My complaints about the first volume pretty much hold true for this volume, but perhaps I went into it with such lowered expectations that they didn’t bother me as much.  Roy Thomas remains as the writer throughout, and as with the first volume, rarely captures the essence of Howard’s character. That said, the writing does seem to flow better.

Again, like with the first volume, John Buscema’s art is excellent, and probably the best part of the whole thing.  Several Howard stories are adapted here, including one of my personal favorites, The Tower of the Elephant.  Sadly, this might be the most lackluster adaptation of that story I’ve read.  It barely touches on the fantastically wild backstory which works as some benevolent dose of Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror.

There is definitely a charm to these comics.  The art is evocative and they capture a certain 1970s thing that I really dig.  They are, however, not good adaptations of Howard’s stories. I think I might raid them for some Barbarians of Lemuria or Dungeon Crawl Classics, though.

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