(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, #96. Warning – SPOILERS follow!)

By BOB FREEMAN – Paint Monk’s Library Writer

One of the things that really jumps out at me in this issue – Conan the Barbarian #96 – is Sholo, the black lion. For a magazine that is generally so spot on, it seems that some lessons are forgotten, and I see that here.

Comics’ central issue, especially in those pre-computer printing days, was color. It’s something I’ve always been fascinated by and have spent a bit of time studying. I’m not going to bore you with any of that now, but I do want to briefly talk about the color black in printed comics.

Comic shorthand for black tends toward blue. Batman’s costume was black and gray, just as Spider-Man was red and black. Blue, as the highlight color, tended to become dominant over time and the characters’ color schemes shifted. It’s something we see repeatedly, over and over again.

In Conan, the Cimmerian’s hair is blue highlighted, as are Belit’s raven tresses. Thankfully, we were never cursed with a shift to a more dominate blue for their Hyborian coiffures.

In the first appearance of Conan’s companion, Zula, he was depicted as blue-skinned, which looked rather absurd. His later depictions, using gray as the highlight, were a marked improvement. Here, in this issue, we are faced with a black-furred lion whose bristled covering is represented by blue, not so much as highlight, but as the far more dominant color. While it makes one think of the X-Men’s Beast, who began with gray highlights, but transitioned to the more traditional blue, in the end, it just doesn’t work.

With Sholo, much like Zula’s early appearances, it looks ridiculous, but black was a struggle for colorists in those early days of comic yesteryear. It’s one of those things we’re forced to overlook as long term comic fans.

It’s also one of the few things about modern comics that is an improvement over the past.

Review: Conan the Barbarian #96

We begin with Conan, called Amra the Lion, an uneasy companion of the legendary Sholo, a black lion who had once been bonded to an Aquilonian Lord. Having now bonded with the Cimmerian, Conan remains on-guard even as he recalls Belit and members of her crew being captured by the sorcerer Ajaga.

Uncovering a cave, man and beast enter cautiously but both fall victim to a trap that hurls them into an underground river. Conan faces off against a great serpent, but is jarred by its electrical charge when he strikes it with his blade. The Cimmerian changes tactics and kills it with a large boulder, but passes out from the exertion.

The barbarian is pulled from the water by Ajaga’s men. Coming to, Conan tries to fight free and is embattled by a jaguar. Conan delivers a mighty wound, but is then struck unconscious once more by a blow from one of Ajaga’s followers. Ajaga then collapses to the ground, writhing in seizure. Rising, he claims to have communed with Jhebbal-Sag and proclaims that Conan and Belit need be sacrificed at once.

Meanwhile, Sholo comes ashore, eventually finding Belit and helping her escape. He leads the Queen of the Black Coast from her imprisonment – and the Shemite she-tiger hopes it is to Conan the black lion leads.

Elsewhere, Conan is brought to an altar where Ajaga prepares to sacrifice the Cimmerian in the Feast of the Bloodmoon, calling forth the beasts of the jungle for this dark rite.

CAPSULE REVIEW:  Part One of “The Long Night of Fang and Talon” is a spectacular issue, fraught with action and suspense, and one of my favorites as a kid, to be sure. Roy Thomas is in great form as we near the conclusion to his fleshed out tale of the tragic love story of Conan and Belit.

Roy is a consummate storyteller, but I remember vividly that Buscema and Chan cover leaping out at me from the newsstand. There was no way I was going to pass this issue up — not that Marvel was ever in danger of me not dropping a dime and two bits on a Conan comic.

Of course this all leads to the flipping of the traditional ‘damsel-in-distress’ trope, finding Conan captured and in need of rescue from the she-wolf Belit.

Belit was such a great character, feminine yet strong. Hers was a commanding presence. It flies in the face of modern interpretation that women were disrespected in comics. There have always been strongly represented, and while many have decried Conan as being a book filled with “toxic masculinity”, to use the catch phrase of the moment, nothing could have been further from the truth.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue a 9, only because that blue lion bugs me. On eBay, this issue generally is available for less than $10, and as low as $6.

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