Conan #29- Mignola Variant cover

[Neil Hill]

For all of you folks who aren't comic book store regulars on Wednesdays (like the rest of us geeks), you may want to make a special trip today. Conan #29 (the beginning of the Mignola written story arc) has a special Mignola variant cover this time! I was kind of shocked and suprised to see it, but also overjoyed. :D

[Brisco]

Thanks for the heads-up, Stygian! Was it a 1:1 variant, or is it limited? I hope not the latter, because I won't get to the comic shop till after work tonight... The cover is here: http://www.darkhorse.com/news/pressrelease.php?id=1329
And it's AWESOME.
Brisco

[hellboyone]

Looked like they had 1 Mignola cover for every 10 or 15 of the normal cover.

Thanks for the heads-up, Styg. Good excuse to get out of my pajamas today. :)

[Neil Hill]

No problems folks. I figured that some of you who don't haunt comic shops on comic book day might miss this cover, and the issue being a limited edition thing anyway, some might not get the chance to purchase it!

The cover itself is a beauty! It's actually kind of fun to compare this Conan cover with Mike's mid-80's Conan covers. Very, very different takes! :D

[Tad]

I wasn't going to hit the shop today until your post, Styg. Thanks. Even met up with Rick who still had pajama lint in his hair!

[kid cthulhu]

Oh, that's good news! That cover is beautiful!

Interesting to compare that to his Marvel Conan covers and see the evolution in his style.

[hellboyone]

I wasn't going to hit the shop today until your post, Styg. Thanks. Even met up with Rick who still had pajama lint in his hair!

Yellow rubber duckies and pink clouds lint!!! :o

:D

[Neil Hill]

Sorry to have gotten you out of bed, Rick. I know how you enjoy your sleepy time. :)

Hope everyone who wanted one got to purchase one of these. :D

[Nick W]

I love my shop. I called to see if they had gotten any & the simple reply was, "Dude, it's already in your box." Good times.

N

[Jake Capps]

I have to give props to my shop too. It was already in the box! But thanks for giving the heads up.:D

[hellboyone]

Sorry to have gotten you out of bed, Rick. I know how you enjoy your sleepy time. :)


Oh, I was out of bed already. I had just planned on not leaving the apartment until later. Always good to see the sun a little earlier than usual. :)

[Otto66]

I love my shop. I called to see if they had gotten any & the simple reply was, "Dude, it's already in your box." Good times.
I have to give props to my shop too. It was already in the box! But thanks for giving the heads up.:D
Make that three great shoppes.
Big ups for this thread, Stygian.
And Brisco for the link. Thanks, County. (and yer DVDs will be available July 18th)

[Mikolaj]

damn, damn, damn.
I'll have to wait for the tread to get these- no way I could get this if it's such a rare variant. Anyways- It's nice to get some present suprise from DH! Go Scott, go Mike! ;)

[hellboyone]

All right...enough about the cover. The story's just getting started, but so far it's very Mignola. The star, however, is the artwork. Cary Nord is just awesome. I may have to go back and pick up a trade or two (if the book's in trades yet).

[kid cthulhu]

I'm pretty sure there are at least one or two trades, Rick. I was picking this up until about issue 13 when I just stopped buying comics for the most part - with the exception of Hellboy, BPRD, The Goon, and Powers. So that being said, I don't have a box any longer. Luckily, the girl down the street at Comics Dungeon had put one aside just in case I came in. She's noticed that I spend more time in the designer toy store next door. Thus, no money left for comics.

End of story :)

[Hellcow]

whoa... thanks for the reminder, I nearly forgot.

That's a great cover. I'd love to see Mignola draw a whole Conan comic. But I'll settle for the next best thing.

And yeah, Cary Nord is brilliant. I've really enjoyed this conan series, and there are now 3 TPBs out for it.

[Jon D.]

http://comics.ign.com/articles/713/713887p1.html

Sweeet

[hellboyone]

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/713/713887/mignola-conan-variant-20060621042656166.jpg

[Neil Hill]

http://comics.ign.com/articles/713/713887p1.html

Sweeet

I keep trying to load this page assuming that I'll get to see the other two Mignola variant covers, but the darn thing won't load completely. :confused:

Does the link contain images for the other two covers?

[Gary_B]

I keep trying to load this page assuming that I'll get to see the other two Mignola variant covers, but the darn thing won't load completely. :confused:

Does the link contain images for the other two covers?


It doesn't show the other Mignola covers but it does show the Tony Harris cover for #29. It's pretty sweet, too.

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/713/713887/mignola-conan-variant-20060621042647463.jpg

[Neil Hill]

It doesn't show the other Mignola covers but it does show the Tony Harris cover for #29. It's pretty sweet, too.

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/713/713887/mignola-conan-variant-20060621042647463.jpg

OK, then I'm not missing anything that I can't already see on the darkhorse site. Thanks Gary!

[Donald]

Someone should tell those frogs not to apply lipstick while hopping.

[gdeo]

I heard the breakdown is 1 variant for every 5 regular covers.

[Neil Hill]

Someone should tell those frogs not to apply lipstick while hopping.

Them's are potential fightin words Donald! :p Are you referring to Tony's version of the cover or Mike's?

[Brisco]

Rick, there are three Conan trades out so far and they're all WELL worth picking up, and reading in order. It's an amazing series, and Nord's work is fantastic. As glad as I am to have Mignola writing it, I'm still disappointed about Busiek leaving. He's done such a great job. I like Tim Truman, but it's going to be a challenge for anyone to top Busiek's run.
Brisco

And Brisco for the link. Thanks, County. (and yer DVDs will be available July 18th)

I can't wait. It'll be the greatest day in the history of the medium! And a Comicon panel that weekend!

[Maija]

Someone should tell those frogs not to apply lipstick while hopping.HAHAHAHAHA!!

Oh very good, sir. :)

[Otto66]

I can't wait. It'll be the greatest day in the history of the medium! And a Comicon panel that weekend!
Nice thing about DVD sets is the extras. Comments by Bruce should prove interesting.

[Myron L]

I got the last copy of this at my shop !!! Woo hoo ! It looks great !

[Gary_B]

I went to my favourite little comic shop today and they didn’t have any copies left on the shelf at all and the guy behind the counter said they would re-order but he didn’t now if there would be any Mignola covers in the next shipment. Then I went to the bigger comic shop and they had #29 but the Mignola covers were all gone. On my walk back to work I ran into the young guy who owns the little comic shop and without me even asking he said that he had put aside the Mignola variant. Nice guy, especially since I don’t have a pull list. We’ve just talked enough that he knew I’d like it.

[Neil Hill]

I went to my favourite little comic shop today and they didn’t have any copies left on the shelf at all and the guy behind the counter said they would re-order but he didn’t now if there would be any Mignola covers in the next shipment. Then I went to the bigger comic shop and they had #29 but the Mignola covers were all gone. On my walk back to work I ran into the young guy who owns the little comic shop and without me even asking he said that he had put aside the Mignola variant. Nice guy, especially since I don’t have a pull list. We’ve just talked enough that he knew I’d like it.

Comic shop people are the best, aren't they? I had this kind of working relationship with a comic shop guy who's since gone onto launch two of his own stores. He knew that if anything Mignola came out (statues, comics, books, etc.) I'd at least want a peak at it. Great guy!

[evening]

I really enjoyed this issue, and Cary Nord's art.
The expression on the frog's faces on page 21 is priceless....:D

[hellboyone]

Comic shop people are the best, aren't they? I had this kind of working relationship with a comic shop guy who's since gone onto launch two of his own stores. He knew that if anything Mignola came out (statues, comics, books, etc.) I'd at least want a peak at it. Great guy!

I don't keep a pull-list anymore, but at a couple of the stores I frequent, they know me well enough to just pull a book out of some other guy's pull-box for me if they're out of it on the shelves. I wonder how many guys' pull-boxes I've compromised...? :)

[Jawa]

Yeah, a friend of mine at my LCS pointed out the variant cover to me, and I had to have it at that point. It's just pure Mignola, in every sense. I enjoyed the comic itself, as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of the arc :)

[kid cthulhu]

It does pay to get to know your comic shop folks. They've always looked out for my interests, which these days to keep it simple, is limited almost exclusively to Mignola goodness.

[Mikolaj]

Yeah... Mostly guy's who own comic shops are real fans who just do what they allways dreamed of! Once when I was in Barcelona I came across a big comic shop and asked them if they had any special HB stuff I don't allready came across-> a guy who was behind the counter shouted something to another one in spanish and they came out with the next men TPB with issue 21 in it [an only chance I had to see it] and something realy strange- a spanish comic, a parody of hellboy and all the other horror comics and movies. Really nice guys.

[Andrew Hein]

I didn't manage to get a one of with Mike's cover, but I did get the last copy of the book my store had. Really great read though, and the Cary's art is always great.

I've stopped reading most monthlys, but Conan is always worth picking up.

[Neil Hill]

Conan is always worth picking up.

I'll second that. I've enjoyed the series since it began, and Kurt's run as series writer was much lamented as it came to a close.

I still feel that Mike's version is too similiar to his writing style on Hellboy, but that is most likely on purpose and hard to pinpoint as a fault of any kind.

[Gary_B]

Crom, I disagree! If there were no credits at the beginning I wouldn't have guessed that Mike Mignola had written Conan. What was Mignola-esque about it?

[kid cthulhu]

Crom, I disagree! If there were no credits at the beginning I wouldn't have guessed that Mike Mignola had written Conan. What was Mignola-esque about it?

I hope your kidding!

Felt like Mike just plugged Conan into a Hellboy story, which is what I loved about it! He seems to give us HB fans exactly what we crave, even if the big red guy isn't even in it.

[Neil Hill]

Felt like Mike just plugged Conan into a Hellboy story, which is what I loved about it!

See, this is the point on which I would have to disagree with just about anyone. To me it seems like lazy writing when a writer simply takes a "style in which they've become accustomed" and inserts any character. Especially a character as storied and rich with history as Conan. Granted, I can see the similarities in motivation and sensibilities between Hellboy and Conan to a degree, but applying the Hellboy writing style (if that is what it can be called) to the Conan universe, just felt.....I don't know if this is the correct word but I'll take a stab....boring?

Granted, I love Mike's work and most of his writing strikes a mightily tremulous chord with me, but it just felt like I was dating an ex-girlfriend here. Like I was familiar with the person (read story), but that I've already been there and done that (so to speak), and was ready for something different, if only slightly.

To be most fair, I realize that the series is only one issue old, so I'll reserve further judgement until the mini-saga has reached its conclusion.

[Hellcow]

I agree to just plug one character, into another "writing style" is boring.

But I didn't get that impression with this comic.

What I did find similar, is the sense of adventure, the growing mood of impending doom, and the overall mystery and pacing of the story.

I think this sort of pacing is very suited to Conan stories and Hellboy stories.

And if any of you read other comics, you might have noticed how boring the comics are when all you get is:

1. Hero fights A
2. Forced dialogue (meant to be funny/clever)
3. Hero fights B
4. Forced dialogue (meant to be funny/clever)
5. go to 1

I think Mignola really understands the importance of building a mood and atmosphere. Of changing the pace of the story, not constantly pushing ACTION ACTION ACTION.

Because Mignola lets the story build and understands pacing, when it gets to the action, it feels intense, because Mike has built up our anticipation and suspense. Each scene takes place in the context of what went before it and what comes after it in the panels that follow.

So I think its Mikes polished skills as a story teller that might make some people think he is "just doing the same".

I also think a lot of other comic writers are not doing good story telling right now, which makes Mikes style feel even more distinct.

But like Eric Larsen says, It's just one fans opinion and I could be wrong.

What do you think?

[Neil Hill]

I think Mignola really understands the importance of building a mood and atmosphere.

Understands it?! Heck, he's a master of it at this point! :D I do respect your opinion though and thank you for your input and point of view.

[Jake Capps]

Yeah the best shops get to know you! They get to know what you like, and what you want! This way you can always get a sweet Mignola hook up!:cool:

[hellboyone]

Crom, I disagree! If there were no credits at the beginning I wouldn't have guessed that Mike Mignola had written Conan. What was Mignola-esque about it?

The pacing did feel like a Mignola story. And also, frogs.

[Kelly Tindall]

Conan is a much bigger jack@$$ than Hellboy. Just look at the grin he has on his face at the beginning there. The bit with the toad king and the rock was total Hellboy, though.

Great issue. My LCS only had the Mignola covers, too, which was odd.

-K.

[Xequals10]

I can't wait to see the other two Mignola covers.