Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon: James Lovegrove

While reading Lee Child’s Jack Reacher book series, Reacher often reminded me of a modern-day, arrested-development Conan the Barbarian.

Both characters are powerful adventurers, indomitable spirits, with a strong code of what they believe is right and wrong. They always triumph. Their enemies are smashed and scattered by the end of their many adventures.

The arrested development part stems from Reacher and Conan wandering the earth, with little more than the clothes on their backs. However, Reacher maintains his spartan lifestyle by choice while Conan has ambitions that led him to becoming a king. 

Also, there are no supernatural elements in Reacher’s world while Conan’s ancient world teems with sorcerers, monsters, spirits and curses. 

At some point, in every one of the two-dozen-plus Lee Child books, Reacher reminded me of a 21st century Conan.

With James Lovegrove’s new “Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon,” Conan reminded me of Reacher.

Here, rather than Conan finding adventure by seeking it out, he falls into adventure by helping a married warrior couple and their young son. Sort of the same way Reacher inadvertently has adventures because someone chooses to bother him or bother someone else.

Conan becomes a tutor to the young son and briefly, albeit unsuccessfully, the boy’s babysitter.

The married couple sets out to confront members of their tribe. They have a long-running feud with their clansmen and have been pursued by them for a decade. But the couple is mistaken about their brethren’s location and the son is kidnapped by the feuding party instead. Conan isn’t there to protect the boy because he is jailed after being duped by a former comrade. So much for Conan the Babysitter.

Conan joins the married couple to find the boy, who is abducted from his abductors by a winged creature. 

Soon, Conan and the married couple learn a nation of the winged creatures have been abducting children from throughout the Hyborean world. Adventure ensues.

Lovegrove writes a rollicking Conan yarn though once again long-time fans may wonder if Conan stories are really suited for novel form. Robert E. Howard, Conan’s creator, wrote only one Conan novel. The rest of his Conan tales were short stories. He gave these short stories an epic scope while keeping the page count thin. 

For example: “Queen of the Black Coast” encompasses three years of Conan’s life and introduces the pirate queen Belit, Conan’s great love. The story only covers in detail their meeting, quickly notes they had many adventures during the three-year period, and then details how Belit and Conan are parted. The entire story is less than 40 pages in most paperback editions.

Had Howard written “Cult of the Obsidian Moon,” it would have likely been about 30-40 pages instead of nearly 300 pages.

That’s not to say “Obsidian Moon” is not a fun read. It is. The book is also part of publisher Titan Books multimedia “Black Stone” storyline that is included in the “Conan the Barbarian” comic books, though readers can read “Obsidian Moon” without reading the comics.

The Tomb of Dracula

“The Tomb of Dracula: Lord of Vampires” was one scary comic book to a grade school kid in the 1970s. Scary not just because of the storylines and art but because it seemed like the kind of comic book that would have raised my parents’ ire if they happened to open an issue.

The Marvel Comics Dracula was always on the prowl, snatching nubile victims from the streets of London or Boston. He married a woman in a ritual performed by people who thought Dracula was the devil. He battled the sinister Dr. Sun, a disembodied brain with manipulative powers bent on world domination. “Tomb” introduced the character Blade the Vampire Slayer, very much a ’70s Blaxploitation type of character compared to the eventual movie version played by Wesley Snipes.

I wasn’t a devoted reader of “The Tomb of Dracula” as a kid. I picked up an issue here and there, whenever one might be in the 7-11 comics rack or no other titles caught my interest. My collection of original “Tomb of Dracula” issues is sparse, but well-read.

Recently, I decided to read the 70-issue run of “Tomb,” which is available in reprints through multiple trade paperback editions or through Marvel Unlimited online. 

Fifty years later, “The Tomb of Dracula” remains a gripping storyline. Within the first few issues, writer/editor Marv Wolfman took over scripting the book. Gene Colan, penciller, and Tom Palmer, inker, were the book’s artists.

While Dracula has episodic adventures, all set in the 1970s, the tone of “Tomb” is a long-running serial, a sweeping epic. Throughout the book, he is pitted against a team that includes a non-vampire descendant of Dracula, the descendants of Harker and Van Helsing from the Bram Stoker novel, and Blade. 

Reading the book as an adult confirms what I kind of understood as a kid. “Tomb” is not really a children’s comic book. And even now, “Tomb” is a creepy book. Especially with Wolfman’s take on the character and his dedication to the storyline with Colan and Palmer’s chilling and provocative art. Legend claims Colan based the look of his Dracula on Jack Palance’s Dracula from a 1970s TV movie.

Marvel’s 1970s Dracula is far more frightening and sinister than Marvel’s current Dracula whose vampire nation is battling all of the superheroes in the company’s current massive “Blood Hunt” crossover event.