CONAN THE BARBARIAN #30 / Script by JIM ZUB / Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE / Colors by DIEGO RODRIGUEZ / Letters by RICHARD STARKINGS & COMICRAFT’S TYLER SMITH / Published by TITAN COMICS & HEROIC SIGNATURES

There are many dark cults in the Hyborian Age, but the Children of the Woeful Eye are among the darkest. They employ many fanatics as assassins, but the one known as the Son of the Tooth may be the worst. Driven mad by visions of the Eye as a sickly child, he killed his siblings and his own father and took their strength along with a single tooth. He continues to collect teeth from his victims as a man.

The Son of the Tooth is sent forth after one who thwarted the designs of the Children of the Woeful Eye. Though he did so in ignorance, his striking at the undead sorcerer Thulsa Doom destroyed the easiest path to power for the order. The Son of the Tooth is prepared for anything, from fell sorcery to armies of bodyguards. What he is not ready for, however, is a drunken lout of a barbarian, who hardly seems to be a scion of destiny capable of altering the fates of nations.

The current story arc on Conan the Barbarian is an unexpected and varied treat. The first part of the current saga, “Ghosts and Echoes,” took the focus off Conan to deliver a horror story with a sword and sorcery twist. It was the sort of ripping yarn that one could easily see Robert E. Howard writing.

This second chapter in Conan the Barbarian #30 is something else entirely.

More than any Conan writer in recent memory, Jim Zub remembers that Conan is meant to be a character of gigantic mirth as well as gigantic melancholies. He has wit, even if his humor is that of the backhanded complement and the gallows. There is also an element of irony, in that The Son of the Tooth is thwarted, not by Conan’s own cunning, but by his own disbelief. He spends a day observing Conan’s life and marveling that this drunken, lecherous animal managed to kill Thulsa Doom. He can’t believe it would be as easy to strike Conan down as it seems, so he does not.

This hilarity is well-illustrated by Doug Braithwaite, who has entered the pantheon of great Conan illustrators. On the surface, this looks like most sword-and-sorcery stories. There is action in plenty, which beguiles the subtle comedy of Zub’s narration. This is well-balanced by the color palettes of Diego Rodriguez and the skillful lettering of both Tyler Smith and Richard Starkings.

If Conan the Barbarian #30 has a flaw, it is that one must read the previous issue in order to fully appreciate the contrast between last month’s horror and this month’s humor. Beyond that, it is another example of why Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures have been nailing it every month since taking over the Conan license. This is a true tale of high adventure!

Conan the Barbarian #30 arrives in comic shops on March 25, 2026.