The disappointing prequel to The Frost-Giant's Daughter aka The Gods of the North continues.
Jim Zub's Frozen Faith part II: The Daughter's Gaze.
Conan beats up the three Aesirmen. Hiding in the trees above, Atali (the gossamer G-string wearing, golden-locked daughter of Ymir, the frost-giant) remembers her father's words, that the affairs of men are unworthy of her attention.
Niord, the leader of the 3 surly Æsir warriors, appears and offers Conan a deal, the bear's carcass and a week of work to get safe passage to Asgard's border.
Conan mentions Venarium where he became a warrior in Conan the Barbarian FCBD 2023.
Niord is dispirited that Ymir does not listen to prayers, Conan replies that it's the same for Crom, their mighty mountain god.
An Æsir war-horn is heard. It is a cry for help!
The Aesirmen and Conan rush to the rescue.
Conan saves one Æsir from a raided and burning fort. The Aesirmen and Conan douse the flames.
Niord, fearing for the young Cimmerian's life, suggests that Conan should go on his way.
Conan decides to stay to slay the Vanir raiders. Horsa finds our barbarian some armour.
Conan is now part of Wulfhere's reavers. A blizzard slows them down, but they finally find the Vanir raiders aka the men of Bragi.
Only Conan survives the skirmish. Wulfhere lies dead with all of his weapon-men, as Atali looks on unfazed by the elements.
Atali, beautiful as a frozen flame from hell, impressed by Conan's prowess on the battlefield... starts to burn for Conan of the black hair.
What I did like:
Vanir raiders/The red hairs from the 1982 Conan the Barbarian film are here.
Thor is mentioned, oops, I mean Thar.
The cover by James Harren is swear word fantastic!
Ymir the Frost Giant is mentioned multiple times.
The Doug Braithwaite tetraptych! Combine covers #13-16 to form another cool Conan quadriptych. Do it! Do it, now!
A strong female character appears, but it ain't human.
Atali is on almost all of the variant covers. Bravo!
Archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks talks about the Marchers of Valhalla, Bulfinch's Mythology, The Star Rover by Jack London and P. Schuyler Miller.
A nice interview with colourist Diego Rodriguez.
What I did not like:
Characters are named but never show up, others appear but are never named. Who cares? Obviously, Zub just wants to get to the violence.
Zub and Braithwaite turn Conan the Barbarian into a gore comic, once again.
Women do appear, but only Henga (Niord's daughter from Conan #1 (2004)) speaks. Pathetic.
Atali mentions male members and illegitimate mongrels. Can we get more lowbrow and childish?
Cimmerians inseminating rocks? What? Unimaginative insult. Inane writing!
No one offers Conan a pair of pants.
NO advert for the excellent Heroic Legends Short Fiction Program.
NO variant cover featuring Boris Vallejo's 1989 painting of Daphne and Apollo!
NO letters page!
I give it a 5/10. Gore is soooo cool... Not! Barely a story and buckets of blood. Characters are never fleshed out, only slaughtered. A huge disappointment. Conan fans only crave carnage, right? Right? Wrong!!
