(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. We’ll be reviewing issues of Marvel’s original Conan the Barbarian series weekly. This is a review of Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) #9.)

By JOESEPH SIMON –PM Library Associate Editor

It should come as no surprise that Roy Thomas used Robert E Howard tales and source material to create Conan comic books. But sometimes, the stories being adapted don’t even feature Conan in the original writing (for more examples, see my previous review of Conan the Barbarian #3 or Wally Monk’s review of Conan the Barbarian #5.)

Robert E. Howard’s original story The Garden of Fear features a hero named James Allison. Allison also goes by a number of different names depending on the story in which he is featured. Howard wrote him as a young, sickly man in Texas during the 1930s. In various tales, Allison remembers what he believes are his past lives, where he is incarnated as different versions of mighty heroes. In The Garden of Fear, Allison remembers himself as Hanwulf, a wanderer.

The Garden of Fear and Other Stories is an anthology of fantasy and science fiction stories anonymously edited by William L. Crawford. It was a Crawford publication in 1949. In Roy Thomas’ comic tale, Hunwulf is replaced by Conan. Jenna takes the place of a secondary character called Gudrun.

Review: Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) #9

Conan and Jenna have traveled through a large range of mountains for many days and have just a clearing of lower ground. Here, they are attacked a least a dozen hill-men with rock and spears, knocking both Conan and Jenna off the horse carrying them.

As Conan struggles to gain the upper hand, the hill-men scare his horse away. For some reason, as the struggle is about to reach a peak, the hill-men stop. They are hailed by their leader from a ridge higher above.  Conan understands this, but is unable to understand their language.  He explains as much to Jenna, who says she is afraid. Conan retorts “whatever you do, girl….don’t show it” and cautions that if their luck is bad, these hill-men could turn out to be cannibals.

Conan and Jenna are led to an area of “two valleys with deep gorges walled off from each other by sheer cliffs, save for that narrow pass” which Jenna observes, pointing to the far gorge.

This gets a reaction from the hill-men leader, and now Conan believes there is something near the gorge the leader hates or fears. The group continues to the hill-men village where it happens to be a time of feasting! Conan and Jenna eat, and then the hill-men begin to dance. Conan throws himself into a “full frenzy” of the savage dance. Jenna does not. Thankfully, I’m sure, they are both relieved that the hillmen are not cannibals.

Once dancing is over, Conan and Jenna set off to part, with a priority of finding their horse. Conan must have been a great dancer, as the leader of the hill-men, Hialmar, gifts Conan with a rope, a knife, and flint to make fire.

Jenna wonders out loud if they might also have precious stones about. Conan cautions her to hide her greed, but she retorts that there is no harm in asking. Before Jenna can start to cause trouble, trouble finds her as something from the sky swoops down, making off with Jenna before Conan can identify the kidnapper. Conan asks what the creature could have been, but the hill-men turn their back on Conan, muttering one word – “Garakaa.”

The Cimmerian concludes that must be the name for something that lives in the area that Jenna had pointed out, the same area which frightened the hill-men. Conan figures out this sudden “kidnapping” might be a regular incident the hill-men have come to accept. Conan declares he won’t and rushes off to save Jenna.

Conan encounters giant elephant or mastodon-like creatures he calls Great Tuskers, who allow him to pass through their herd – and then he swims  through a mysterious river, all in his pursuit for Jenna , who was once again grabbed and stolen by a winged fiend.

Conan eventually find himself near a “fantastic green stone tower amid a field of tall, nearly colorless flowers and, assaulting the sense, a strange reek, a smell as of death and decay.”

Atop the parapet, Conan spies a tall, powerful, ebon-winged man who is obviously the one who kidnapped Jenna. When Conan first met Jenna, she was taken to a tower by giant bat like creature now, the situation has been repeated. It should give cause for concern, but Conan has no time to think of coincidences. As Conan is about to leap into action he hears a scream. The winged man-creature has a hill-man in his hands. The man is held like a child in the hands of winged figure.

The winged man, carrying the captive hill-man, flys out and away from the tower and drops the hill-man to the ground.

Conan then notices the clear-colored flowers on the ground are attacking the hill-man and soon Conan as well. Conan fights on as the hill-man is heard screaming. Finally, the barbarian finds a safe area and notices that the hill-man is screaming no longer and the flowers are now a deep red in color.

Conan tries to make sense of the surreal situation when he hears Jenna’s scream for help. He sees the winged creature, holding Jenna over the railing of the parapet. Jenna continues to cry for help and Conan, frustrated with his inability to rush to her aid cries out that he can’t. Unable to fly, Conan can’t get past the killer plants. Instead, he turns back to the direction from which he came.. The winged man must have thought that he had won this contest of wills, perhaps allowing Conan to live with his shame.

We know, that, of course, Conan has an idea. The first clue to that occurs when Conan returns to the Great Tuskers.

It is not much of a spoiler, but Conan does fight the winged man creature and the fight is very well-done. Barry Winsdor-Smith creates tension and suspense in his visuals of the fight to accompany the same, which is echoed in Roy Thomas’ words. I give this issue a 7.7 out of 10.

While there is some liberal straying away from the source material, Thomas does manage to keep it very close to what Howard intended for his hero James Allison.

This issue is reprinted in Conan Saga #3, Conan Classic #9 and Essential Conan the Barbarian, Volume 1.