Falling for comics...again

I just finished reading the second volume of Chronicles of Conan and came to the realization that I'm in to comics again. The last time I fell for comic books was in 10th grade with number of different top cow offerings (Darkness, Witchblade and others), before that it was middle school and spiderman and before that superman in elementary school. I have been dabbling in independent comic books for two to three years now, most notably Becky Cloonan's work. Nothing that stuck to the ribs like a good barbarian in Hyborian Age story though.

I always loved watching Ah Ah Ah Arnold as Conan when I was growing up and whenever I catch one of the three movies on a lazy Sunday I will still sit transfixed with glee. I never knew how much much history the character and story had though. Robert E. Howard was a bad ass! His stories were ahead of his time, he palled around with H.P. Lovecraft and he influenced multiple generations of storytellers beyond his own life.

Chronicles of Conan is not Robert's writing however, though it is obviously his character and influence that drive the series. The comics collected in CoC were originally created in the 1970's by Marvel written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith). The writing is hands down some of the best work I have ever seen in a comic. The art is better than most older comics I have seen and sometimes down right breath taking.

So where to go from here? I have a lot of Chronicles to read still and after that I am hoping to explore what is current on the comic scene, although I won't discount older comics any longer after the joy that Conan has brought me.