Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons (2025)

Story: ⭐️⭐️
Artwork: ⭐️
Re-Reability: Zero

A few weeks ago, the standard release for the monthly issue of Conan the Barbarian was delayed, and in its place, Titan released a digital comic title Eastern Horizons. This one-shot comic was written by Walt Simonson, best known for his work on Thor in the mid-1980s. The art was handled by Jerry Ma.

I was frustrated that this was a digital only release, and even more so that it was a Kindle only digital release, but I went ahead and paid $3.99 to embark on the latest in Conan adventures. Sadly, I should have saved my money.

The story told within the pages of Eastern Horizons is rather basic, as expected in a one-shot. Conan begins his adventure by being given an ominous gold coin by a dying beggar. Not long after, he encounters a group of soldiers, escorting a kidnapped princess across the desert, and they decide Conan is a liability as a witness. Of course, they underestimate the Cimmerian and soon Conan is accompanying the beautiful princess with the promise of riches upon her reaching her destination. Of course, things are not as they seem, and Conan is forced to face-off against magical evil in his attempt to save the day, the girl, and make some coin.

The story isn’t terrible, but it begins with thought bubbles to get inside Conan’s head, and after that initial scene, Conan openly narrates much of his adventure. Sadly, this hinders the natural progression of the story but was necessary because the artwork is atrocious. The art doesn’t fit Conan, nor does it work as a surreal style. It’s just bad, and it hurt the plot by not being able to tell part of the story through the art.

After reading the lackluster book and seeing the art, I can understand why this was a digital exclusive, as it’s not worthy of a true printing. It feels like this was a story and art paid for by Titan, and they had to find a way to release it and try and recoup. I hope in the future they are a bit more selective with their artists, because part of the appeal of Conan is the wonderful artwork in these strange yet familiar worlds. As seen with the Dark Horse release, once the artwork fails to keep up with the stories, the stories lose their effectiveness and it’s easy to move onto something else.