In Queen of the Black Coast, Conan finds the first true love of his life: the bloodthirsty pirate queen Bêlit, who leaves a “path of pain and misery” in her wake. Seems like a perfect match, doesn’t it? This volume includes issues 1-6 of the Conan the Barbarian series, the beginning of Conan’s relationship with Bêlit and his adventures in Argos and the Western Ocean. As with most of Dark Horse’s Conan comics, this book is adapted from a story by the creator of Conan, Robert E. Howard. This volume is written by Brian Wood; the artwork is split between Becky Cloonan for the first three issues and James Harren for the last three, with colors by Dave Stewart. They’ve done a great job making a Conan comic that stands out from the rest; Queen of the Black Coast is a refreshing take on a classic Conan story. This book about more than just sword and sorcery, and it’s probably the closest that the Conan series comes to a love story, for now anyway.
The story begins when Conan slaughters half of Bêlit’s pirate crew in a vengeful rampage before she calls them off. The two of them immediately fall in love and launch raids together across the seas. That’s how all great romances start, right? Queen of the Black Coast shows a different side of the Cimmerian; there’s still plenty of adventure and violence – including a few absurdly brutal scenes in the latter half of the book – but this is a story about love. Brian Wood tells the story deftly; it looks and feels very different from earlier Conan comics, but he keeps the tone and important details that make the story fit distinctly into Conan’s world. Conan’s savagery is in stark contrast with the “civilized” lands he travels to; as with many Conan stories, that contrast is a central theme of Queen of the Black Coast and it continues to inform the relationship between the Cimmerian and his pirate queen in future issues.
Why does this comic in particular seem so different? The artwork is an important reason. I’ll discuss Cloonan and Harren separately because their styles are so different, but both work to great effect here. Most artwork in Conan is full of rough edges and sharp lines, and most of the time that fits well with the subject matter. Not so with Becky Cloonan’s work in Queen of the Black Coast. There are few sharp edges in her work here; instead she uses curved and wavy lines, and the characters she draws have very clean features. She draws Conan with a bit of stubble, but apart from that he actually looks younger here than in in earlier issues. He’s not as imposing or muscular as the style he’s usually drawn in. This aesthetic is a bit off-putting at first, but it very much fits with the story being told. Cloonan’s artwork is full of subtle details as well; just compare the depictions of Bêlit and her crew while Conan is fighting them to their faces afterwards – they are completely transformed. I should also mention that fight sequence briefly; the narration and description conveying the idea of Conan’s “battle calm” are perfectly paired with the illustrations of his fury.
If you prefer those rough edges and sharp lines, James Harren’s art in the second half of this book has precisely those qualities. Those absurdly brutal moments I mentioned before? Harren’s artwork accounts for those. The action is done in straight lines running across the panels and violent bursts of dirt and blood covering the pages. Despite the romantic theme of this book, it has some of the most violent moments in any Conan comic. The faces of his characters are covered in uneven features, the very opposite of Cloonan’s depictions. But it works. These two different styles split the book into two distinct sections, the themes informed by the artwork: Conan falls in love with Bêlit in the first half, and in the second half they savagely attack the civilized city of Messantia together. The city looks great too; Harren’s landscapes are just as detailed as his action sequences, and his art creates a sense of the immense scale of the city’s towers. 
Queen of the Black Coast is one of the more unique and interesting recent Conan comics. Longtime Conan readers might be put off by the art style, but I urge them to give this book another chance. I wasn’t impressed the first time I read this story a few months ago, but another read through makes all the difference. There’s more subtle detail in the writing and artwork than might be apparent at first glance. Now that this volume is in paperback for $19.99, it’s a good time to pick it up if you haven’t already. I recommend this not only to regular Conan readers, but also to those unfamiliar with the character, as this book is the start of a longer story in the Cimmerian’s life.
Conan the Barbarian #17: the Nightmare of the Shallows Part 2 is the most recent addition to that story. Once again, Brian Wood writes about Conan and Bêlit’s relationship, which has changed in several ways since the events of Queen of the Black Coast. Davide Gianfelice does the art, and Dave Stewart the colors. Queen of the Black Coast ends at issue #6, so there are several events leading up to this issue that I’ll avoid spoiling.
Suffice to say that Brian Wood continues the story of Conan and Bêlit, opening with a flashback to an event in Queen of the Black Coast and ending this issue with something of a surprise. I’ve already discussed Wood’s writing in Queen of the Black Coast, and the same comments apply to this issue, so I won’t repeat myself. I will say that the structure of this issue is unusual because it is told through visions shared by Conan and Bêlit while under the influence of the yellow lotus plant. The narrative is a bit disjointed because of that, but I suppose that’s the intention.
The artwork in this issue is done by Davide Gianfelice, and he does a pretty good job, but it is not as distinctive as the two artists in Queen of the Black Coast. But maybe that’s not a fair comparison, since the styles of Cloonan and Harren work so well with the themes of the story. At least so far, Gianfelice’s art does not really suggest a difference between the visions in this comic and reality. Only the text and a few visual cues indicate that the events in this comic are only hallucinations.
For that reason, Conan #17 isn’t a great place to start for new readers. The structure of the comic and plot mean that some explanation is required to understand this issue. New readers interested in this storyline should start with Queen of the Black Coast and go from there. But for longtime readers, the $3.50 cover price includes a shared hallucination that reveals some of Conan and Bêlit’s thoughts about each other and their future. This issue doesn’t make much sense without the previous issue, so that’s also a consideration. I’ll conditionally recommend this one, depending on those factors.
Danilo Culibrk, aka Augustus, is a staff writer for the Red Shirt Crew. He doesn’t think it’s a good idea to take yellow lotus from strange women on boats. You can follow him on Twitter at @Augustusing or leave a comment below.
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