Conan the Barbarian #25 Celebrates Conan’s History in a Fully-Painted Epic

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It’s worth remembering that when Marvel Comics reached significant issue numbers – like Fantastic Four #100, Amazing Spider-Man #100, and Incredible Hulk #200 – a common approach was to have the heroes battle versions of their old enemies. This allowed the writers to acknowledge the character’s history without needing a complicated plot to explain why all the villains were attacking at once. I thought of this pattern when I read the enjoyable Conan the Barbarian #25, which Titan Comics is releasing next week. Writer Jim Zub uses a similar technique to honor Conan’s history.

Conan the Barbarian #25 features writing by Jim Zub and artwork by Alex Horley, who created the entire story with full paintings. Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith handled the lettering. This is a special, larger-sized “anniversary” issue – marking roughly 40 years since the beginning.

What is the basic setup of the issue?

A peculiar traveler arrives at King Conan’s court, presenting a significant reward – but only if Conan offers him lodging for three days. Conan, ever open to unusual propositions, accepts. The stranger spends those three days unsettling everyone, before finally revealing his “gift”: a magical CHALLENGE that forces Conan to relive and fight through key moments of his entire life.

This lets Zub focus on key moments from Conan’s past, but more importantly, it gives Horley the freedom to deliver some fantastic action scenes – you can get a sneak peek at a few in the preview pages below. Conan is a character who’s perfectly suited to these wild, over-the-top conflicts, and Horley’s artwork captures the feel of classic Conan trade paperback covers, bringing them to life with a level of movement rarely seen in painted comics.

If you enjoy Conan the Barbarian, you’ll be captivated by Horley’s depiction of the warrior in this comic. The artwork is incredibly intense and powerful, truly showcasing the hero’s greatest qualities. While everything is larger than life, Horley also manages to maintain a sense of humanity, keeping the story grounded and making the danger feel real on every page. It’s a wonderfully entertaining visual experience.

How does Conan’s history specifically work well with this sort of approach?

It’s interesting how something that started as a quick idea can become really important. The very first Conan the Barbarian story, “The Phoenix on the Sword,” actually began as a rewrite of something else and ultimately created the character of Conan. It’s surprising to realize the initial story wasn’t even meant to feature Conan! Originally intended as a story about King Kull, it naturally included the premise that Conan was a king within that narrative.

This ultimately became a significant element throughout Conan’s adventures. Because we know from the very beginning that he eventually becomes a king, it gives the stories a unique and enduring quality. Interestingly, the well-known depiction of Conan as “Conan the Barbarian” wasn’t part of Howard’s original idea-the term gained popularity after Howard’s death when Marvel used it for their comic book adaptation of the character. This version of Conan didn’t appear until several stories into Howard’s series of Conan short stories. Therefore, those earlier tales can be seen as prequels to the original stories, where Conan is already a king.

This is important because it establishes that Conan, as a character, fundamentally exists across all time. It’s similar to how Superboy comics continued alongside Superman comics – the same character was actively featured in two distinct eras, both as an adult (Superman) and as a teenager (Superboy). This is significant because it allows new Conan stories, like this one, to genuinely occur at any point in his timeline and still feel authentic, as the character doesn’t have a fixed, definitive time period. This differs from characters like Batman, where while stories can be set at various points in time (such as The Dark Knight Returns), the most “canonical” stories typically unfold in the present day. That limitation doesn’t apply to Conan. Any time period is open for exploration.

So, Conan the Barbarian #25 is successful because it beautifully incorporates elements from all different eras of his adventures simultaneously. The magical trial set by the Nomad leads Conan through battles from various points in his life, but these don’t feel like typical flashbacks. Instead, they feel familiar because they represent the kinds of stories we’ve come to expect from Conan comic books. And as I mentioned earlier, this approach also gives Horley the freedom to draw whatever inspires him, which is a genuine pleasure for readers.

Zub skillfully wraps everything up with some clever metafiction near the end. Though it’s a cool addition (it really IS quite smart), it’s not essential because the fantastical adventure that lets us revisit some of Conan’s most iconic moments – and introduces some new exciting ones – is already fantastic. What’s especially great is that you don’t even need to be familiar with Conan to enjoy this (though, you’ll need some Conan knowledge to fully appreciate the cleverness of the ending). Much of it consists of genuinely cool action scenes brought to life by an exceptional artist. If you ARE a longtime Conan fan, you’ll get even more enjoyment out of it, but regardless, this comic is a true treat for any comic book enthusiast.

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2025-10-05 06:44