(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 was published from 1970 to 1999. This is a review of Conan the Barbarian Vol. 1, #16. 

By WALLY MONK – Paint Monk’s Library Editor

In Conan the Barbarian #16, we’re given the comic book version of Conan’s oldest tale – oldest chronologically in the life of the character himself. In “The Frost Giant’s Daughter,” Conan is a young Cimmerian who is fighting with a band of Aesir in Nordheim, which is north of Cimmeria. 

This story, which is perhaps the shortest Conan tale I have read, is reprinted here from its original appearance in Savage Tales #1 (thank you to the observant reader who pointed this out!) and later re-written with new art by Dark Horse Comics in their Conan #4 (from 2004).

Interestingly, this short story was not accepted for publication during Robert E. Howard’s lifetime as a Conan tale. The original was rejected by Weird Tales magazine. For publication, Howard renamed the main character Amra of Akbitana. The story was published by The Fantasy Fan in 1934 under the title “The Gods of the North.”

The actual story as Howard had intended was not published until 1976 by Donald M. Grant, in that publisher’s book Rogues in the House.

What piqued my interest the most was that “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” was to be used in the sequel to John Milius’ 1984 Conan the Barbarian movie (Conan the Destroyer doesn’t count!) The screenplay, tentatively titled “King Conan: Crown of Iron” features the tale in its prologue. According to blogger Moriarty from the Ain’t It Cool blog in 2001, Conan meets Atali, the frost giant’s daughter just like the original story. However, in the film version, Atali becomes pregnant by Conan and their son, Kon, becomes an important part of the film. Moriarty’s post is a great read about John Milius’ second Conan script and can be found here.

The story in Conan the Barbarian #16 is a mere 13 pages – the remainder of the comic is a tale of Starr the Slayer, a barbarian who looks suspiciously like Conan and even sports his infamous yak helmet. I will not review the Starr story here, although it is a good read, too.

Review: Conan the Barbarian #16

A band of Vanir warriors lie broken and defeated. Alone in the snow, only two warriors remain. One is Conan, and the other is a red-bearded Vanirman. Locked in combat, the Vanir swordsman asks our Cimmerian his name so that he can tell his comrades who he killed in the epic battle.

Our hero, whose wit is always sharpest with a sword in his hand, responds that his name is Conan, and the man can tell the men in Valhalla his name instead. With that, Conan finishes the battle and runs him through.

As Conan wanders off, leaving the dead and the battlefield behind, he stumbles into the snow. Exhausted, cold and beaten down, he collapses in the snow. As he awakens, he sees a lovely woman – she’s hardly dressed for the weather, but she knows Conan’s name and bids him to follow her.

Conan, always one to fall hard for the ladies, becomes determined to follow this seductive woman and make her his own. Seemingly to taunt him, the woman (who we later learn is named Atali) is always three steps ahead. But the lust for this new lovely has gone to Conan’s head, and he has no idea he is being led into a trap – as Atali approaches two massive boulders, she calls to the frost giants hiding behind them to attack Conan.

Who is this woman? Why is she luring men to their doom at the hands of the frost giants? And will Conan make it out of this one alive? 

CAPSULE REVIEW: I have never read the original tale of “The Frost
Giant’s Daughter,” so I can only take this story at its face value, and a good story it is indeed. So much so that the folks at Marvel used Howard’s source material even though the story itself only takes up 13 pages of the comic book – and three of those 13 pages are splash panel introductory pages.

Roy Thomas’ writing is showcased here, and this issue can be used as a reference point for why his work on the Cimmerian is well-loved. The thirteen page story appears more as a fairy tale involving Conan than a
traditional story about the barbarian. As always, Windsor-Smith’s art is perfect to accompany Thomas’ scripting.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d give this issue a 7.5.

On eBay, this issue varies greatly in price. Ungraded copies have sold as low as $4.99 and as high as $45.00. CGC graded copies varied in price from $69.99 (8.5) to $335 (9.6)