Comic Books
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #12
Unable to obtain a cure for the deadly illness afflicting Bêlit and the crew of the Tigress, Conan feels the fear of loss for the first time. With no hope and a broken heart, the Cimmerian is horrified at how appealing he finds Bêlit’s order to abandon the ship and his queen! The haunting conclusion of “The Death”!
* From Brian Wood (The Massive, X-Men) and Declan Shalvey (Dark Avengers)!
* Look for the new Star Wars series from Brian Wood!
Artist: Declan Shalvey
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Cover Artist: Massimo Carnevale
Price: $3.50
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.1%
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Man this arc has not been good at all. Can’t wait until this is over.
whats wrong with you !!! think you need to re-read this arc and get a sense of what brian is trying to portray with conan and Bêlit its a powerfull emotional tale and a strong learning curve for conan
I guess my main issues are two.
1) So much of the first issue revolved around the prophecy Belit received which she was shown to be VERY disturbed by. And then a mysterious boat floats up with a lone, sickly passenger on board and despite the urgings of Conan and her crew AND and recently delivered prophecy, she decides to bring the guy on board. I thought that was absolutely ridiculous and it immediately took me out of this arc.
2) I actually really dislike the “love” story between Belit and Conan in this arc. I mean how can he even be thinking of leaving her after the commitment she showed to him in the Argos Deception arc and the previous arc when they were in Cimmeria. Seriously, it’s impossible for me to swallow. I can’t believe after all they’ve been through and how deep their love has been portrayed over and over AND OVER that Belit would tell him to leave, and even more I can’t AT ALL believe that Conan would consider it. Conan’s restlessness hasn’t been hinted at in anyway prior to this arc that I can remember. In fact, it was stated multiple times how much he is loving the freedom and camaraderie of the pirate life.
So to sum up I find this arc to be full of unbelievable plot developments and unmotivated character actions. Loving the book up to this point, even more than Northlanders in fact, but I am really disliking this arc.
This issue, at the end, kind of showed us what the point of the arc was, I think. I had my problems with it too overall. There was a lot of running back & forth – I think this was to portray how Conan was at a loss, a sickness being something you can’t fight with a sword – but the plot seemed a little muddled because of it.
@USPUNX, you’ve got a point that it seems strange they wouldn’t have suspected something like a “plague ship” & been wary of bringing the guy aboard in the first place. It’s mentioned that the sickness is common in these seas, so at least Belit & crew should’ve considered it.
I go the other way on the relationship though. Seemed to me like Bélit told him to leave because she loved Conan, & also because she’s extremely proud & doesn’t want him to see her vulnerable (& dying). And for Conan’s part – man, I remember being a teenager (& there’s a lot of that mindset in this Conan). You can love someone with everything you’ve got, then something changes or the shine wears off, & suddenly you’re doubting emotions that were absolute the day before.
I dunno. Just my 2 cents. I love this title, but I’m hoping it doesn’t dwell too long on the darker stuff (& the apparent rift that seems to be coming up).
“Conan’s restlessness hasn’t been hinted at in anyway prior to this arc that I can remember.”
One last thing… Conan’s been bothered by the things N’Yaga has said & shown him throughout the series, about his future with Bélit. It seems like it’s cut a current of doubt into that “perfect love” idea. I think that maybe really plays into his mindset there too.
@jasonhart: I see what you’re saying about Belit not wanting Conan to see her weak, but the whole “I want you to leave me because I love you so much” story feels so overdone to me. I think it would have been much more interesting, and also harder to write, if Belit allowed Conan to care for her and trusted him to save her. Conan can’t fight this enemy with a sword so instead he runs away. If Belit had allowed him to stay and Conan had committed to her even in her weakened and dying state THAT would have shown some growth. To me this arc hasn’t done anything but fill 3 issues. This could have been some real potential for actual character growth but instead all we got was a cliched and boring story.
*I should note I haven’t bought my comics yet this week and therefore have not read this issue so I am only speaking about the first two from this arc.
@jasonhart: Yeah the more I think about it I guess there have been times Conan has questioned his long term future with Belit but it just seemed after how strongly they solidified their bond after the last arc, that doubt should have been stamped out.
I’ve actually noticed that about Wood in some of his other ongoings, particular DMZ. Character growth and change tend to happen somewhat suddenly and mainly when the plot needs it. Note I said when the plot NEEDS it, not when the plot motivates it. I think he overall does a great job creating characters and making them believable but he tends to write his character developments in big dramatic moments rather than a gradual growth over time.
A lot of this is just personal preference and I’m in this to the end because I’m a HUGE Wood fan. I think that’s why this is bothering me so much. He’s one of my favorite comic writers so I tend to really look forward to his books and analyze them. If this was coming from a writer I wasn’t so wild about I’d probably just shrug it off and more on. This has been one of my favorite series he has ever done, just not enjoying this arc.
The art seemed like it may have been rushed in this one. Just a feeling I got. I thought the same artist did a much better job in the first two of this arc.