Comics Review: "Thrud the Barbarian" vol. 1

- by Señor Editor, 25 October 2013

Carl Critchlow's "Thrud the Barbarian" has been parodying fantasy fiction for over 30 years now. The character debuted in British RPG magazines in the early 80s, and from there went on to star in numerous strips, shorts and a self-published line of comics. It's these comics that are now, for the first time ever, collected in a brand new volume by Titan Comics.

If you're not familiar with Thrud the Barbarian (and I wasn't familiar with him before getting this collection), then here are the basics: Thrud is big, strong, seemingly indestructible, he likes beer, he's very brutal and he's a complete dimwit. It would be easy to say that he's a Conan parody, but I think he's actually more of an RPG barbarian stereotype parody, a really cliche version of a particular type of fantasy. 

His basic motivation is beer, and he always gets (usually unwittingly) involved in some adventure, battle, crisis and things like that. He's not exactly a subtle parody, but then again he certainly isn't meant to be, and the humor in these stories usually comes from Critchlow's lampooning of the fantasy genre in general, rather than just from Thrud himself. 

While I am certainly aware of all the tropes of the genre, and know enough of it to get all the jokes, I can't say I'm a big fan of fantasy. Maybe that's why the humor of Thrud didn't really do much for me. Your mileage may vary, though, and I suspect that hardcore fans of role-playing games, fantasy literature and furry pants-wearing macho men will get more laughs out of this collection than I did. There's a lot of amusement to be found here, but nothing really made me laugh out loud.

That doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the first volume of Thrud at all, though. It's Critchlow's art that left the biggest impression on me. Though most of the art here is very cartoony and simple, he is obviously a very skilled artist, and whenever there's a splash page or a large panel his style really shines. The painted original covers (included in this volume) also look great. Check out some of these examples:

Some of Thrud's enemies and the man himself (right) on the original cover of #2. Click on images to enlarge them. All art here by Carl Critchlow.

One thing that seems a little odd at first is Critchlow's coloring. In most of the stories, the colors have a grey/blue type of tone (the Black Currant picture from above is an example of what I mean, though it's a little more radiant there than in the rest of the comic). It's not a bad look, but it's one that takes a little getting used to. Fortunately, the fifth story here ("Bungle in the Jungle") changes things a little and the colors look great here. Check the middle picture from above or the one below.

I already mentioned the jokes not really being my thing, but what about the plots? Well, most of the time they are very simple and do a good job of mirroring various fantasy scenarios. There's a town troubled by an evil wizard, scientists looking for a magic elixir, a city in search of a sacrifice for the monster leaving nearby etc. It's not bad, it reads pleasantly and is pretty fun. I think the later stories here are more interesting, so the second volume of this collection may be one to really look out for.

Nice art, nice colors!

I may be new to it, but Thrud has a very strong legion of followers and fans, especially in Britain. Will they be pleased with Titan's edition of Critchlow's classic? Well, they should be. This volume is nearly 150 pages long, and in addition to the first five full-length comics, it has some nice bonus stuff. Besides the original covers, there is a Carl Critchlow sketchbook, the one-page strips that originally appeared in the "Valkyrie Quarterly" RPG magazine (these are very nice), and the black & white shorts from Games Workshop's "White Dwarf" mag. 

Fans should be really pleased and consider this collection a must-have. If you're new to the character and think he might tickle your fancy, then you should definitely grab it. Worst case scenario is getting plenty of nice art to look at, and that doesn't sound bad at all, does it?!


Buy Carl Critchlow's "Thrud the Barbarian" volume one on the Titan Comics website!
Thrud fan? Not a Thrud fan? Enjoyed the review? Didn't enjoy the review? Let us know below, either way!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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