How Do You Get Into Conan the Barbarian?

Conan the Barbarian #1 has us asking, "Just how does one get into Conan?"

New fantasy worlds are like pants you used to wear in high school: both approachable and difficult to get into nowadays. Robert E. Howard basically invented the sword and sorcery genre with his original Conan short stories. They are legend, but they are dense. So while Marvel pulls its finger from the dam and lets loose a whole host of new Conan to soothe a longstanding drought, here’s how to get immersed if you don’t know your Aquilonia from your Cimmeria, your Belit from your Hyborian.

1) The original novels
It seems obvious, but it might be easy to miss. With three simple collections of short stories, you can read the entirety of the Conan literary collection. These are mythic, mighty, digestible stories of the highest and most jaw-dropping fantasy you’ve ever read.

2) Conan: The Tabletop RPG
What better way to immerse yourself in a new fantasy world than to truly immerse yourself? For those wishing D&D was better stocked with elder gods and unknowable horrors, this is the fast-paced game of absolute decimation that you’ve been waiting for.

3) Classic Conan
Marvel is re-releasing both it’s elder and modern classic Conan stories in big, beautiful new collections starting this month. Boundless, overflowing volumes chock full of amazing stories and incredible moments. For someone looking to hit a buffet of Conan, this is the line to get in.

4) Conan the Barbarian #1
And, of course, there is no better place to start than a brand new Marvel #1. Kicking off a true blue new Age of Conan is Conan the Barbarian #1, written by Jason Aaron (who is romantically in love with Conan), drawn by Mahmud Asrar (whom Conan is romantically in love with). This promises to be the most incredible fantasy book to come out of Marvel in a age and you should get in on the ground floor.

BONUS: Jason Aaron’s Weird World & Thor series are the perfect primers for the kind of incredible fantasy you can expect from this book.

BONUS BONUS: Mahmud Asrar’s work on X-Men Red is stellar and will psyche you up for the kind of incredible action and pathos you can expect from his work.

Grab these great titles and the brand new Conan the Barbarian #1 from us right here at FP.

About Kevin Lanigan 138 Articles

Kevin Lanigan is a writer/comedian/director living in NYC. He's the writer/star of the romantic comedy web series Doomed To You, the improv/sketch show The Puffin Publishing Podcast, and the comedy RPG show JAN: Jive Action Nerds. You can see him perform weekly with his improv team Gone Girl.