“The artwork of John Buscema returns in this issue! Conan returns to Harakht only to find his beloved Belit was imprisoned but had escaped! Deep in the dungeons with Zula, Conan shares an uneasy incarceration, but will soon come to value his cellmate as a valuable companion on dangerous journeys down the road!”

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. This is a review of Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) #84.)

By BOB FREEMAN – Paint Monk’s Library Writer

John Buscema, for many, is the quintessential Conan artist, and understandably so. He was a consummate draughtsman, a true artist, whose ambitions always laid beyond cartooning. The man simply wasn’t a fan of super-hero comics, and yet he drew some amazing issues that stand the test of time. For all his bluster, he enjoyed his tenure on Conan and was a fan of the source material.

In an interview with Roy Thomas, John said “…Conan was something that hadn’t been done before and I loved the Howard books. I fell in love with them as soon as I read them and I was chomping at the bit and I wanted to do them so badly.”

Buscema didn’t enjoy drawing anything mechanical and thus Conan was a perfect fit for him.

“I can create anything that comes into my imagination,” he said. “That’s why Conan appealed to me. I had a lot of freedom in those books. I could do anything with the buildings and create costumes.”

As an artist, he was very picky, and seldom liked anyone else inking his work.

Speaking to Roy Thomas, he mused, “The only thing I’ve saved is a couple of Conan books we worked on, and that’s it. I got rid of everything. One of the reasons, which upset me over the years, is that other people were inking my stuff, and that is not my work. I can’t look at it. The ones I inked, yes, I keep. Anything with super-heroes, I’m not interested. Only the Conans.”

John’s love for Conan was evident on every page, and though he would have preferred to ink the work himself, it all still came out beautifully. The following review covers John’s return to Conan after a long hiatus. While I enjoyed the Chaykin run, seeing Big John back meant the world to me as a twelve year old kid, picking this issue up off the rack.

REVIEW: Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) #84

Conan returns to Harakht and his beloved Belit, but learns that the she-wolf, who had been condemned to imprisonment due to the high priest’s prophetic dream, had escaped, holding Mer-Ath’s wife Neftha as a hostage.

Mer-Ath has Conan taken captive, hoping to draw Belit back into court. Chained in the dungeons alongside the slave, Zula, who had been instrumental in the Cimmerian’s capture, the two share an uneasy incarceration.

Meanwhile, Belit and Neftha enter the city of Luxur and make for a temple of Set. It is here that Belit hopes to learn of her father’s whereabouts. Neftha prays to the image of Set and the women succumb to a magical sleep. Belit has a vision of two pythons slipping through a grate in the floor and she wonders if it is a dream or something more.

Back in the dungeon beneath Harakht, Conan and Zula make their peace, and Conan agrees to help travel with Zula to Kheshatta, City of Wizards. and assist him with some unfinished business in exchange for the slave freeing him.

Zula produces a vial of acid to burn through their chains, then feigns being attacked by the Cimmerian, drawing the guards to their cell. Conan and Zula swiftly overpower their captors.

Making their way to the pen of the giant falcons, Zula uses a flute to command the beast and he and Conan take flight, headed for Kheshatta.

CAPSULE REVIEW:  This issue was packed. Usually we’re treated to a couple of splash pages, but there was no room for any of that here, as Roy quickly got the story rolling and covered a lot of ground, trying to get back to the story he had started several issues before.

He does an admirable job getting the reader back up to speed, not only covering what had gone before, but propelling the story forward, and introducing a fantastic new character to boot.

I’m sure this was a task for Buscema and Chan, to pack so much art into so many panels, but they really are able to keep the flow of the story, and make the panels, especially the action, readable and vibrant.

Colors and letters are terrific as usual. Zula’s ebony skin had to be particularly tricky, and Phil Rache used blue as a black shorthand to great effect, contrasted with the gray skin tones of the Harakht peoples.

All in all, a fine return to form and another superb issue.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue an 8.75. On eBay, this issue generally is available for around $7.

Alba Gu Brath – Bob Freeeman (aka The Occult Detective)