Conan the Cimmerian: The Black Stranger review

aka Conan Le Cimmérien - Le Maraudeur noir

Clearly inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and never published during his lifetime, The Black Stranger by Robert E. Howard gets poorly adapted in France. Robert just can't get a break.

The amateurish art of Jean-Luc Masbou is not ready for prime time.

The human form is not mastered at all. Enthusiasts of anatomy will be severely upset.

Faces look all too often like boiled potatoes or rotting pumpkins.

Nonetheless lots of work is put in the vegetation of the Pictish wilderness, rock formations, the fort, masted sailing ships, weapons and clothes.

The strange black Stygian mage/demon also disappoints by not being consistent or creepy enough.

The terrible lettering makes the tale almost illegible.

The pin-ups for The Treasure of Tranicos are all embarrassing except for the one by master Philippe Druillet, but it's cropped. Cropped? What the heck? Yes, and this is extremely disrespectful. Shame on you Glénat, Jean-David Morvan and Patrice Louinet!

The exclusive introduction by Patrice Louinet is always informative and as usual smells somewhat of arrogance.

I give it a 1/10. Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, John Buscema, Josef Rubinstein and Klaus Janson did a much, much, much better job of adapting this story in Savage Sword of Conan #47-48. Seek it out.

A Touching Tribute To The Late, Great, Bottalk Bulletin Board + Renaud FAQ!

The smartest and the most handsome podcasters on the Internet: The Fanholes and a collection of exceptional guests say au revoir to the legendary Bottalk board. Click to download or listen to this remarkable recording. And don't forget to get out your boxes of tissues! Thanks, guys! Much appreciated! Renaud FAQ

G.I. Joe #1 (2024) review

Creators : Joshua Williamson, Tom Reilly, Jordie Bellaire Story : Duke is leading the G.I. Joe team on some training exercises - Clutch, Stalker, Cover Girl, Rock 'n Roll and the Baroness, while giving a bit of background on each. The Baroness does struggle working with the crew and Duke feels they are not ready yet. In Springfield, Destro shows off his newest gun to Cobra Commander who is very impressed with it. In Abu Dhabi, G.I. Joe agent Risk (the one missing a part of his left pinkie) beats up some people and tells them not to sell to M.A.R.S. Industries. Back at the Pit, Hawk and Duke talk it over on what it means to be a leader and what the team needs. They then get their first mission; to retrieve a piece of Cybertronian tech while at the same time Cobra is going after it. While the Joes are retrieving the tech, they come under attack by Cobra forces, who seem to have them outgunned and out-technologized with their new laser rifles. Writing ...

G.I. Joe #3 (2024) review

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story : Clutch is trying to gather his bearings in the Cobra base and contact the Joe team when he ends up in line and hearing the next part of Cobra Commander's plan - to kidnap Dr. Venom/Dr. Archibald Monev who is slated to testify before Congress on his Brainwave Scanner. Cobra Commander claims there is a mole and he is attacked but he fends off the assailant and drops him into a (literal) snake pit (and he knows it's an agent from Cobra-La, unknown to the rest) and Cobra Commander claims he already has allies picking up the doctor. At the Pit, Duke and Risk are still fighting till Stalker stops them and reminds them they are a team (and putting out the classic Stalker leadership). They receive a message from Clutch informing the Joes of what Cobra is doing. In D.C., it ends up the Doctor is already in the hands of Cobra but the Joes are able to stop t...

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