Wonder Woman/Conan #1 is not a superhero comic, and I love it for that. Writer Gail Simone, artists Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan, and colorist Wendy Broome dig deep into sword and sorcery (Well, mostly the sword part) and never look back and show that Diana of Themiscyra seamlessly fits into the Hyborian Age. Simone, Lopresti, and Ryan recast her as a champion pit fighter, who dominates the gladiators of Aquilonia with her familiar star and “W” emblem smeared in blood and mud instead of her classic costume as part of Broome’s dour, drab color palette. Conan is immediately drawn to her even though he was hanging out with a man, who bet a large sum of money against her, and he and Diana are set up as a star crossed pair from the first page.

In Wonder Woman/Conan #1 with a little help from partial amnesia, Simone easily transposes Diana to the key of blood, guts, and beheadings fantasy. She, Lopresti, and Ryan use the arena setting to showcase her warrior spirit and desire for freedom as Diana dispatches her opponents and immediately tries to make a break for it against the full force of arena’s security force and is overwhelmed by being rushed and crowded. Seemingly outmatched in the arena by a variety of different fighters inspired the various types of gladiators in ancient Rome, Lopresti uses this “challenge” to show Wonder Woman’s creativity as a fighter while also stressing that she wants to leave this life as soon as possible. Wonder Woman is a character known for her dedication to peace in love, but she must become a sort of goddess in war to survive in the senseless, autocratic Hyborian Age where there are no heroes, and creepy crow women watch one’s every move when they aren’t playing comic relief.

Aaron Lopresti with the help of inker Matt Ryan combines dynamic superhero poses with the grit of sword and sorcery, and it never feels like an awkward fit thanks to the barrage of earth tones from colorist Wendy Broome There are several splash pages in Wonder Woman/Conan #1, but they don’t feature colorful superheroes. The fights in the book are defiant and dangerous with plenty of improvisation and muscular forearms thrown instead of stylish slow-mo lasso whirls or bullets being blocked. Like the great Conan artists Tomas Giorello, Barry Windsor-Smith, and of course, Frank Frazetta, Lopresti is an artist of the body and force. He doesn’t draw Wonder Woman like a preening swimsuit model for the heterosexual male gaze, but as a strong, seasoned fighter, who has lived and died by being able to kill men with her bare hands or forearms.

Lopresti gives Conan strength and a build similar to Diana and demonstrates this in a exhilarating beheading sequence when he kills an Aesir (Hyborian Age Viking expy) and blood trails from the severed neck in a sequence that Zack Snyder probably wishes he could direct. And this killing isn’t for honor or any of the virtues that Simone mentions her in Howard-esque caption boxes, but so he can have a purse of money to spend on prostitutes in Aquilonia, a city where he once was a slave in the fighting pits. Simone writes Conan as a bulky, violent merc while also humanizing him by creating a bond between him and a bullied street kid (Who he primes for information.) and in the adorable flashbacks where he falls in love with “Yanna”, a young Wonder Woman. Broome’s colors in these scenes are positively radiant, and Lopresti and Ryan’s figures are prettier and not as wracked by violence and caked in dirt. Also, the Amazons are a tribe in Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Age mythos so the nomadic Cimmerians could have easily run into them, and Gail Simone also fits in Wonder Woman into Conan’s world without having to use any bullshit multiversal portals or time travel.

Wonder Woman/Conan #1 is a total grit and grime, swords clashing, and dark magic brewing in the background fantasy yarn from Gail Simone, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, and Wendy Broome that happens to feature two of the greatest fictional warriors of all time. The childhood first true love story might seem a little cliched, but because of their fierce approach to combat and heart to help the downtrodden, Conan and Wonder Woman definitely have a real bond that is the real highlight of this violent, drab, yet exciting comic book.

Story: Gail Simone Pencils: Aaron Lopresti
Inks: Matt Ryan Colors: Wendy Broome
Story: 9 Art: 8 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review