“Conan takes the fabled Eye of the Serpent to the nearby Kingdom of Attalus at the behest of newly crowned King Mer-Ath. What the Cimmerian does not know is that trouble is afoot, as the treacherous Hun-Ya-Di has plans of his own for the magical eye. Will Conan make it to Attalus alive and in one piece?”

(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) #79.)

By WALLY MONK – Paint Monk’s Library Editor

Although readers got used to the pencils of John Buscema in the monthly pages of Conan the Barbarian, the prolific work of the artist at Marvel wasn’t limited to Conan. At the time of this issue, Big John was busy putting brush to bristol on the new adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan. In order for Buscema to catch up, Marvel drafted another artist for fill in for a few issues.

Enter Howard Chaykin.

Chaykin was no stranger to the fantasy genre. He had worked previously on a five-issue DC Comics adaptation of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser in the short lived title Swords of Sorcery in 1973 and two Red Sonja backup stories in the pages of Cutris Publications Kull & The Barbarians.

An impressive fill-in artist for the Cimmerian, Chaykin’s pencils combined with the inks of Ernie Chan were impressive, tight and clearly suited for the world of Conan. Chaykin’s run on Conan the Barbarian would continue until issue #83. Ironically, he’d later tackle another adaptation of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser for Marvel Comics’ Epic line in the early 1990s.

Review: Conan the Barbarian #79

Conan has just emerged from helping the noble high priest Mer-Ath assume sole rulership of Harakht from his arrogant brother Hor-Neb. The new king offers Conan safe passage to the Stygian city of Luxor, but of course there is a catch.

The barbarian must first take one of the fabled Eyes of the Serpent, a massive jewel, to King Ptolemy in the valley city of Attalus. The delivery of the eye is a long-standing tradition that marks a change of leadership in each of the cities.

Hor-Neb’s replacement as high priest, a one-eyed Stygian named Hun-Ya-Di, isn’t happy about this arrangement, but finally caves in and allows Conan to deliver the jewel. Secretly, he has one of his own men named Ak-Ner serve as Conan’s guide.

As the pair climb the mountains leading to the valley and to Attalus, Ak-Ner ambushes Conan, but dies in the process. Hun-Ya-Di has taken no chances, and has hidden other would-be assassins throughout the mountains.

Combat ensues, and one of the falling bodies causes an avalanche. The Cimmerian survives by outrunning the falling rocks, but Hun-Ya-Di and the other assassins don’t appear to be as lucky.

As he reaches the base of the mountain, Conan discovers a woman trapped under a rock. Her name is Bardylis, and once freed, offers to show Conan a path down the sheer mountain that only Attalans know about.

We learn as they travel that they are entering the Valley of Iskander, named after a wandering solder who was in reality Alexander the Great while lost in the flow of time. The pair arrives in the village and Bardylis takes Conan to meet their leader, Ptolemy, who is not pleased with Conan’s arrival.

CAPSULE REVIEW: I had never read this particular issue of Classic Conan before, nor did I know that Howard Chaykin had a brief stint drawing Marvel’s Cimmerian. My only exposure to Chaykin’s art was The Shadow mini-series he drew for DC Comics in 1985, although his portfolio is far more extensive.

While his pencils in combination with Ernie Chan’s inks were much different than Buscema’s, the look is still very good and a welcome change from the thicker lines of our perennial Conan illustrator. While I enjoyed Chaykin’s art, it was still nice to know Buscema would be back in a only a few issues.

Story-wise, there’s not much here. It’s a conventional tale of a journey fraught with peril that serves primarily to move along a larger tale. We see typically good writing by Roy Thomas here, although I’m not sure why he drew a parallel from Iskander to Alexander the Great. Perhaps this parallel was mentioned in Howard’s original story, and we will possibly learn more in the coming issues.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue a 6.5.

As always, I am – Wally (AKA Paint Monk)