FOUR REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD READ 'CONAN THE GAMBLER'

At the start of the year, Marvel Comics released a collected edition of ‘Savage Sword of Conan: Conan the Gambler’, which reprinted issues 6 through 11 of the ongoing series. Essentially, the overall tale is a gargantuan 6-part adventure that sees our favorite Cimmerian fight his way through a horde of brutes, brawlers, and beasts until he finally comes face-to-face with the ultimate gamble... live or die. Want to know more? Then please check out the following four reasons why you should pick up this book.

1) Conan was Created by Robert E. Howard

Robert was an American author who was born in Peaster, Texas, on the 22nd of January, 1906, and tragically committed suicide on the 11th of June, 1936. But before he passed away, he managed to write 700 poems and over 300 genre-based stories, including stories based on fantasy, horror, the supernatural, war and westerns, historical drama, and detective mysteries. He's also regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre on account of him giving birth to the fictional hero, Conan the Cimmerian (otherwise known as Conan the Barbarian).

2) 'Conan the Gambler' Starts with a Nice Cold Drink

When the adventure begins, we are presented with a rather rustic scene depicting Conan sitting in a dark and seedy bar situated somewhere in the Kezankian Pass. Unfortunately, he’s not in a very good mood at the moment because it’s freezing cold outside and he has to wait for the snowstorm to finally clear. So, what does he do next? How does Conan pass the time without getting himself into any trouble? I mean, does he interact with his fellow patrons in a calm and orderly fashion? (Ha!) Does he play a game on a nearby casino slots machine while having a drink? (Ka-Ching!) Or does he do what he usually does best? Fight to the death! Well, to find out, you know what you have to do. Pick up this book today and read on.

3) The Creative Team Behind this Book is F#cking Amazing

Yes. That’s right. I said a naughty word, a very naughty word, because I'm just blown away by the amount of talent featured within this book. Well, from a structural point of view, the entire narrative can be broken down into three chapters, with each chapter carefully created by an amazing creative team. Chapter One was written by Meredith Finch (Wonder Woman) and illustrated by Luke Ross (Captain America). Chapter Two was written by Jim Zub (Street Fighter) and drawn by Patch Zircher (Green Hornet). And Chapter Three was written by Roy Thomas (X-Men) and illustrated by Alan Davis (Excalibur). So all in all, this book is packed with talented people who have a well-established track record within the comic book industry. In addition to this, I would also like to mention Marco Checchetto (who provided the cover for this collected edition) because he’s a marvelous artist and I’m just loving his current work over on Daredevil.

4) Traveling the World with Conan would Broaden your Mind and Enliven your Spirit

Aside from seeing Conan sitting inside a dark and seedy bar, minding his own business, this adventure also gives us the opportunity to see him in a number of other exotic locations as well! This includes the Himelian Mountains, where Conan leads a band of bold adventurers to find one of their missing colleagues; the city of Shadizar, where he’s forced to play a deadly game of Serpent’s Bluff; as well as the Debtors Lounge, where Conan does his best to get out of there alive. Trust me, fun is had by one and all.

Overall, 'Savage Sword of Conan: Conan the Gambler' is a story that captures everything you could possibly want to see in a story about this great hero. Not only does it chronicle three complete stories created by three completely different creative teams, but it also demonstrates how versatile Conan is as a character and why he's lasted for so long in print. The adventure continues.