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Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review

Comic Books

Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review

Conan versus a man-eating Gray Ape with a scantily clad chick to rescue. ‘Nuff said. You couldn’t possibly ask for more from a Conan book…or could you? Is it good?


King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 (Dark Horse Comics)


Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review
Click read our review of King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #2 here.

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For those of you unfamiliar with this series, this is an adaptation from a Robert H. Howard novelization which opened with an old King Conan telling a scribe a story of one of the knives in his treasury. The story is about a wizard using his powers to take out Conan’s army and enslave him. Last month Conan was freed by a house slave, only to be faced with the Gray Ape you see above.

Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review
Baby scratches. HAHAHAHHA!

The first two issues of this series were quite slow with most of it being exposition to setup our wizard and the man paying him to take out Conan. The art was spectacular, but much of the pages dragged on with a major lack of action. This issue has tons of action with a capital “A.” In fact, I’d wager this is a perfect single issue Conan story that can be enjoyed by anyone. That’s right, you didn’t need to read the two previous to enjoy this action packed issue.

Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review
Disney passed on this look for King Louie in The Jungle Book animated film. Fools!

Writer Timothy Truman lets artist Tomás Giorello do his thing this issue, that is for sure, but he doesn’t resort to straight action and nothing more. It’s no secret a major portion of this issue is Conan versus the Gray Ape, but the remaining pages deal with Conan uncovering a secret of the wizard, some major climbing and an attack on the man who took his kingdom away from him. Based on the first two issues I assumed the ape battle would be it, but was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns in the narrative.

Ten or so pages are straight up action, so if you enjoy dialogue heavy, plot driven comics this isn’t going to be for you. But let’s face it, this is Conan, and this is why we read him!

Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review
Free ape rides!

Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review 9.0

Is It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 ReviewIs It Good? King Conan: Hour of the Dragon #3 Review
  • Lots of great action
  • Mystical elements, tons of action and hot chicks flaunt their stuff…what more do you want?!
  • Conan is technically running away from the bad guys…take that for what it’s worth

Once again Giorello stuns with his well rendered pencils. Some artists are minimalist, but clearly Giorello is taking the time to sketch wood grain, detail in faces and always atmospheric surroundings. It’s a true pleasure to ogle these pages. Truman gives us enough to chew on between the action bits too making this one hell of Conan, and fantasy book in general too.

Is It Good?

Yes. Awesome stuff here, from action scenes, a bit of the mystical and Conan getting the girl too!

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