The product: The book itself is a beast. I don't usually give measurements of a book in my review but this one is about four inches wide if you measure the width of the spine. It's just over a foot tall. You won't be reading this one in the bathtub and probably not on the toilet either. I had mine propped open on the dining room table and then when reading late at night propped open with a pillow on each side in bed.

Both Marvel and DC have been printed omnibus collections of their works for several years now. Dark Horse does one better with their book. Sewn binding, thicker (higher quality) paper, larger pages to show of the art better, and numbered pages something we only see on occasion from other companies. The book mark ribbon was unnecessary for me but a fancy touch nonetheless.

The Content: The book contains 50 issues worth of story. At an issue a month you have years worth of published materials to read over in one book. Not a lot of extras, a foreword by Kurt Busiek, an afterword by Truman and some covers and some sketches. Much of the art is by Cary Nord and most of the coloring is done by Dave Stewart. While we do see some stories by other authors much the same tone is maintained thru out the book making it flow very well. While the time in Conan's life varies in some of the stories the way the reader is introduced to the stories works very well as a reluctant adviser to a king's son reads them to the prince. Clearly the adviser dislikes Conan and the prince loves him. We see stories from Conan's early life and much of his wondering with very little with him as King.

One thing I enjoy about old fantasy from the early 20th century is the allure of the ancient and unknown past where fantastic discoveries and mysteries were lost. This writing of Conan is very respectful to the original Conan works and we see hints of the mighty past here and there with at least one storyline (the Hyborrians) capturing the lost city type story very well.

This book does contain some scantily clad girls including a couple bare breasted illustrations.

A video review an acquaintance created helped me decide to try this one out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PE1rrzJOhQ

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