Truman is indeed fairly respectful of the original material, to the point that it warranted him a bad review on CBR just because he was "bogged down" in explaining what was going on in faraway Zamora or Koth in a story for overall continuity purposes. (Well I'm sorry, mister CBR critic, but the fake history of the Hyborian age, when it is handled by a writer who knows what he's doing, is a large part of what makes the Conan stories enjoyable. Get thee back to reading Grant Morrison comics).

That being said, Truman is no better when it comes to the original sources than Busiek was before him, nor van Lente after. His Howardian scholarship is just much, much, much better than Brian Wood's. Truman also took several liberties in the miniseries that were doubtless justified from a dramatic point of view, but that I viewed as unnecessary and that purists would view as sacrilegious. ("Zenobia fought alongside Conan in the Belverus dungeons? Well, I never!!!")

My own estimation of his work would place him among the good Conan writer, but I still prefer Thomas, Busiek and van Lente.

I should however point out that the first story arc of Conan the cimmerian is one of the best Conan runs ever, be it at Dark Horse or Marvel. Truman really did a great job with that.

The Rich Corben art alone is worth the price of entry!

I finally read the Conan and the People of the Black Circle mini-series. I have a plethora of Conan comics and trades that I've been sitting on but since seeing this thread, I decided that it was time to give it a read.

I liked it quite a bit. I'm looking forward to getting through Wood's run to get to van Lente's.

Did you get a chance to see Cary Nord's interpretation?

I really liked the way it didn't try to emulate either Big John or Barry, and went for a new feel (one that's tinged with Frazetta influence, but still its own thing). The way Cary drew buildings, weapons and clothes made them look very authentic, historical, and not at all like the kind of fantasy stuff we usually see in S&S mags.

"My" Conan will always be Smith's, but I was happy to be won over by a new artist... not an easy thing to do considering what a crotchety old fan I am.

The final issues of Conan the avenger were collected in a nice hardback book, "A witch shall be born". I'm sorry to see Van Lente go as the main Conan writer at Dark Horse; I think he continued doing an outstanding job (in the league of Thomas and Busiek).

One point kept annoying me : Van Lente used the story "Xuthal of the dusk" and its aftermath to set up "A witch shall be born", which was all right with me... except that geographically, he really should have placed Xuthal much farther to the east, and should have had Conna move east again at the end of the tale. In the Howard original (as well as here), Xuthal is a city south of Stygia. When he leaves it in the Dark Horse series, Conan movers even further south, to an oasis where he meets queen Taramis of Khauran, whom he will eventually serve as captain of her guard.

That Taramis would move to a faraway place to secretly meet with the king of Turan (as is said in the story) makes sense, but why would the two monarchs choose such an impossibly distant place? Xuthal and Khauran are as distant as Niger is from the Crimean peninsula.

Even if we accepted that Taramis and Yezdigerd are very, very careful about their secrets, the oasis is seen again as a spot where refugees from Khauran assemble as they flee their beleaguered country. That's even the spot where Conan will have them form a new army bent on freeing Khauran from the evil witch that has taken it over! Once again, the distance between that oasis and Khauran make that very unlikely.

But apart from that little detail, I liked the book just fine. It is not as inventive as previous story arcs, being mostly a straightforward adaptation of the Howard tale rather than a mix of adaptation and Van Lente original material, but it remains true to the characters and the Howardian Hyborian Age. I would have preferred six more issues in which Van lente would have developed the character of Olgerd Vladislav and Conan's rise among the Zuagirs, but I suppose there were business imperatives to consider.

Artwise, Brian Ching does another excellent job, going his own way and not trying to emulate either Buscema, Smith or Frazetta. I like his original approach. (One chapter is drawn by a guest artist, which is a pity; the art is not bad, but does not look at all like Ching's.) 

Globally, I still think that the original adaptation in Savage sword of Conan #5 was better (by Crom, is there no pleasing these critics?)... Buscema and DeZuniga made the art more emotionally intense, and Roy Thomas's script had to tell the tale in far fewer pages, making it more gripping. Still, Van Lente and Ching can be proud of a very enjoyable adaptation that nicely complements the illustrated Conan library.