(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to The Classic Conan Countdown, a series of reviews focusing on the original 275 issues of Marvel Comics’ Conan the Barbarian, which were published from 1970 to 1993. This is a review of Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) Annual #12.)

By JOHN JACK – Guest Writer

What Happened Before: It is dusk in southwest Koth. A rider sits atop a winged black steed with glowing red eyes – he is the Devourer of Souls. The Devourer is holding a little girl, and the little girl is holding a cat. The girl is a child of the Elder Gods, powerful beings capable of destroying worlds, and the cat is the focal point of her power source.

The Devourer kidnapped the child to determine the nature of her abilities, and has determined that the cat acts as a battery to charge up her powers. The rider and his unwilling passengers swoop into a cavern. (This is a short recap of Conan the Barbarian #193-199, which should be read before reading Conan the Barbarian Annual #12).

Review: Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) Annual #12

The Devourer and the girl fly through the cave at high speeds, swooping between stalactites and stalagmites with ease and through a portal of fire, eventually emerging in Arallu, Land of the Evil Dead. Now, the Devourer needs to find the corpse he is looking for – the corpse of Thulsa Doom!

He greets the chained skeleton of Doom and asks him what he knows about the mysterious cat, which is actually over ten thousand years old. Doom then relays a tale from an age long gone, before the waters swallowed Atlantis.

Thulsa Doom’s Tale

A knight of Valusia is attacked by a horde of savages, and a young shepherd sees the assault. He manages to scare the attackers away, but not before the knight is injured. He brings the wounded knight back to his house and tends to his injuries. The knight rewards the young man by making him a squire and taking him back to Valusia.

We learn that the knight’s name is Maxmelle, and the shepherd boy is named Sedrick. The pair settle into their roles as teacher and student, and soon they are working as a team. But the other squires don’t like Sedrick. In their minds, he is a peasant and not fit to learn the noble skills of the Knighthood. In a darkened corner of the stable, Sedrick is met by Thulsa Doom! It seems the two have been scheming together to bring down King Kull – and tonight is the night the leader of Valusia will die.

Evening falls, and Sedrick runs to Kull’s guards, warning them of “a coming attack of beastmen.” They thank the boy and rush to defend the gates. Kull then commends Sedrick, but asks why he is carrying his shepherd’s crook to the throne room. Suddenly, the youth smashes the staff on the ground, and in a flash a party of beastmen appear through a dimensional portal in the throne room. 

Sedrick runs from the hall as Kull stands to fight. But as he flees, he runs directly into his mentor Maxmelle. Overcome by strong feelings of guilt, Sedrick tells Maxmelle everything and the knight rushes to the aid of the king.

The shifting of numbers helps to turn the tide and the warriors triumph, with one notable casualty – Maxmelle. Kull releases the boy, telling him that nothing he can do will be as bad as the punishment that awaits him for failing Thulsa Doom. There is truth in what Kull says – Doom turns the boy into an immortal cat! Now, the dead sorcerer tells the Devourer that in their dying breath, the Elder Gods sough a vessel in which to deposit their power and the ageless cat was an ideal subject. The cat has all the power of the Elder Gods, yet none of the intelligence. The child, who has the ability to use the power, doesn’t have it because it because the power resides in the cat. Put together as a pair, the two can shake worlds!

In exchange for the information, Thulsa Doom asks the Devourer for a favor and he concedes, releasing Thulsa Doom from his chains. Now the sorcerer is free to wander the underworld! The Devourer has bigger fish to fry, namely the destruction of a certain barbarian named Conan. 

Returning to the main story…

We return to the time of Conan, where he and his group have been burying the dead following a battle (see Conan the Barbarian #198-199). As they discuss a sword they have obtained, a large group of scavengers attack. Conan manages to push them back with little help from those around him. After the fight, Conan heads to a cavern to find the undead Maxmelle, who has become a footslave of the Elder Gods. 

As Conan climbs down into the cavern, the Devourer captures Maxmelle before Conan can question the dead knight. Conan continues his search for Maxmelle, but instead finds a fiery portal. He thinks the dead knight might have gone into the portal, so Conan jumps through, landing in Arallu.

Elsewhere, the Devourer of Souls is performing a ritual involving the child, Maxmelle, Sedrick and the cat. The result may be the end of the world!

Will Conan – or anyone – survive the Devourer of Worlds and his dread ritual?

CAPSULE REVIEW: As far as annuals go, Conan the Barbarian Annual #12 is very much tied into what is going on in the regular series at the time. I almost felt compelled to read the issues leading up to this story in order to gain more understanding. Other than a couple of minor scenes, it’s possible to read and understand this as a stand-alone issue. The finale absolutely made me want to read more and find out what happens after the cliffhanger.  

The issue was paced a bit strangely, including a prologue, Doom’s story, a battle, a quest and a magic ritual; I don’t feel like the story ever settled into a groove at all.   The writing of James Owsley (now writing as Christopher Priest) was decent, although he gave us an unnecessary breakdown of Conan’s war party. I left this out because they are hardly seen in the rest of the issue, with the exception of a short scene with Red Sonja. This issue has a ton of exposition, which would’ve been really bothersome if I was reading this as an ongoing instead of just an annual.   

That said, it’s because of the exposition that this annual would be an excellent jumping on point if someone wanted to read the regular Conan the Barbarian series starting with issue #200. The pencils of Vince Giarrano are really good, especially the Dead City of Arallu, and the ink work of Ernie Chan results in some excellent shading effects.   

Fun, although slightly strangely paced, this issue earns a 7.2 out of 10 rating.  Copies of this issue are plentiful online, and none that I saw were graded, but very fine or fair copies were available on eBay at the time of this writing for as low as $4. Lower quality issues were selling for as little as a dollar.   To the best of my knowledge, this issue has not been collected or reprinted by any publisher as of now.