New Conan by Dark Horse Comics!

The official announcement of a new Conan comic book series to be published by Dark Horse Comics was made at Comic Con International in July 2003. This new series will be a monthly magazine featuring the art of Cary Nord and the writing of Kurt Busiek. (see press release here)

According to Busiek, the series will be starting from scratch -- throwing out all that has gone before and starting fresh with a series of brand new stories that also incorporates adaptations of Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories.

The first issue, or rather the "preview" issue numbered zero, hit the stands the week of November 10th, 2003. Selling for a special price of 25 cents, the first issue of Dark Horse's new Conan book brings a ton of insights into the new series, not the least of which is the "set-up" for the entire series that

is very Howardesque. I hate to say it, but in all humbleness Kurt Busiak is setting up the series exactly how I would have done it -- by using Howard's original framework for his Conan stories while adding something new that expands our notion of the idea. Truly excellent. If the rest of the series is as good as this preview issue, we are in for a treat. The new Conan series officially began February 2004 with issue number one.