Shinzen the possessed and Conan duel as our story culminates. Good battle but nothing special. The mystery behind this warrior's possession is revealed as sorcery - a familiar enough foe to Conan.
Looking at the miniseries as a whole, Yoshida writes a solid tale but I have to question his use of metaphor in this last issue. Maybe to give his tale a more Eastern flavor Yoshida tells a tale through a tribeswoman; it is a folkloric tale involving animal characters. Lee illustrates this tale in the manner of ancient Chinese paintings. You know the kind - subtle watercolors of delicate mountains and stuff. Both Yoshida and Lee are pretty off with the implementation of this particular technique. First of all Yoshida's tale has no subtlety, he simply replaces Conan and his band with animals and proceeds to both recap and foreshadow the story. It's a straight on replacement when one would expect a bit of artifice considering the tale is metaphorically told and stylistically implemented using animal constructs in place of men. I would much rather have a straight recap or, if Yoshida wanted to use this eastern flourish of sorts, maybe he could have delved into a deeper background of the sorcery surrounding the possession of Shinzen. As for Lee, he's trying to emulate classic Chinese (or is it Japanese) painting but his hand is simply too heavy for the delicate brushwork required. Kudos to both for effort though.
Not since Prince Conn's adventures in Conan the King have I read a Khitan tale; it's good to see this part of the Hyborian realms from time to time - and I actually like that sometimes it seems like China and sometimes like Japan.
That's it for Conan and the Demons of Khitai
Posted by Pete Albano - January 16, 2012
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