Conan, the sword-and-sorcery character created by Robert E. Howard, is the protagonist of seven major comic series published by Dark Horse Comics. The first series, titled simply Conan, ran for 50 issues from 2004 to 2008; the second, titled Conan the Cimmerian, began publication in 2008 and lasted 25 issues until 2010; the third series, titled Conan: Road of Kings, started publishing in December 2010 and ended in January 2012 after 12 issues; a fourth series, titled Conan the Barbarian, continuing from Road of Kings, lasted 25 issues from February 2012 to March 2014; a fifth series, titled Conan the Avenger, started publishing in April 2014 and ended in April 2016 after 25 issues; a sixth and final series, titled Conan the Slayer lasted 12 issues from July 2016 to August 2017. Another series, titled King Conan, which takes place during Conan's time as king, ran in parallel for 24 issues from February 2011 to March 2016. Dark Horse also published half a dozen one-shots and almost a dozen mini-series. Dark Horse also published collections of the original Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian, [The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian] and King Conan series in graphic novel format. The publishing rights for Conan the Barbarian returned to Marvel Comics in 2018.

Overview

Dark Horse Comics began their take on Conan in 2003 with a one-shot prologue, Conan #0: Conan the Legend. The Conan, Conan the Cimmerian, Conan: Road of Kings, Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Avenger and Conan the Slayer series incorporate both new material and adaptations of stories by Robert E. Howard, with no other connection to Marvel Comics series or other post-Howard material. An ongoing dialogue between two characters, the Prince and the Wazir, living in an age centuries in Conan's future, is often used as a framing device for the stories. Each issue also contains "The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob (True Stories from the Life of Robert E. Howard)" by Jim & Ruth Keegan.

Core appearances

Conan

The six main Dark Horse Conan series, Conan, Conan the Cimmerian, Conan: Road of Kings, Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Avenger and Conan the Slayer make up a larger continuous storyline. This is indicated by numbering on the inner cover of these books with the text, "Number [#] in a series".

Conan

Conan was Dark Horse Comics' first series about Conan the Cimmerian. The comic's art consists of only color and pencilwork, with no inkwork, providing a painterly aesthetic. The series follows Dale Rippke's "Darkstorm" chronology. The story "Helm" in Conan #18 addresses one of the major "faults" in that chronology.

Controversy

Starting at issue #24, Tony Harris became the cover artist. One of the first pieces of art Harris submitted to Conan editor Scott Allie was a fully nude version of the cover of #24. Allie inserted the artwork in a blurb at the back of Conan and the Demons of Khitai #3. This displeased some comic store owners, and Conan and the Demons of Khitai #3 was reprinted with a censored cover in the blurb. Even so, 4,000 copies of Conan #24 were printed with the nude cover, and distributed through the Diamond Dateline retail newsletter shrink-wrapped in black plastic.

Awards

Conan the Cimmerian

Conan the Cimmerian was Dark Horse Comics' second series about Conan. A 99¢ issue #0 was published June 2008, followed by the first issue of the series in July (with the usual cover price of $2.99). The series ended with issue #25 in November 2010.

Conan: Road of Kings

Conan: Road of Kings was Dark Horse Comics' third series about Conan. It featured Roy Thomas as the writer and Mike Hawthorne as the primary artist on the series.

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian was Dark Horse Comics' fourth series about Conan. Brian Wood's run on the series was twenty-five issues and expanded on Robert E. Howard's original story "Queen of the Black Coast".

Conan the Avenger

Conan the Avenger was Dark Horse Comics' fifth series about Conan, with Fred Van Lente as the writer.

Conan the Slayer

Conan the Slayer was Dark Horse Comics' sixth and final series about Conan, with Cullen Bunn as the writer. Subsequently, the publishing rights reverted to Marvel in 2018.

Conan (mini-series and one-shots)

In addition to the larger series, there are also several miniseries and one shots. Conan: The Phantoms of the Black Coast was originally published as an ePlate exclusive miniseries. The back-ups in these issues were reprinted from Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword, and were later collected in the trade paperbacks for that series.

King Conan (series of mini-series)

King Conan was a miniseries about Conan during his time as king of Aquilonia.

Collections

Conan

Conan super-sized collections Conan Omnibus TPB

Conan (mini-series and one-shots)

Some of these collections also collect issues from the Conan line of comics, yet they were not collected as part the chronological collections.

King Conan

Adaptations of Robert E. Howard's original stories

Conan adapts these stories: Conan the Cimmerian adapts these stories: Conan the Barbarian adapts these stories: Conan the Avenger adapts these stories: Conan the Slayer adapts these stories: The People of the Black Circle (mini-series) adapts: Conan And the Jewels of Gwahlur (mini-series) adapts: King Conan adapts these stories:

Collections of Marvel Comics comics

The Chronicles of Conan

This 34-volume series collects the complete run of Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian (unless noted), digitally re-coloured. By Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith (unless noted): By Roy Thomas and John Buscema (unless noted): By J. M. DeMatteis and John Buscema and Others By J. M. DeMatteis, Bruce Jones, Gil Kane, and Others By Bruce Jones and John Buscema and others By Michael Fleisher and John Buscema and others By Jim Owsley and John Buscema and others By Charles Santino and Val Semeiks and others By Gerry Conway and others By Michael Higgins and others By Roy Thomas, Gary Hartle, Michael Docherty, and others

The Savage Sword of Conan

This 22-volume series collects the complete run of Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.

The Chronicles of King Conan

This 11-volume series collects the complete run of Marvel Comics' King Conan, with five issues in each volume:

Other Conan publications by Dark Horse