How much do you know about Conan the Barbarian? The name? The loincloth? Next to nothing? Frankly it doesn't matter. Because The Savage Sword of Conan from Titan Comics is more than just a cool collection of classic action/adventure. It's an excellent first step into Robert E. Howard's legendary character.

This first collected volume compiles the first three issues of the new The Savage Sword of Conan comic, plus bonus materials including pinups, poetry, prose, essays, and more.

The three issues themselves are fantastic. John Arcudi's Conan and the Dragon Horde is a great kickoff, with Conan serving as a general on a quest for promised riches. Also along for the ride is the beautiful engineer Ineah, whose siege engines are shockingly perfect for the "unexpected" beasts the army faces. Max von Fafner's art is largely lovely, but his faces occasionally get uncanny in that sort of Modern Western Comics way.

Conan: Leaving the Garden was (to my mind) the most solid of the issues, depicting the Cimmerian digging himself out of a field used to harvest souls for consumption. Richard Pace's rough-hewn art is a surprisingly strong match for Jim Zub's unforgiving narrative, in which Conan must decide whether to honor an oath or eradicate a harmful village.

Frank Tieri's Conan: Wolves of the Tundra asks and answers a simple question: what if Conan became a werewolf? The self-contained story unfolds with bold art from Cary Nord: stunning action leading up to a humorous conclusion. The book ends with Alan Quah's wordless Conan: Lure of the Pit Creature, an inventive action piece.

But Conan isn't the only hero in this book. As with older Conan volumes, Solomon Kane gets space alongside Howard's better-known character. Patch Zircher writes and draws the three-part Master of the Hunt, in which Kane pursues the Wild Hunt and finds his faith shaken every step of the way. As excellent as these new Conan installments are, this three-part story feels like the best of the bunch in both writing and art.

The Savage Sword of Conan isn't just comics, though. This volume also includes two poems and a short story, Zub's "Sacrifice in the Sand," each coupled with new artwork. Pop culture scholar Jeffrey Shanks weighs in with "Men Shall Die for This," an essay on the history and cultural influence of Solomon Kane. And, of course, Titan Comics fills the back pages with alternate covers for avid collectors.

As a longstanding sword-and-sorcery fan, I had no doubt that The Savage Sword of Conan would click for me. But I was pleasantly surprised by just how much context and additional material there was, both for avid readers and newcomers alike. If you know Conan, you will love this book; if you don't know Conan, you will by the time you're through.

The Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 1 is now available from Titan Comics.