Wonder Woman and Conan teamed up as Sword & Sorcery Superheroes a few year ago back in 2017. The rivalry that existed between Marvel and DC in the 1970s made a Conan the Barbarian/Wonder Woman team-up virtually impossible back then. Later Superman and The Amazing Spider-man (January 1976) would shatter the myth that it could never happen. In fact, Wonder Woman did team-up with Fafhrd & Gray Mouser (arguably the second most famous S&S characters) in Wonder Woman #202 (September-October 1972).
In the 2000s, the Conan/Red Sonja property would stop being a Marvel thing and become its own independent copyright. This meant that both Conan and Red Sonja could appear for any comic company. Red Sonja appeared with a variety of guys: Spider-Man, Thulsa Doom and Claw the Unconquered (not to mention Vampirella and Witchblade).
Before this new freedom, DC had a chance to poke a little fun at their super-successful rival in two comics back in the 1980s.
Green Lantern #164 (May 1983) featured by “The Barbarian”, written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Keith Pollard and Dan Adkins. Edited Arak creator by Ernie Colon. Myrwhydden creates a fantasy about Haljor the Barbarian to steal the power of Hal Jordan’s ring. Hal, armed with the Powersword, fights beside Dorinda on a quest to free Princess Caarol. Hal sees through the fantasy to defeat his enemy. Lots of Gil Kane swipes.
Super Powers #3-4 (September-October 1984) was plotted by Jack Kirby, scripted by Joey Cavalieri, drawn by Adrian Gonzales and Paul Kupperberg. “The Benefactors”, evil overlords, devolve Superman as part of their controlled experiment. He doesn’t turn into a caveman but a barbarian (though he looks like a caveman). The plan is to set Superman the Barbarian against the other Super Friends. When Sup goes barbarian to attack his friends, Hal Jordan cures him with his ring. Just a snippet within a much larger story.
It took most of eighty years to happen, but the superstar of Weird Tales met up with the superhero created by a psychologist in Wonder Woman-Conan (November 2017-April 2018). This was a six part mini-series with an omnibus volume to follow. The series was written by Gail Simone and drawn by Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan.
“A Crow Without Mercy” (November 2017) begins with Conan saving a liar named Kian from some Aquilonians. In the city of Shamar, Wonder Woman fights in the arena. Kian and Conan are there betting on the outcome. Conan believes he recognizes WW as a girl he once knew named Yanna. Wonder Woman wins the fight and is branded the Warrior Witch. All this is being watched by crows that are actually two evil beings who watch and wait. Conan goes to see WW but she has lost her memory. Conan gets caught and knocked out.
“Blade and Bracelets, Blood and Sand” (December 2017) has the two set against each other in the ring. (The obligatory heroes fighting each other before teaming up of crossover comics.) Conan manages to knock WW out but will not kill her. The two are sent to be galley slaves on a ship. Things turn bad when the rest of the slaves decide Wonder Woman is a jinx. It doesn’t really matter because their ship gets rammed by another.
“The Dance of Wicked Crows” (January 2018) has WW and Conan escape the battle and the sharks to end up on a raft in the ocean. When they spy a crow, they find themselves magically transported to a terrible land inhabited by the crow sisters. These are Anive and Lila, the Corvidae. They are immortals from the beginning of time who glory in strife, causing wars everywhere. They enjoy betting on the outcomes. The Corvidae tell how they selected the two greatest warriors of all time and brought them to Shamar. They are given swords and are attacked by a horde of crow monsters. The heroes defeat the monsters. The sisters tell them that all of Shamar will destroyed in a week. Conan and Wonder Woman are back on their raft.
“War and the Wind Rider” (February 2018) sees the two return to Shamar. They steal some money and get drunk. Meanwhile, Kian tries to buy the freedom of the pair, not knowing they were sent to the slave galley. Lila shows up and sets a trap, commanding the slave master Dellos of the gladiators kill every slave he owns once Conan and WW appear. Wonder Woman begins to learn who she is, and wants her Lasso of Truth back. Some mercenaries recognize Conan before a punch-up starts. Conan and Wonder Woman take out the whole squad.
“Like Blood From the Sky” (March 2018) begins with the Amazons back in our dimension gathering to help Wonder Woman. They cross over to Shamar then fight a flock of crow demons. Meanwhile Wonder Woman and Conan are camping out in the wilderness. WW gives Conan one of her bracelets as a reminder of her. The Corvidae show up with a surprise. They have captured the Amazons and have them on a gibbet, ready to hang them all. They also bring the real Yanna for Conan.
Now they can force the two warriors– to fight each other to the death. While the two best warriors ever fight, the Amazons manage to free themselves and blind Lila by shooting her in the eyes. The crow sisters disappear but proclaims they will burn down Shamar, then Cimmeria and then Themyscira. Yanna disappears too, leaving Conan behind.
“A Feast of Forbidden Flesh” (April 2018) has Wonder Woman back to her time, where she regains all her memory, powers, her uniform. She decides she must return to Shamar to defend the city. The Corviade are collecting an army of goblins and horrors. Conan sneaks up on some of the evil warriors and kills a few. Later Conan offers trial by combat. He will fight the Corvidae champion, a gigantic crow monster. He wins by strangling the beast with the Lasso of Truth. The crow sisters declare it a cheat. The evil army attacks.
Wonder Woman and the Amazons show up to back Conan. The crow army is defeated but the Corvidae try one last trick, bringing Yanna back again. Wonder Woman saves her. Yanna and Conan have a moment together. Later Wonder Woman and Conan have a moment too, and kiss. He returns her lasso and she returns to her dimension. Back in our world, Wonder Woman meets a man who looks like a modern Conan. They go out for a bite to eat.
Wonder Woman- Conan, not surprising, is far better than those earlier “Barbarian” DC comics. It is much longer and had the actual characters. Over-all, I quite enjoyed this crossover. (Better than the Groo Vs. Conan one.) There was lots of fighting and Wonder Woman was not as annoying as I thought she might be. The Lynda Carter cheese I remember from television wasn’t really present. This WW is much closer to the Gal Gadot version. There was the usual crossover cliches but what can you do? The artwork by Lopresti and Ryan was often very good while Gail Simone added emotional connection with the back story about Yanna. (This runs through all six issues. I didn’t recount all of it.) This was successful in giving Conan more depth and making the story more than just fight scenes. (This gives me a reason to look back at Simone’s Red Sonja comics of the 2013 run. I had pretty much given up on Sonja after Dynamite took over.)
