“How can Conan defeat a man that both the birds and the beasts obey? Conan the Barbarian and Belit face off with a chieftan who could perhaps be one of their deadliest foes, the Beast King of Abombi! Can Conan and Belit’s crew of Black Corsairs restore order to the tribes along the Black Coast and rescue Ombassa’s daughter?”

(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 was published from 1970 to 1999. This is a review of Conan the Barbarian Vol. 1, #94. )

By WALLY MONK – Paint Monk’s Library Editor

We’re a mere six issues from the end of Roy Thomas’ adaptation of “Queen of the Black Coast”, and we’re treated this issue to the beginning of a new four-issue story arc focusing on the Beast King of Abombi. This short but entertaining tale will be concluded in the pages of Conan the Barbarian #97.

Here, Roy Thomas says goodbye to Zula, the last of the Zamballahs, as he departs with some of Belit’s corsairs to forge his own path. Strangely, and perhaps as a thank you for his service and companionship, Zula takes a few of the Black Corsairs with him with Belit’s blessing. Goodbye, Zula, we hardly knew you…

This was one of the first back issues of Conan I had to find as a kid – my first store-bought Conan story was Conan the Barbarian #95 – and I felt compelled to read this, the first part of the story.

Writer Bob Freeman has mentioned in his reviews that the team of Thomas/Buscema/Chan gave the series a certain continuity – this was something I noticed myself when I was younger. Where other titles had a revolving door of guest artists, one could always count on the world of Conan to remain consistent.

Perhaps this was why Conan was so successful during its first 100-issue run. Readers and fans always knew that whatever the story might be, the art and world would be strangely familiar.

Review: Conan the Barbarian #94

As Zula departs with some of Belit’s crewmates, Conan, the she-pirate and the crew of the Tigress continue sailing south along the Black Coast. As they travel, they notice that many of the villages they pass are in smoldering ruin.

Eventually reaching their allies, the Watambis (first seen in Conan the Barbarian #60), Conan and Belit learn that an exiled noble from a nearby tribe has assumed control of an ancient and abandoned mountain fortress called Abombi. This noble, named Ajaga, has learned the powers of an ancient god named Jhebbal Sag which allows him to control animals.

Using this power, Ajaga has extended his rule over the villages, many of which formerly paid tribute to Belit and her pirate crew.

The Watambi chieftan reveals that his tribe tried to refuse Ajaga’s leadership, but once they resisted, their village was continually harrassed and plagued by wild animals from within the jungle.

The Watambi resistance crumbled after chieftan Ombassa’s daughter, Nyami, was captured by baboons and taken off to be Ajaga’s wife. Ombassa offered tribute then to the Beast King, but the tyrant still refused to release his daughter from captivity.

As an ally of Ombassa and his people, Conan, Belit and the Corsairs pledge to help rid the coast of Ajaga and his foul control of the wild animals. Their journey to Abombi is short-lived, as the group atempts to scale the cliffs to the fortress, only to be ambushed by angry animals under Ajaga’s control.

Baboons angrily attack the group as they climb – Conan falls off the cliff and Belit is taken as a prisoner for Ajaga.

CAPSULE REVIEW: First carried off by giant hawks to the city of Harakht, Belit is once more captured, but this time by giant baboons under Ajaga’s control. Conan could be in major trouble in this issue, and the cliff-hanger at the end of this issue is disconcerting. Has the barbarian met his match?

Roy Thomas once again cobbles together another story to push forward and engage us in the goings-on along the Black Coast, and it will sad to see these stories end in a mere half-dozen issues. Seeing Zula depart was disappointing, as he was just starting to fit in as part of our heroic trio.

The whole concept of Ajaga and his control of animals is an interesting one. Theoretically, he’s an impossible character to defeat because of the sheer volume of critters he can place under his control. It will be interesting to see how Roy Thomas resolves this plot line in coming issues.

This issue is jam-packed with dialogue – it’s a tribute to the artistic team as well as letterer Bill Spicer that the panels worked as well as they did.

The color, however, seems off. Although I read this issue digitally, I checked my physical copy too and the colors seem brighter there also, and in many places too “in your face” to be the typical work of fine colorist George Roussos. Perhaps Marvel was experimenting with a new printer? Something just didn’t seem right.

This story was reprinted in Conan Saga #38, as well as The Chronicles of Conan Vol. 12 by Dark Horse Comics. On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this story a 7.5.

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