By DEAN PLAKAS – Paint Monk’s Library Copy Editor

 

Continuing the story Roy Thomas freely adapted from “Kothar and the Conjuror’s Curse” by Gardner Fox, we find Conan and his female companions in the Border Kingdoms province of Ravengard. Cradling an unconscious Stefanya in his arms, the Cimmerian is caught between man-eating plants and a giant flesh-eating monstrosity called Pthassiass. 

 

The fearsome creature attacks Conan and his companions. The barbarian rests Stefanya on the ground away from the dangerous plants with his sword drawn. He fights the monster, cutting away at it until it has only one prong left on its tongue.

Pthassiass manages to toss Conan into the deadly plants and as the barbarian fights for his life against the vegetation, the hideous creature turns his attention to the serving wench from the castle! As Conan hears her screams, the beast grabs her with the remaining prong on its tongue and devours her.  The Cimmerian cuts himself free. Although he is too late to rescue her, he can still save himself and Stefanya.

Conan slashes away at the carnivorous monster and its hunger knows no end. As they battle, the Cimmerian notices that Pthassiass is avoiding the plant life. The barbarian decides to lure the beast into the plants, where the vines and tendrils attack and eat the massive beast.

With Stefanya in tow, the Cimmerian leaves the accursed land with the wizard’s amulet in hand. They re-unite with the wolf-woman Lupalina who initially mistakes Stefanya for her mother, whose name was Chrysala. Lupalina confirms that she knows Stefanya all too well. To make sure that she is Chrysala’s daughter, the wolf-woman looks for and finds the star-shaped birthmark on Stefanya’s leg. In flashbacks, she reveals to the pair Stefanya’s history.

Stefanya is the child of Thormond, lord of Phalkar, whose death was plotted by two wizards named Elviriom and Thalkalides. Lupalina also reveals that she was once called Samandra and she was Chrysala’s lady-in-waiting. The wolf-woman admits that she helped the wizards in their plan, but she did not want to kill the baby (Stefanya) so she hid her for a few days until she could be handed over to the wizard Zoqquanor. Lord Thormond and his wife Chrysala were killed in a rockslide made to look like an “accident.”

Now that Stefanya’s parents were dead, Themas Herklar, the wizards’ puppet, was put on the throne and made regent of Phalkar. Lupalina informs them that she repented, and went to live her life in the wilderness with wolves. She further informs the duo that Herklar sent to Merdoramon the Mage the amulet of protection that Conan now happens to hold – it is the amulet Conan needs to deliver to Herklar, without alerting the wizards!

Using her magic, Lupalina spies on the wizards. She witnesses a young man named Unos – she senses great evil in him – sitting on Herklar’s throne. She sees General Jarkan Val being scolded by Elviriom for not attacking Kaddonia as he was ordered. The general advises the wizard that they are at peace with Kaddonia and he only takes orders from Herklar. The general is advised that there has been a recent change in the regime and he needs to respect the new leader. A condemned man who was imprisoned for stealing bread is dragged in shackles into the throne room, and Unos disintegrates him by shooting beams of fire from his eyes as a lesson to General Val.

Lupalina tells Conan that the amulet can teleport him to the castle at Phalkar, where he may find Themas Herklar. The amulet transports him, floating him through the air and allowing him to pass through solid walls until he is near the dungeon holding Herklar captive. After a brief fight with a masked executioner, Conan finds Herklar in a dungeon. Tortured, broken and near death, Herklar tells the barbarian that Unos was created in a vat by the two wizards with the aid of demons.

As Herklar dies, subhuman creatures attack Conan, whose life is spared as he promptly teleports back to Stefanya and Lupalina. The three agree to go to Phalkar and kill Unos and the wizards.

CAPSULE REVIEW: Issue #50 – a milestone for a character Stan Lee thought wouldn’t last long under the Marvel Comics banner. Up until this point, the title did have its share of drama: artwork by both John Buscema and Barry Windsor-Smith getting lost in the mail, Windsor-Smith being woefully underpaid for his work, a lack of existing storylines involving the Cimmerian to sustain a long print run, and the lingering concern of cancellation.

Titles involving barbarians and savage lords of the jungle had been created and published by scores of other publishers before, but with the exception of Tarzan, none had consistent success. Conan is, after all, a savage barbarian from days gone by. Could such a limited character many do not consider “heroic” last? How heroic was he to begin with? A brutal, short-tempered, aggressive, womanizing, lusty, superstitious savage who is quick to kill people, even those who aren’t the villains or always the “bad guys.” Well, the joke was on Marvel. People loved the big lug then as we do now.

So how do we celebrate this 50th issue? With sorcery, beautiful women and some nightmarish creatures, what else? It’s worked every time and gotten us fifty comics.

The artwork in this issue is surprisingly inconsistent. The giant monster Pthassiass, although threatening, looks like a serpent version of Fin Fang Foom as imagined by The Muppets (and it doesn’t matter if it was drawn by cover artists Gil Kane and Klaus Janson or John Buscema!) The first three pages are great. Lots of action, smooth sequential storytelling and well-drawn overall by the parties involved. The comic is beautifully colored by Janice Cohen, but for the exception of a few sporadic panels thereafter, the pencilling and inking didn’t seem to gel.

I’m a fan of both John Buscema and Dick Giordano, but Giordano’s embellishments on Buscema’s work doesn’t seem to bring out the best in either of them after the first few pages. In doing further research, it turns out that Giordano was NOT the only inker for this issue. Terry Austin also inked the comic! Austin’s uncredited contribution here is that Austin inked the backgrounds while Giordano inked the characters. Knowing this now, you can examine their different approaches to the craft – you can see Austin’s more fine line work as opposed to some broad strokes by Giordano. Not their best, but enjoyable anyway.

Conan’s wisecrack response to Stefanya’s comment about being an inexperienced ruler is quite amusing, but Conan floating through the air and walking through walls was too much. It felt like I was watching the Vision in an Avengers comic book more than a Hyborian age barbarian. Sorcery is fine, but this was overdone, especially with Unos pulling a prehistoric Darkseid with some deadly optic beams.

Not the worst, but hardly the best – it’s certainly not anything special for a milestone 50th issue. On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue a 5. On eBay, copies were available for less than $6 depending on condition.

“And this story shall also be told!”   – The Wizard in Conan the Barbarian

– Dean Plakas