Comic Issue #12 - small gripe

The Warlord

The Warlord

Mongoose
I'm loving what's Kurt done with our favorite Cimmerian so far, and Nord's art is the best I've seen for the character. (Though Buscema's still comes to mind).

Unfortunately, I'm disappointed with the new character, Janissa.

First, her costume. The series has given me a good feel for the Hyborian age in dress and style. Every look at Janissa snaps me back to the mid '90s of tough, scandily clad women. Her tight, stomach and leg revealing outfit seems more in style with Dardevil than in Hyboria. Let alone the shoulder pads and long sleeves. Too modernly stylish, especially considering her background.

Which leads me too her origin. Very original, very horrific. One would think that her body would be nearly scarred beyond recognition going through that ordeal. Besides a small 'beauty' scar, she seems to have perfectly smooth, unscarred skin. One would think otherwise.

Finally, at this point the idea of her even seems, I dunno, formulaic. I mean Howard had tough females with Belit and Velaria (don't forget, they're due an appearance), Thomas gave us Red Sonja, it's like sticking him with a tough-as-nails female is the standard now, with Janissa being Kurt's version. Why not a male companion, ala Subeki from the movie, or a child like Lone Wolf and Cub? Dunno, just some ideas.

Still love the series, but I hope 'the Hand' doesn't show up in future issues...
 
Might this have more to do with your mindset going in than the character? If she's too scantily clad, why isn't Conan? The Bone Woman presumably prevented her scarring since it would impede her work. Is the mere idea a female warrior somehow more formulaic than a male warrior or a child -- do you object to Dark Agnes, say, on the same grounds? Or do you think the execution is undistinctive? Bear in mind also that we won't see Bêlit or Valeria in the comic for at least three years.

Janissa is pretty clearly one of Kurt's new recurring characters, and we're going to see plenty more of her. I would accept her or prepare not to enjoy yourself.

On the other hand, my first reaction to Kurt's use of Thoth-amon as a recurring character was negative, given the thickheaded way de Camp managed that. But that's irrational, since what matters is what he does with it.
 
When she first appeared, I called her an Elektra clone, and her further origins and her 'secret' origin has done little to shake that. In fact, now she's even more similar to that character. I am baffled that Kurt hasn't seen this, or hasn't done more to separate her from that character.

Female assassin? Check.
Attractive brunette? Check.
Scanty and impractical red outfit? Check.
Badass martial artist? Check.
Fights with uncommon twin bladed weapons*? Check.
Dark and grueling past involving mysticism and painful training? Check.

I'm a huge fan of the work Kurt's done on the title so far, and I'm also greatly enjoying Cary Nord's artwork, but this character is just dull and uninspired and so un-Howardian she sticks out like a sore thumb.

Also, unless I read wrong, the title of the comic is Conan, and to me, spending half an issue on a background story for someone who isn't Conan is a big waste of space.



* and yes, I know that traditional sai aren't bladed, but since Marvel and the films seem to think they are, I'm referring to their usage.
 
Might this have more to do with your mindset going in than the character? If she's too scantily clad, why isn't Conan? The Bone Woman presumably prevented her scarring since it would impede her work. Is the mere idea a female warrior somehow more formulaic than a male warrior or a child -- do you object to Dark Agnes, say, on the same grounds? Or do you think the execution is undistinctive? Bear in mind also that we won't see Bêlit or Valeria in the comic for at least three years.
Click to expand...

I thought I made it clear that it wasn't the fact it was a revealing costume, but the manner in which it was designed. If Kurt must make a recurring female character, why not have her a scholar of some sort? That could make for interesting complications. Sure, there was that female scholar in Conan and the Emerald Lotus, but even in that story Conan was 'with' the assassin-type girl. What about a noble, like Farrah from the Prince of Persia game?

Again, I'm just disappointed in Kurt's lack of originality with this character. Like Durall, all I see is Elektra, and if you can believe it, even some Typhoid Mary. :(
 
I understand what Jason and Warlord are saying - at this point she does appear cliché in some aspects. But it is still early. It is possible that Janissa is very corrupted and evil (very brutal origin) and could become a true nemesis of Conan - a villain second only to Thoth at this time in his life? I have trust Kurt has a plan and we just don't know much about the Bone Woman and Janissa - he could take Janissa in any possible direction. I'm excited about the upcoming issues.
 
Parallels to Electra aside, I didn't find her origin all that compelling, nor did I think it was very Howardian.
Raped by a bazillion demons until she learned how to fence!
Seemed heavy-handed and silly to me.
The goofy legions of multi-form monsters had no origin or explanation.
But maybe they were just inside Janissa's head, huh?
 
I didn't like Janissa when she showed up, I really don't like her now. In fact, I am seriously considering just buying the adaptations of the original stories and skipping the filler in between.

Busiek had me thinking that he was a good sword & sorcery writer. Turns out he's just another comic book hack.
 
"Busiek had me thinking that he was a good sword & sorcery writer. Turns out he's just another comic book hack."

That's taking it pretty far.
Issue #9 was so well written that I really don't doubt Busiek's ability to write good Sword & Sorcery.
But making up new Hyborian characters is another issue, and one that has stumped a number of comic and pastiche writers.
I like Conan too much to abandon the mag just because of a single character. Janissa won't be around forever.
But it does rub me the wrong way that the first major supporting character Busiek gives us is this one.
 
While I agree with what alot of you are saying in some regards, we need to remember that every comic title goes through ups and downs. Not every issue is going to be gold, in fact some might be downright bad. I don't think issue 12 is all that bad, myself. It's the beginning of the story and we really don't know for sure what direction Kurt is going to take things.

Being a comic fan for many, many years, I've learned just to be patient and see how things turn out.

Maybe it wont be as bad as some suspect. Maybe it will, but the good part is that there's another opportunity the following month for the writers to redeem themselves. Kurt doesn't strike me as one of these ego-maniac writers who does what he wants and completely ignores the fans. Perhaps, if this story doesn't turn out the way the majority of the readers want, he'll adjust accordingly.

It's only issue 12. In some ways, they're still testing the waters with this comic. They know the stuff based on Howard's works will be well-recieved, but they are still trying to find a voice with their own material.

Reptile
 
#9 was by far my favourite so far. I like concise stories told in one or two issues. I really don't care much for story arcs that extend issue after issue.
 
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