(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, #18. )

By DEAN PLAKAS – PM Library Writer

This issue begins with Conan and the Turanian soldiers climbing out of the waters off the shores of the fallen city of Makkalet and aboard the Turanian warships.

With the mirror-demon slain and the city besieged in Conan the Barbarian #19, Conan searches the ship for his enemy-turned-friend Fafnir the Vanirman. In the previous issue, Fafnir had been injured in battle by an archer whose flaming arrow struck the Vanirman in his left arm and eventually caused him to fall from the top of the seawall into the water. 

Conan soon finds Fafnir, and quickly learns that although he was dragged from the water, he has lost his arm due to injury and infection.

Conan stays with Fafnir as he sleeps, keeping vigil over the man whom Conan promised to return to his homeland in Conan the Barbarian #17, “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth.”

Foreshadowing Fafnir’s fate, Conan is wise to keep vigil and to trust no one, even Balthaz who offers to give Conan’s hair a trim. But Conan suspects that Balthaz would as soon slice Conan’s throat before giving him a haircut.

Balthaz informs the Cimmerian that Prince Yedzigerd requests to see him and soon Conan finds himself back in Makkalet with Balthaz and Turanian soldiers. Their mission is to steal the Tarim, but Conan is looking for more blood to spill and vengeance on the Hyrkanian archers who cost Fafnir his left arm.

Battles with guards ensue, and Balthaz’s knowledge of the city makes Conan question any trust of Balthaz as they make their way to the temple. When they enter, Conan finds himself separated from his party who have made their way to the roof.

Suspiciously, all but Balthaz are soon dead and Balthaz lights a funeral pyre for the dead – which was the signal Yezdigerd was waiting for from Balthaz. In a caption, the reader is advised that Yezdigerd has ordered some evil act at the sight of Balthaz’s signal but the reader is not told of the act itself.

Meanwhile, while roaming the hallways in the Temple of Tarim, Conan finds a ruby encrusted sword that he claims for his own and is quickly called a thief by a young woman who introduces herself as Caissa.

At this point, Conan has already been called a dog by Balthaz and a cur by a guardsman he killed in the Temple, but being called a thief was insulting to him. He introduces himself to Caissa as a soldier, and refuses to answer any more questions from a temple wench as she claims to be.

They are soon found by the High Priest Kharam-Akkad, and the wizard summons a skeletal warrior to battle Conan! The barbarian sets his sights on the High Priest himself instead of the skeletal warrior. Missing his sword strikes at the wizard, Conan exits the room and we learn that Caissa is not the temple wench she pretented to be – she is the Queen of the fallen city!

Conan continues to roam the temple. He smashes some mirrors and discovers a mirrored room where he believes he has found the Tarim Incarnate sitting in his chair. (The scene might remind you of the mirror scene in the movie Conan the Destroyer filmed years after this issue was published!) Upon approach, the Cimmerian falls through a trapdoor in the floor where he comes face to face with the Black Hound. In a brutal, bloody and exhausting fight, Conan kills the beast.

Injured and tired, Conan drags himself away and miraculously summons the strength to swim the waters back to the Turanian warships (again) to find his friend Fafnir (again).

Where he was greeted with a hero’s welcome the first time he boarded the ship by a Turanian soldier, Conan is greeted with the news that Balthaz not only survived the land mission but upon his return to the ship ordered that all dead on board be thrown overboard, including Fafnir, who Balthaz knew was not dead.

The black-maned Conan calmly walks toward Balthaz and swiftly stabs him in the heart with his own weapon. Seeing the murder of Balthaz, Prince Yezdigerd orders his soldiers to kill Conan. Conan kills many soldiers as he makes his way to get his hands on Yedzigerd. Conan doesn’t manage to kill him, but he does scar the prince’s face when he slashes at him. Conan then dives into the ocean to make his escape as archers fire arrows at him.

At this point, we can see that “The Black Hound of Vengeance” was not just the literal character in the title of the issue, the monstrous beast that Conan killed, but Conan himself.

Conan is called a dog and a cur. His black mane is mentioned, and he was offered a haircut by Balthaz. He seeks vengeance for Fafnir not once, but twice – first, when he leaves the ship with Balthaz’s landing party and again when he kills Balthaz on board the ship. Poetic license and poetic justice.

The issue ends with an illustration of Conan diving into the water amongst a flurry of arrows fired at him with the word “Fini” written in the sea water – but how is this finished?

Conan is once again finding himself in the water, in danger and now tired, battle-fatigued and dodging arrows. He has nowhere to go but back to the fallen city of Makkalet where he has killed many people and where there’s a wizard still roaming the temple who wants him dead.

This is a getaway? This is far from “Fini!”

CAPSULE REVIEW: Many questions are raised at the end of this issue. Since all the dead were tossed into the waters, the dead will eventually rise back to the surface due to buoyancy and I’m pretty sure the sharks would be in the area, yet Conan saw none of that swimming back to the warships and leaving again? No sharks? No floating bodies? Maybe Fafnir survived?

That’s just too much to overlook. As is the glaring error right on the cover and throughout the issue – the stained glass windows. Conan lives in the Hyborian Age, Robert E. Howard’s mythical time after Atlantis sank and before mankind saw the rise of ancient civilizations. Theoretically, that puts Conan at about 10,000 BC.

The earliest evidence of stained glass windows dates from 675 AD at the monastery of St. Peter in Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, England – big difference in time – but for some reason, it’s kind of cool that a monastery is associated with a Conan story or two, isn’t it?

The artwork in this issue is fantastic. Unlike the Kirby-in-your-face house style exhibited in most of Marvel Comics during the time this issue was published, we are treated to Barry Smith’s fine-lined illustrations meticulously inked by Dan Adkins.

The technique suits Conan well, as he isn’t part of the “superhero” universe. Smith’s sheer artistry isn’t in just his line work but how he crafts the story through his artwork, packing it, and exhibiting his mastery at sequencing the tale as conflict after conflict with plenty of detailed background work.

The sense of space and height when the soldiers climb the walls to attack the archers with the ships in the waters below is my favorite panel; simple and complex at the same time – absolutely stunning. The cover was a bit disappointing. I didn’t like the composition. The hound should have been more menacing and in full-figure, the stairs in the background looked more like planks on a wooden bridge than a staircase and they don’t seem to fit well with the size of those stained glass windows that technically weren’t invented yet. Grrr! 

According to an online interview, Barry Smith colored this issue himself due to time constraints on the part of the scheduled colorist. The pastel coloring greatly suits his style of romantic illustration. The pastel, of course, disappears when Conan is plunged to the lower levels of the mirror room to face The Black Hound.

It’s a most frightening situation if you think about it – having to face a wild black monstrous beast in pitch darkness after just being in a brightly lit mirrored room would give a huge advantage to the beast when it already had the upper hand given its ferocious disposition. Whereas color would usually aid in telling a story, Conan’s fight with the Hound is better depicted without the pastel coloring as pastels do not exactly set the tone for a scary situation.

The most peculiar thing about this issue is the epilogue. The lettering changes into free hand calligraphy instead of the usual comic book style we have been accustomed to in the rest of the issue. There is a lack of panels, there are no word balloons and no captions. It’s more like an illustrated story at this point and somehow, somewhere, Conan loses his boots when he gets away from the hound and boards Prince Yezdigerd’s ship, only to jump off (again) and go back to Makkalet (again).

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this issue an 8. The missing boots, the stained glass gaffe and the lack of sharks and bodies in the water – plus Conan’s multiple trips from ship to shore – cost the issue a 10. 

“And this story shall also be told.” – The Wizard of the Mound

— Dean Plakas