Writer Brian Wood finds a humanity in Conan the Barbarian that has arguably never been tapped by previous writers.

In “The Song of Belit” stories collected in the sixth volume of “Conan Chronicles,” Wood reveals not only the melancholy and mirth mentioned by creator Robert E. Howard in his introduction of Conan but Wood finds moments of doubt, tenderness, irritation and deep love within the barbarian. And, yes, the berserker, violent side often associated with Conan.

Too often, even the best writers have focused on Conan’s confidence and heroic nature. While he may be described as having gigantic melancholy and mirth, these qualities are rarely exhibited in the comics. Typically, the mood of Conan when not in action is somber, grim, stoic or glum.

Here, a reader can actually visualize this Conan as a living, breathing person. Wood finds a Conan that not only taps into the best of the early Howard stories of the character but arguably takes Conan a step further. He remains an action hero but not the superhero or super-barbarian that Howard later developed when he hung Conan on a cross in the short story “A Witch Shall Be Born.”

And with “Queen of the Black Coast,” Howard penned a short story that has now inspired two Conan comic book writers to create numerous adventures for the barbarian and the love of his life, Belit.

In the short story, Howard notes that Conan and Belit were together for three years between their meeting and her demise. 

Writer Roy Thomas wrote three years worth of “Conan the Barbarian” issues for Marvel Comics in the late 1970s.

Wood did the same with the Conan run in Dark Horse Comics.

The Wood version starts in the fifth volume of “Conan Chronicles” and continues in this sixth collection. 

Conan and Belit have adventures on the Tigress, a pirate ship where Belit is worshipped as a queen by her crew. 

They travel to his native Cimmeria where he must clear his name and she must deal with Conan’s relatives who think Belit is hardly a queen. They survive a plague and the loss of a child. They embark on a lotus trip. Belit returns to her home in Shem where she was raised as a royal princess.

And they face the grim doom awaiting them deep down a river as Wood steers the storyline back to his adaptation of Howard’s original story.

Wood and numerous artists create a Conan saga for the ages – Howard’s Hyborean Age and all other ages. And at nearly 500 pages, “The Song of Belit” is epic.