“In this re-envisioning of an original Robert E. Howard tale, Conan stumbles across an ambush in the swamp in the form of a lone woman looking for help. Is she the source of trouble behind a growing rift between the Stygians and local Kushite tribes? And will the Cimmerian live long enough to find out what is truly going on?”

(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) #82.)

By JOESEPH SIMON – Paint Monk’s Library Associate Editor

Conan the Barbarian #82 is freely adapted by Roy Thomas from Robert E. Howard’s tale “Black Caanan”, a short horror story originally appearing in the June 1936 issue of Weird Tales. Often, when writing these reviews, I compare the source material with the adaptation. For today’s review, I wish to enjoy the comic on its own. 

Beginning in Conan the Barbarian #79, illustrator John Buscema took a brief hiatus and was temporarily replaced by Howard Chaykin. Chaykin began his illustrating career under the tutelage of Gil Kane – he pasted up dialog and zip-a-tone on Gil Kane’s early graphic novel masterpiece, Blackmark. 

Chaykin would later become an assistant to Wally Wood. For a while, he did a little of this and a little of that. His first work for DC Comics was an adaptation of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (Sword of Sorcery #1-5). Chaykin also worked on his own creation, Domic Fortune (inspired by his work on Scorpion for Atlas Comics), Cody Starbuck and Ironwolf. 

At this point in Chaykin’s career, he was obviously well versed in the genre and an interesting choice to team up with Ernie Chan in Buscema’s absence. Before his work here on Marvel’s Conan, Chaykin worked with Roy Thomas on the Marvel adaptation of Star Wars.

Chaykin oddly notes that during this time, his interests were in drawing “guys with swords and women with big (breasts)”. 

Now let’s dig into “Sorceress of the Swamp”. 

Review: Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) #82

Conan rides through a swamp on horseback. Having left the valley of Iskander, he goes northward to the hawk-city of Harakht. He doesn’t ponder very much about how he was close to dying during his mission to the valley. This is likely due to the life he has led – being in peril is a common situation for our Cimmerian. 

His thoughts drift from Bardylis and then to Belit, who waits for him in the north. Companionship is always on Conan’s mind, perhaps more so than others. Many of his friends perish or leave within a short period of time. Of course, with Belit waiting for him, why would Conan’s mind wander to Bardylis? Or perhaps the next woman he will meet…?

Our hero meets a dark-skinned woman who “speaks in the Stygian tongue with Kushite accents” in the middle of his journey through the wild lands. She claims that her brother has hurt his leg and cannot walk. While seeking help, she explains she has lost her way. Conan agrees to assist, tethering his horse to a tree and allowing the woman to lead him to her brother.

This turns out to be a trap, and Conan discovers this moments before it is too late. Two Kushites attack the barbarian. In defending himself, he kills one attacker while the other escapes.

It’s interesting to note that Conan has once again fallen for the “beauty in need of a hero” routine. Often, in times like this, the tricksters do not know who Conan is. I must conclude that because this is a widespread method of gaining advantage over others that either a) the average person is horny and dull-witted or b) plenty of people feel the urge to be a hero.

Either way, Conan should know better. He rides away in anger, questioning himself, and wondering if he was “bewitched by the woman that approached him or if he has simply been too long from the side of Belit”. 

Before the barbarian can contemplate the matter further, he is surprised by a group of men from Stygia. Neth-At, the Stygian leader, introduces himself to Conan. The Cimmerian notes a dead man slung on one of the horses. After exchanging comments, we learn Neth-At found the dead body of one of the men who attacked Conan. The two men also ambushed Neth-At’s group and successfully killed two of them. Seeing that Conan killed someone they were also hunting, the Cimmerian is allowed to join the group.

Neth-At claims the Kushites now intend to launch a major attack against the Stygians because of a man who arrived in Viper’s Head. Normally, the two groups have an uneasy peace in this land, but the arrival of the man named Toroa has changed this. Some claim he is a witch-man who practices juju, a dark magic. Neth-At believes that the Kushites have come under Toroa’s spell. Rumors abound that Toroa is performing something called the “dance of the skull” and the Kushites believe all Stygians will vanish from Viper’s Head…how, no one knows. 

Toroa is accompanied by a woman called Sabia. When asked, Conan lies and says he has not seen her. The conversation is broken up when Neth-At’s men mention having captured a Kushite. The Stygians attempt to torture him, hoping to glean information about Toroa’s plans. Conan offers to help and he is given a few moments of time to do as Conan must in order to extract the needed information.

Conan leans forward and whispers a single name – Amra – to the man. He stiffens with fear and says he will tell them anything if they protect him from Toroa. For those of you are just jumping on board with this review, Amra is the name by which Conan is known on the Black Coast, and a name that is greatly feared. This is perhaps my favorite scene in this issue.

The Kushite prisoner begins answering questions, telling Conan that Toroa is the master of all his people along Viper’s Head and that the witch-man is an outcast from Kheshatta, the fabled city of magicians. 

Before the prisoner can spit out all the information he knows, a terrifying, shrill sound (a signal!) is heard. Neth-Ath shouts that he’ll find the one who made the signal call, only to be stifled by Conan. Neth-Ath acknowledges Conan’s hesitation, knowing that the situation is now beyond his reach. 

Conan tells Neth-Ath to protect the prisoner and leaves toward where Toroa is thought to dwell, claiming that “one man may succeed where your small army would fail.” I don’t really buy this, as Conan knows absolutely nothing about this enemy or the situation into which he is headed. I might be more willing to accept it if they had scouted the area beforehand. This was not the case. Regardless, Neth-Ath readily agrees.

As he departs the Stygian camp, Conan suspects that Sabia might have something to do with the mysterious happenings. Either way, he goes forward to find Toroa and put an end to the evil magic and the situation in which he has found himself.

Will Conan’s apprehensions be accurate? Is Sabia somehow behind the mysterious goings-on? You’ll have to read the rest of the issue to find out – and the next issue too, because this is the first part of a two-part story line.

CAPSULE REVIEW –  Did Howard Chaykin meet the goal of his youthful self in his art for Conan? While there are muscular men with swords, there was far more talking and thinking in this issue than sword play. The initial attack at the beginning of the issue where Conan was ambushed was a great fight scene. Outside of that, everything else is minimal. Sabia’s appearance changes throughout the issue and she is the only female drawn.

Taking in the comics mentioned above that Chaykin illustrated around the same time, I’d have to conclude that the art in this issue is a true collaboration of both artists as opposed to one or the other doing most of the work. Other than a few inconsistencies with the appearance of characters like Sabia, the art is well done, but not entirely that of Chaykin or Chan. Both artists will continue to fill in for Buscema in the next issue.

Conan the Barbarian #82 sets the stage for the next issue, and as a result it’s hard to critique. It does a nice job of setting things up. I’m not the type of person Conan is, so I would rather have continued on the road to meet Belit than get wrapped up in this particular tale. 

Perhaps I am being too hard on the Cimmerian at the beginning of this story. One can never know if, when someone is being baited with a “woman in need of help” con, it is truly a con or not. While I don’t think it’s Conan being a boy scout type, it is something we should all want to do – to help out our fellow human beings. Given that, if I followed in the same footsteps that Conan did, I would still wash my hands of the situation and moved forward to meet Belit. Conan understands that the times are dangerous. Belit might be a fully capable woman, but no one knows what dangers might be lurking around the corner for her. If Conan should be a hero, it should be to her. 

On a scale of 1-10, I give this issue a 6. It suffers from being a set-up tale for the next issue. If both issues were taken together, I would give it a 7. On eBay, copies of this issue were available for $5 or less.