Conan the Barbarian #12
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Declan Shalvey
Colors by Dave Stewart
Letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Cover by Massimo Carnevale
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 16, 2013
Cover Price: $3.50

Conan the Barbarian #3 is the last chapter of the excellent “The Death” storyline. This whole three-issue story has been fantastic, running the gambit from emotional to action-packed. This last issue is no exception.

Brian Wood continues to surprise me with each issue that he writes. On the surface, you’d think that Conan would be a pretty easy job, and maybe it was back in the 70s or 80s. But now, you’ve got to not only turn in a compelling and entertaining story, but you’ve also got to pour over a bunch of Conan books, as not to jumble up any other Conan continuity written by his creator, Robert E. Howard. This last chapter in “The Death” story is full of emotion, and a little bit of mystery. FINALLY things start to turn around for Conan and company, only to be hit by a huge shock that none of us ever saw coming. It’s got some great classic Conan moments, and it’s as entertaining as you’d expect it to be.

There are two types of artwork that work the best with Conan stories: super simple and hyper realistic. Declan Shalvey falls into the super simple category. He’s really good here with just a simple, clean, crisp art style. His does a good job at drawing interesting characters, backgrounds, and scenery. He’s got a good eye for conveying emotion from his characters, but never goes over the top with anything he does.

The only problem that I had with this book is that it’s not a good jumping-on point. But, does that really even matter? I doubt you’d pick this up if you weren’t interested in Conan. This is a great issue with fantastic art and will entertain you from cover to cover.