Savage Sword of Conan: REFORGED #5 review

64 restored and fully colored pages of barbaric savagery!

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

Classic revitalized art pin-ups in stunning color:

Conan the Barbarian by Mike Zeck from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #16

Conan ad by Pat Broderick from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #10

THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE Chapters 1 & 2 only (Chapters 3 & 4 are next issue) by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala. (New Colors by GFB Group/GFB.it)

Khemsa (a wizard who works for the Master of Yimsha) puts a curse on Bhunda Chand (Yasmina's brother... the King of Vendhya) for Yezdigerd (the King of Turan). Yasmina is forced to euthanize her bother. Queen Yasmina of Vendhya wants the see the Black Seers of Yimsha dead.

Conan (now a chief of the Afghulis of Ghulistan) kidnaps Yasmina to regain his seven Afghuli headmen who were captured by the Vendhyans.

Gitara (Yasmina's treacherous maid) tells her boyfriend wizard Khemsa about the kidnapping, Gitara wants Khemsa to abduct Yasmina to wring a huge ransom from Vendhya.

In Peshkhauri. To make certain that Conan's seven chiefs cannot be bartered for Yasmina and to turn the rest of Conan's men against their Cimmerian chieftain, Khemsa murders all seven captives.

Kerim Shah (a spy of King Yezdigerd of Turan) orders a Turanian army to be sent to Afghulistan to capture Yasmina from Conan.

Khemsa uses the globe of Yezud (the City of the Spider God) to kill Yar Afzal (chief of the Khurum Wazulis and friend of Conan). Conan and Yasmina flee to Yimsha (the mountain of the Black Seers in Ghulistan).

The Black Seers (the Four rakshasas of the Black Circle) force Gitara to fall into a precipice, make Khemsa slip into a rock avalanche and snatch Yasmina.

THE GODS OF THE HYBORIAN AGE part Two: Crom and Mitra: Gods to Swear by, an essay by Robert L. Yaple from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #7

THE HYBORIAN AGE, Chapter 2: The Rise of the Hyborians by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas and Walter Simonson. (New Colors by GFB Group/GFB.it)

Adapted from the Essay by Robert E. Howard (Conan's creator). From Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #8.

What I did like:

Yasmina is based on cosplayer and belly dancer Maureen Wise.

A NEW "Wizards of the Black Circle" cover by Alan Quah!

A vintage cover by Earl Norem from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #16.

Fabled Robert E. Howard adaptations from the 1970s!

What I did not like:

No new essay by Roy Thomas!

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

I give it a 9/10. We get even more pages this time around!

Renaud Frequently Asked Questions

Is that Autobot Stratosphere in G.I. Joe: Special Missions (2013) #3? Yes, it is. I was Paul Gulacy's toy reference guy for most of his run on Special Missions. Are your reviews written by Bots, Robots, Cyborgs or Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Real humans only. One of your reviewers gave me a less-than-stellar rating/grade/score! My feelings are hurt. I want a perfect 10 out of 10! I'm sorry that you're devastated. You'll find that all of our reviews are frank and feature constructive criticism. I'm extremely irritated that one of your reviewers gave my favorite thing a less-than-stellar rating/grade/score! What do you recommend I should do? I appreciate your passion. At the end of the day all reviews are irrelevant, the only thing that matters is money. If you truly dig something, purchase it (even multiple times, if you can) to support it. You ran the CTLP? Yes, the Complete...

Transformers #18 (2023) review

Is Shredhead totally in my face? Yup! 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 eighteenth issue, Shredhead kills some guys you may have liked, Ultra Magnus boxes a helicopter, and the Decepticon civil war comes to an end with the return of… well, c’mon, you know. Does Shredhead arrive at the fireworks factory? There’s actually relatively little to do with Shredhead here, aside from an opening fight scene where he showcases how badazz he is by killing some name characters. One of the victims in particular I was kind of annoyed by, considering he just got his first new toy in decades and has always been a fan favorite f...

Void Rivals #17 review

Void Rivals Has Secrets To Reveal! It does and it continues here with issue # 17! Void Rivals is Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici’s sci-fi comic that tells the tale of two crumbling planets linked by a “Sacred Ring” (it’s not Halo), their peoples at war for generations. When a member of each culture are stranded together, the two find they must put aside their differences if they want to survive. This story takes place in the so-called “Energon Universe”, Skybound Entertainment’s initiative to relaunch properties like Transformers and G.I. Joe within a shared universe that also happens to include the original characters and setting of Void Rivals. In this seventeenth issue, the secret of Zerta Trion is revealed, Darak has a “friendly” chat with his father, and Proximus is on the rampage! Proximus? He was cool. He was! And that continues here as him and his new kid sidekick go on a quest together. It’s unclear exactly what Proximus wishes to get out of it, but he’s clearly no longer...

BotTalk Reviews

Search This Blog