English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Posted in 
Tags: Review: Conan the Barbarian #46 – “The Curse of the Conjuror!”
(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 until Marvel releases their first new Conan comic books in 2019. This review is written by Wally Monk.)Strangely, Fox was the author of five total Kothar novels, and this story comprises volume four of the Kothar series. It’s sort of a no-brainer that Thomas would adapt a Kothar story for Conan – the characters are as similar as grains of rice with a few notable differences.
Conan is from Cimmeria – Kothar is from Cumberia, in the north. Both have an affinity for women, and both are perpetually broke. Conan is penniless because he’s seemingly always robbed, cheated or narrowly escaping with his life. Kothar is broke because his magical sword, Frostfire, has a strange quirk – it can be the only item of value Kothar owns if it is to retain its magical powers.It’s no surprise that Fox would take a shot at a Conan-esque character. He was heavily involved in Golden Age comics, and left a lasting legacy at DC Comics. Fox is credited as the co-creator of DC’s Hawkman, Flash and Doctor Fate. He’s also the first writer to pair DC superheroes together as the Justice League of America.
Fox, who died in 1986, was a tremendously prolific writer – some comic book historians speculate that he wrote thousands of comic book stories during his career, with more than a thousand stories written at DC alone.
As Conan rides onward, he’s startled by a Yemli grabbing at his foot – as he strikes with his blade, he looks up again to see that the Yemli have disappeared and a corpulent wizard (named Merdoramon) now sits in front of him. He’s got a task for Conan – in exchange for food and maintenance of his horse, Conan is to deliver an amber amulet to the regent of Phalkar. The Yemli, we learn, were “herding” Conan towards the wizard.
Conan agrees, and sets off for Phalkar the next morning. Stopping in a small, unimportant town along the way, he spies a woman who is beset upon by angry townsfolk. Conan, remembering the last time he helped a woman in the same situation (Zhadorr in Conan the Barbarian #41) decides to wait and see what problems she has caused before running to her rescue. It appears the villagers blame a wizard she served – Zoqquanor – for most of their troubles.
With valor being the better part of discretion (at least in Conan’s mind) he eventually rescues the woman, whom we learn is Stefanya. The wizard has placed a curse on her – if he dies, so does she. This was his way to keep her in his servitude. The townsfolk burned down the wizard’s home, but since she still lives, Zoqquanor must be alive as well!
Stefanya asks Conan to help her find the wizard, and they head off to her former home. Entering the burned-out ruins, Stefanya says she is going upstairs to see if Zoqquanor is there. Conan hears a blood-curdling scream – the woman hasn’t found the wizard, but has stumbled into one of his guardians!
Goodreads has a review of the 1970 Belmont book which includes the evaluation "The entire book retreats from every interesting idea it proposes." So I suppose that means we're due for disappointment.
This is perhaps the second or third story Roy adapted from a nearly contemporaneous book. I wonder if those were easier to adapt to the Marvel version than stories from the 1930s?
Thanks!