Posted by sheridan on 5/14/2008, 9:16 pm
69.250.38.139
Yes, yes....it's been a while. We now return to our regular reviews,
In case you missed it, RS died. Yeah, died. In the comics sense, of course, so we're sure to have some sort of rebirth sooner or later.
In short, she found out that in a round about way, she was the blood child of Kulan Gath, and that the Goddess "created" her as a way to ultimately defeat Gath. RS wasn't amused when she found this out, and rejected the Goddess but proceeded against Gath. With some of her blood and a broken blade, she impaled him....and both blew up. RS finds out that she's "dead" and has been having flashbacks w/ the assistance of Charon as he ferry's her down the river Styx.
RS #32
STORY
RS 32 picks up where the previous left off. RS is being ferried down the river Styx by Charon. Already a little softened by some previous visions where RS was responsible for the death of an "innocent," she opens this issue in a very out of character manner. RS asks if Charon's master will taken into consideration "the unlucky hand that one can be dealt in life." Blech....
But ok.
The tale of RS and her father teaching her to hunt is retold. Not much to say here.
Then, in an alternate vision, she's an evil RS. She marries a king, with Suumaro as her meat eating advisor. RS conspires to kill the king, and assumes the throne. As ruler-queen, she wages wars, drinks blood for power, and hunts the Celestial One. Valera makes a cameo as a general in her army.
RS almost has a change of heart upon finding out that her war efforts ended up killing some of her fellow Hyrkanians, but decides to leave the past in the past.
Osin is captured, and she rapes him so as to bear his seed.
In some really difficult panels to comprehend, RS is about to bear Gath's son. Presumably, she's going to die at his birth like the mother in the canon story line. Instead, she somehow rips the baby out, and kills it. She then kills Suumaro, as apparently he knew she would die in the birth. As in the canon, this releases Gath, and RS pledges to be Gath's slave. Gath predicts that RS will fall under to the Hunter in battle. It appear she dies by being tied up, gutted, and burned alive.
The issue ends by RS asking if she's "still dead." Curiously, Charon says, "you shall see in time, my dear." MY DEAR?!
IMPRESSIONS
Fabiano Neves certainly does some impressive work. If there's any weakness, it's his eyes. That could be Maiolo's colors...I don't know. The close ups of RS's green eyes are well done by both.....not sure why I'm a little unhappy with all of them, though.
Alternate reality story lines can be a bit tricky, but this one is well done. Kudos to Joshua Ortega for spinning this well paced yarn, even if it's decompressed like all comics (except Jonah Hex!!) these days. As noted above, the "softer side" of RS isn't quite in the spirit of the character. It's as if she's saying, "it wasn't my fault." I would expect RS to take a totally different take. Still, give that she'd only recently give up the Goddess, realizing that she was just a pawn in her plan to get back at Gath, it's not totally unreasonable to think she might take this approach.
All in all, a superb read. I think this will make an excellent trade when it's complete.
148
Message Thread:
« Back to thread
This website, its operator, and any content contained on this site relating to Conan or Dark Horse Comics, etc. are not authorized by any publisher. This site is not sponsored, approved or authorized by any publisher. The opinions of this site are not necessarily those of any publisher and this site is not an authoratative voice of the views of Conan and characters and situations as written by any publisher. This site serves as a non-profit scholarly work which reviews, promotes, and documents the elements of Conan, etc. in comic books and other media during the 20th century and beyond. All ideas in this site are expressed as a continuation of thought covering the pop culture associated with Conan, etc. These thoughts are not necessarily the ideas of any publisher. Some illustrations and words are the creation of others that may or may not have appeared in other publications or websites. Their inclusion in this site is not intended as an infringement of their copyright in any way, but rather is done in the interest of documenting and reviewing pieces of pop culture "comic book" history. Conan and other related properties and images are © by their respective publishers.
This Message Board owned and operated by: Mitch Taylor (Irn12)