Kull: The Cat and the Skull #1
Written by David Lapham
Art by Gabriel Guzman
Colors by Dan Jackson
Letters by Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Covers by Jo Chen, Stephanie Hans
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: October 12, 2011
Cover Price: $3.50

I have to admit, while I love the sword and sorcery genre, I’ve never been a huge Kull fan. I’m way more of a Conan guy. I know, a lot of people argue that they’re just two versions of the same character, but after reading Kull: The Cat and the Skull #1, I find that they’re really NOT all that similar. While Conan is, after all, a barbarian, Kull is much more civilized while still being able to let his savage side emerge when necessary.

Kull is not a book that I read monthly, but that might change after reading this issue. One of the things that impressed me most about the way writer David Lapham crafted the story was that in between the action, we really get a feeling of who Kull is and just what he’s going through as a put-upon king. In short, the characterization was fantastic. But, the story itself left me a little confused at times. In some parts it was a little hard to tell who was a ally and who was a villain, and in my opinion, there was just too many characters in the story that weren’t touched upon enough.

Art wise, the look of the book was great. The only other place I’ve seen Gabriel Guzman‘s art was on the Dark Horse Conan The Barbarian movie prequel, The Mask of Acheron, where I felt he was limited in his storytelling by both the script and having to stick to the actor’s likenesses. But, there’s no such restraints here. He does a fantastic job with pacing, detail, and making the pages look kinetic.

I can’t say I loved this issue, but I certainly didn’t hate it. While I’ll probably pick up the next issue because the story was interesting, I still don’t see myself becoming a Kull fan.