CONAN THE REAVER

Don Kraar is something of a mystery when it comes to the history of Conan comics. He's not a well-loved mover-shaker type like Roy Thomas or Kurt Busiek. He's not exactly one of the architects of Savage Sword's flop era like the Saturday morning cartoon weirdness of Michael Fleisher or the paint-by-numbers adventures by Chuck Dixon. In total, he wrote 21 stories for Savage Sword, which is actually quite a few compared to how many issues of Savage Sword you and I have written. But none of them are remembered particularly well, though he had some good installments in there (SSOC #112 "The Blossoms of the Black Lotus," anyone else...?). He contributed some issues to Conan the King and a few DC titles.

There seems to be one picture of Don that exists in total on the entire internet. I couldn't find any interviews.

So I wasn't exactly sure what I'd get when the Marvel Graphic Novel Conan the Reaver arrived at my door, complete with a noticeable coffee stain on the back cover. The previous two that I read- The Horn of Azoth and The Witch Queen of Acheron- weren't great. And Don write the latter.

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Like today's author, Mr. Don Kraar, these Marvel Graphic Novel releases are sort of oddballs in the Conan canon. They're longer than a regular comic book release, a little oversized, and sometimes draw big talent. But in 1987 when Conan the Reaver was released, Savage Sword of Conan was already putting out extra-long, oversized stories driven by some big names, so what's the point when it comes to Conan? Color panels? I was starting to think they were kind of a waste of time.

I'm happy to report that Conan the Reaver is not only the best of the three so far, but that it's pretty fantastic. It has, at least for the time, renewed my interest in them.

Released two years after The Witch Queen of Acheron as the second MGN featuring Conan and the 28th MGN overall, Reaver is a young Conan story which puts the Cimmerian in the underbelly of Aghrapur on the trail of a great treasure.

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What a great Conan reaction shot.

Conan has enmeshed himself with the thieves guild in the Turanian capital and is helping them get information out of the city guards in a spectacular fashion. Forcing the captain of the guard to walk a tightrope above a pit of flames, Conan strikes up a deal to get the keys to the great treasure room under King Yildiz's castle. Posing as a new member of the castle guard, he quickly proves his sword to be a valuable addition to Turan's militias and is shown the treasure room. His general decency, in fact, pretty quickly endears Conan to everyone as he gets to know Aghrapur, but the secret assassins of the Red Mist are threatening not only the king's plans, but his as well. Everyone in the civilized city has their own machinations, but our barbarian hero just wants some loot, and he's okay with killing a few corrupt guards or nobles to get there.

Kraar does an excellent job of weaving together solid suspense into a thieving sword and sorcery story. Though you might not be completely surprised at a twist or two, the plotting is really fun.

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Seemingly the only picture of Don Kraar that exists.

I've read descriptions of John Severin's art describe him with phrases like "a master at work," and I don't know if I agree entirely at this juncture. He has very serviceable panel layouts and paces the action well (something that those other two MGNs completely failed at) but his art, especially his character designs, strike me much more as Prince Valiant than they do as gritty Conan the Barbarian. He renders faces strongly and his close-ups are excellently detailed. However, a lot of his backgrounds are empty, solid colors, and he clothes everyone to look like an ancient Roman.

Chronologically, this graphic novel seems to fall after the rest of Conan's thieving stories and before his service to the Turanian army that pretty much begins with "The Hand of Nergal." I suppose this implies that Conan goes way further south and east from Shadizar than many of us originally pictured, seeing as Aghrapur sits on the coast of the Vilayet Sea, nearly to Hyrkania. But this story also works as a bridge between the thief stories and the first set of mercenary stories.

If you read my other posts about these MGNs, I did some complaining about the cash I had to drop to get them. Conan the Reaver was the cheapest of all three so far, so I'm finally getting my money's worth! I really wish I had a half-star icon to rate it a three-and-a-half out of five.

Now, if only I could find anything else out about Don Kraar...

★★★☆☆

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