Savage Sword of Conan: REFORGED #1 review

64 restored and fully colored pages of barbaric savagery!

Inside this magnificent full-color magazine you will find the following:

Classic remastered art pin-ups:

Conan the Barbarian by Alfredo Alcala from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #1

Conan the Barbarian by John Buscema from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #17

Conan ad by Jeff Aclin from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #24

THE FROST GIANT’S DAUGHTER by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. (New Colors by GFB Group/GFB.it)

The uncensored version. Atali, Ymir's daughter lures Conan into an ambush, the barbarian cuts down Atali's brothers and the frost-giant retrieves his offspring.

OGRES, NYMPHS, AND ROCK STARS. SOME THOUGHTS ON THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN by Patrick Zircher (Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring)

The Z-Man waxes lyrical about The Tower of the Elephant and The Frost-Giant's Daughter.

CIMMERIA (a poem) by Robert E. Howard, Barry Windsor-Smith and Tim Conrad. (New Colors by Jão Canola)

Conan wrestles a wolf.

THE TOWER OF THE ELEPHANT by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala. (New Colors by GFB Group/GFB.it)

Conan kills a kidnaper, teams up with Taurus the Prince of all Thieves, slays a lion, squishes a giant spider and helps the transcosmic being from the green planet Yag, Yag-Kosha get revenge on Yara the Sorcerer.

What I did like:

A New Tower of the Elephant cover by Rob De La Torre.

A vintage Red Sonja and Conan cover by Boris Vallejo from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #1.

A woman appears on one of the covers.

Fabled Robert E. Howard adaptations from the 1970s!

The ice-giants are not Smurfs/blue.

This is not Moose Baumann's colorized version of The Tower of the Elephant from Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword (2010) #8. It's all new.

What I did not like:

Red Sonja the She-Devil with a Sword does not appear in the magazine.

Patrick Zircher's essay is NOT illustrated.

I prefer my sword and sorcery comics magazines in black-and-white.

The cover from Conan the Barbarian (1970) #16 is not offered as a pin-up!

No Tower of the Elephant variant cover by Earl Norem from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #24! Extremely disappointing!

No essay by Roy Thomas!

Only reprints. I wanted at least one new exclusive story in color.

I give it an 8/10. Feeling grey because most of the coolest Conan comics are in black and white? Let Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics bring some colour into your life. Forge your own path, put this new Cimmerian mag on your pull list, today!

Transformers #28 (2023) review

Kirkman Kills The Transformers! Well, not all of them, yet! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s Energon Universe, he now takes the writing reins of the flagship Transformers comic series as well, with Dan Mora now on pencils and Mike Spicer still on colors. In this twenty-eighth issue, Megatron has a freakout, Arcee gets a promotion, Miles Mayhem tries his darndest to get a spin-off, and SOMEONE DIES. FOR REAL. PERMANENTLY. Whut-oh. Yeah, Kirkman finally gives in to his Walking Dead and Invincible pedigree and brings on the gore here, for both human and Transformer alike! After I felt like he was being remarkably restrained for his first three issues, he really goes for it here and it’s... I dunno... kind of on the nose, maybe? I guess he wanted to show that his run will be chock-full of consequences too, but I feel maybe his choice of victim was a little flawed and a real shame. The victim is a Transformers character that is known for getting the shaft usually...

Transformers #34 (2023) review

How do you propose I get to the comic store this week? On My ROLLER SKATES??? The bold new era for the Autobots and this book continues! Robert Kirkman, chief architect of the Energon Universe, writes the flagship Transformers title and Jason Howard takes over as regular penciler for this new story arc with Mike Spicer on colors. Howard had previously drawn issues #13 and #14 of this book, along with many covers. In this thirty-fourth issue, we meet Doctor Henri Arkeville, Thundercracker and the Aerialbots set out on a quest, and Shredhead and Cliffjumper bite off more than they can chew! Doctor Arkeville? Really? Yep! Kirkman’s appreciation for the Sunbow cartoon continues as he formally introduces Doctor Arkeville into the story, and much like Miles Mayhem, he just has to take a swing at General Flagg! Flagg’s in an ornery mood after learning that Optimus gave up the Matrix and is a less powerful ally now, so he doesn’t take kindly to being attacked. He still offers Arkeville Mayhem’...

Solomon Kane: The Original Comics Omnibus Vol. 1 review

Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane, the dour English Puritan Swashbuckler, gets a revised complete collection of his classic Marvel suggested for mature readers sword and sorcery adventures. The omnibus is available in two versions: with a Mike Mignola dust jacket (available everywhere) or with a direct market Howard Chaykin dust jacket (only available from comic book stores). Inside this magnificent hardcover you will find the following: Stories in full color: Kane versus looter Le Loup (Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin) Kane versus looter Le Loup (Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard, Ralph Macchio, Steve Carr and Bret Blevins) Kane versus a werewolf (And Faith, Undying... by Ralph Macchio and Bret Blevins) Kane versus kidnaper Sir George Banway (Blades of the Brotherhood by Robert E. Howard, Ralph Macchio, Bret Blevins and Al Williamson) Kane versus Prince Ali-Ben Ar (The Prophet by Ralph Macchio, Mike Mignola and Al Williamson) Kane versus vampires/zombie...

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