Well this was unexpected and accidental find. Based on Conan stories that are now in public domain and unable to use the name of our hero in the title of volumes these are more ... unrestricted comic adaptations of Conan stories.

And I have to say I like it. These are stories in which Conan is shown as what he truly is - force of nature, force of life that aims to live to the fullest no matter the consequences. In first story we witness Conan joining the forces with Belit. As story progresses and as Belit loses her life we see Conan, dark and vengeful waiting on the murderer of his beloved to exact his revenge.

Second story is one I did not come across before - again, we witness Conan as he sells his martial skills to the greatest bidder and ends up in the mysterious city with no windows, city so large that entire civilization is living within its walls that never saw the sun of the outside world.

Conan is not part of the civilized world, as a matter of fact he is disgusted with civilization. He is powerful man that hates tricksters of any kind and trusts only in himself and power of his body and mind, and people who prove to be worthy of his trust that he might call friends. He is not above brigandry and outright murder, he chases women in a manner that would make him unpopular today but in all of this he is honest. He does not represent himself to be something he is not and while he might be considered epitome of might-makes-right he has a code of honor and tries to get into conflict only with people who truly deserve to meet the edge of his sword.

Art in these two stories is different but rather good. Art style is very European but it works.

As cover blurb states this version of Conan's stories is uncensored one so there is gore and sex, in a manner that reminds me of Metal Hurlant in a good way (which closes the circle because all of the techno-barbarian stories from Metal Hurlant were definitely inspired by Conan's adventures).

So overall this is very different adaptation from Marvel one. Maybe closes thing to this way of storytelling are DarkHorse adaptations, that I truly enjoyed. I am not fan of making everything dark and deadly realistic but for Conan, deadly swordsman and one-man army, approach taken by Ablaze truly works.

Highly recommended to fans of Conan and more dark fantasy approach to his adventures. ( )