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(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) #11.)
The two main characters of this issue, Jenna and Conan, truly have a love-hate relationship. It’s interesting to note that the two are in many ways reflections of each other – they both want what’s good for them and aren’t afraid to take opportunities at the expense of others. Despite this, we see in this issue and others that at least one of them has a conscience at any given time.
For those of you joining the Countdown to Conan with this installment, Jenna has been a recurring character in Conan the Barbarian, appearing in issues #6, and #8-10 previously. She’s obviously attracted to the Cimmerian, but she’s always out for herself in the relationship. Conan seems to be the more sympathetic of the two when it comes to their emotional exchanges.
In this issue, the comic book adaptation of Howard’s original story Rogues in the House, which tentatively began in Conan the Barbarian #10, continues.
There is a big “first” in this issue. The cover promotes “All New! The Longest, Greatest Conan Epic Ever!” And on first glance, that’s true. Issue #11 features a whopping 48-page Conan story instead of the 22-page standard.
In addition, a large portion of this issue – most of the second part – is Conan’s encounter and battle with Thak. Thak appears in the Robert E. Howard story Rogues in the House and was a popular antagonist. He even has his own 28mm miniature for role-playing and board games, recently produced by Monolith Games! An old miniature of Thak previously appeared in a TSR boxed set from the early 1980s – and he was even the inspiration for the villain in the Hall of Mirrors in the film Conan the Destroyer!
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| Thak is immortalized as a plastic 28mm miniature from Monolith Games. As you can see, many artists have different visions of what Thank should look like! |
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| TSR made miniatures of Conan villains, including Thak and the God in the Bowl. |
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| The red-caped villain in Conan the Destroyer appears to be Thak.. |
We open on the titular barbarian hero of lore imprisoned in a dungeon, being taunted by a bald dumb giant, and chained too far away to do anything about it… He reminisces how he came to land in these conditions:
Earlier that night Conan was pacing in Jenna’s room; she tells him to stop acting so agitated and have a drink. Conan concedes and sits down on her bed, taking a drink at her insistence. As they sit she asks him if he thinks he could break out of a prison, should he need to. He answers in typical boastful fashion, of course he could, no jail can hold a Cimmerian!
Conan heads up the stairs to find a shocked Jenna, who tells him Igon was just on his way to rescue the barbarian. Conan calls her bluff, carries her up to the roof, and throws her off! I’ll leave her fate for you to discover for yourself!
