(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome tothe Classic Conan Countdown, a series of reviews covering the original Marvel Comics’ run of Conan the Barbarian published from 1970-1993. This mini-series was published after the first volume of the ongoing series ended.)
By JOHN JACK – Guest Writer
This mini-series was made a year after Marvel Comics’ bankruptcy, and is one of the last Conan projects before Marvel lost the rights to the Cimmerian for whatever reason. I could not find the specifics online as to why Marvel lost these rights to Dark Horse in the early 2000s or if the rights were voluntarily surrendered.
The synopsis of past stories in these issues makes mention of the 1980 novel by L. Sprague deCamp, “Conan and the Spider-God”, in which Conan fights a massive arachnid in the city of Yesud, and Savage Sword of Conan #207-210, which adapts said novel. Strangely, the series makes no mention of Conan the Barbarian #13, the 1972 issue of Conan that was written by Roy Thomas (just like this series) and featured all of the same.
I’ll assume it was an oversight. No matter which of the three you’d like to use for reference, this mini-series is considered a direct sequel, set a couple of years later.
Review: Conan the Barbarian – Lord of the Spiders #1-3
Our tale begins in the ravaged city of Arenjun, home of the now ruined Tower of the Elephant (Conan the Barbarian #4). A pair of thieves sneak into the city in the dead of night.
The city is rumored to hold untold riches, but no one has made it back alive to tell their tales! Rumors abound that the wizard Yara still haunts the city, protecting it forever with his dark magic.
One of the thieves, Sabo, curses himself for mentioning it to his companion Helliana. She seems aware that he’s just trying to seduce her and tells him to help pry some gems loose from the walls or “go away.”
They see the strange figure of an old man, who seems confused but not threatening. She tells Sabo to leave him alone and gets back to her task.
Sabo continues prodding the wanderer, asking to see his ring with the intent to steal it. As he wipes the muck off the ring to see what it is, a spider sigil is revealed. Instantly, recognition returns to the old man’s mind, and he knows who he is looking for. The man, Harpagus, is looking for Conan the Cimmerian!
The brigand Sabo threatens to take the ring by force if Harpagus won’t give it to him (Sabo isn’t great at reading a room.) In response, Harpagus turns into a 4-foot-long spider and kills the thief instantly. Helliana turns, ready to kill the monster or die when suddenly the spider speaks! It says, changing back into the wizard as it does so, that she was trying to get Sabo to leave him alone – so he’ll spare her if she’ll serve him. She agrees, of course.
The story then shifts to Shadizar, and a familiar voice echoes through the window of a nearby tavern. Conan tells some women with him that he’s out of money – if they expect some for “hanging out” with him. One of them leaves, the other offers to take him home. They walk down the street when they find themselves at a dead end. She snaps her fingers, spring the trap she has led Conan into! Three warriors are after the Cimmerian. I’ll leave the fight specifics for you to enjoy, but the outcome is obvious – our barbarian wins. It’s a honestly an awesome fight.
As the fight ends, Conan looks up to see Helliana watching. He chases her down as only a Cimmerian can. He catches and interrogates her, but she gets the best of him and escapes. She manages to snag Conan in a secondary trap, where he is caught between two certain deaths. The Cimmerian takes a lateral move not expected and fights his way out again. In her hurry to escape, she drops a coin bearing the insignia of the Tower of the Elephant – Conan knows where to go next!
Conan reaches Arenjun by nightfall. As he walks into the city, a man is thrown out of a bar and knocks Conan into a mud pit. In a fury, Conan heads into the bar and demands to know who threw the man out. The man responsible mocks the Cimmerian’s accent and throws a drink in his face – some town this is! The man boasts as he and Conan fight. I’ll let you guess who wins this one. The Cimmerian sits down and orders some food and drink, and while making conversation he finds out the priest of Ishtar’s name is Zath – the same as the Spider god of Yezud! Before he can get more information, the city guard appear. Conan is the one they’ve been looking for and there is a reward! Conan fights like a tiger but is overpowered. Interestingly, the man who leads the city guard to Conan is none other than Blackrat – Roy Thomas’ “likeness” of Fritz Leiber’s Grey Mouser who made his first “unofficial” Conan appearance way back in Conan the Barbarian #6!
Conan awakens in a gigantic web, face to face with Harpagus. Both of them talk of their troubles with the other and neither is really blameless, although one of them is obviously evil. Conan asks if he’s managed to breed more giant spiders, and Zath tells him he’s got something better – the wizard transforms into a spider himself!
I’m going to let you discover the end of the mini-series for yourself. The end is killer!
CAPSULE REVIEW: This mini-series did have a very late 90s feel to it when compared to the 1970s and 1980s Conan with whom I am accustomed. But it IS Roy Thomas, who seemingly exists in all points in time with regard to Conan (similar to Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five). As such, Conan sounds exactly as he should from the man who made Conan the comic character he is today.
The pencils and inks by Stephano Raffaele and Ralph Cabrera feel more like a late 90s X-Men comic than a Conan book. The art is a bit heavy-handed and the linework on some of the character faces seems poor at times. That said, the fight sequences are pretty stellar in comparison, so it’s hard to say what’s what. Also worth mentioning is the giant spider Xath, which looks amazing and scary.
All in all, this was a decent mini-series that I might re-read someday. As such, I’d like to give it a 7 out of 10 rating.
This mini-series has never been collected and is only available in single issues. I found the first issue new on Amazon for $7 including shipping, or the entire series on eBay for $20-25 ungraded. At the time of this review being published, no CGC-graded copies were available that I could find.
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