Conan the Cimmerian: The Black Stranger review

aka Conan Le Cimmérien - Le Maraudeur noir

Clearly inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and never published during his lifetime, The Black Stranger by Robert E. Howard gets poorly adapted in France. Robert just can't get a break.

The amateurish art of Jean-Luc Masbou is not ready for prime time.

The human form is not mastered at all. Enthusiasts of anatomy will be severely upset.

Faces look all too often like boiled potatoes or rotting pumpkins.

Nonetheless lots of work is put in the vegetation of the Pictish wilderness, rock formations, the fort, masted sailing ships, weapons and clothes.

The strange black Stygian mage/demon also disappoints by not being consistent or creepy enough.

The terrible lettering makes the tale almost illegible.

The pin-ups for The Treasure of Tranicos are all embarrassing except for the one by master Philippe Druillet, but it's cropped. Cropped? What the heck? Yes, and this is extremely disrespectful. Shame on you Glénat, Jean-David Morvan and Patrice Louinet!

The exclusive introduction by Patrice Louinet is always informative and as usual smells somewhat of arrogance.

I give it a 1/10. Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, John Buscema, Josef Rubinstein and Klaus Janson did a much, much, much better job of adapting this story in Savage Sword of Conan #47-48. Seek it out.

A Touching Tribute To The Late, Great, Bottalk Bulletin Board + Renaud FAQ!

The smartest and the most handsome podcasters on the Internet: The Fanholes and a collection of exceptional guests say au revoir to the legendary Bottalk board. Click to download or listen to this remarkable recording. And don't forget to get out your boxes of tissues! Thanks, guys! Much appreciated! Renaud FAQ

G.I. Joe #1 (2024) review

Creators : Joshua Williamson, Tom Reilly, Jordie Bellaire Story : Duke is leading the G.I. Joe team on some training exercises - Clutch, Stalker, Cover Girl, Rock 'n Roll and the Baroness, while giving a bit of background on each. The Baroness does struggle working with the crew and Duke feels they are not ready yet. In Springfield, Destro shows off his newest gun to Cobra Commander who is very impressed with it. In Abu Dhabi, G.I. Joe agent Risk (the one missing a part of his left pinkie) beats up some people and tells them not to sell to M.A.R.S. Industries. Back at the Pit, Hawk and Duke talk it over on what it means to be a leader and what the team needs. They then get their first mission; to retrieve a piece of Cybertronian tech while at the same time Cobra is going after it. While the Joes are retrieving the tech, they come under attack by Cobra forces, who seem to have them outgunned and out-technologized with their new laser rifles. Writing ...

Transformers #12 (2023) review

Prepare for battle? You bet! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s Energon Universe, noted writer/artist rolled-into-one Daniel Warren Johnson takes the reins on the linchpin of this initiative, the flagship Transformers comic series! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona has taken over regular penciling duties with a style all his own. In this twelfth issue, the Autobots’ rescue mission has gone horribly awry as Ultra Magnus abandoned them in the middle of a fight! Can Optimus Prime turn things around against Devastator and stop Shockwave’s plan to transfer Earth’s energy resources to Cybertron, which is now hovering over Earth via space bridge? Fighty fight? This issue is indeed mostly a long fight scene, which is only fitting for the conclusion of the second arc. The main drama happens late in the issue where Optimus faces a choice that will define his relationship with his Autobots and...

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