite these nitpicks, everything is still coming together nicely and I am looking forward to seeing where this event goes from here.