“At sea far too long, the crew of the Tigress spies an opportunity to seize some potential treasure from the black cliffs dotting the coast. Once inside the caves, they find imprisoned men who are at the mercy of walking devil-crabs who might be even more intelligent than our Cimmerian and his entire crew! Will our hero and his Shemite she-pirate survive?

(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, #99. )

By BOB FREEMAN – Paint Monk’s Library Writer

“The People of the Black Coast” was adapted by Roy Thomas as the “Devil-Crabs of the Dark Cliffs”, the penultimate chapter in his telling of the “Queen of the Black Coast”. Curiously, the story was called “Man-Crabs of the Dark Cliffs” on the cover, something I suspect was a result of Thomas not quite deciding on the final title until the last minute and signals getting crossed. Regardless, it’s a solid adaptation.

Roy Thomas was very adept at re-purposing Howard’s non-Conan prose and making it fit the Hyborian Age. His principle goal in doing so, rather than simply creating works from his own imagination, was his desire to maintain the integrity and majesty of Howard’s words.

As a fan of the man’s writing style, by mining non-Conan tales Thomas was able to create a consistency in the title, by keeping the flavor and vocabulary congruous.

Having Buscema and Chan along for the majority of the ride didn’t hurt either. By having such stalwart illustrators on hand for the vast majority of the run, there was a common thread throughout. Conan always looked like Conan. The landscapes, architecture, and fashion carried over from issue to issue.

It was easy for Thomas to adapt a story from a modern or historical setting into the Hyborian Age because Buscema and Chan were going to provide an artistic continuity, thus allowing Thomas to make subtle changes to the story to make the whole thing come together into something that stayed true to Howard’s imagination and creative sensibilities.

Review: Conan the Barbarian #99

The crew of the Tigress is growing restless. They are undermanned and have been at sea overlong. Belit is stubborn and dark of mood. She insists on staying at sea against the advice of Conan and N’Yaga.

A ship is spied, moored beneath the legendary Dark Cliffs that gave the Black Coast its name. The crew boards the vessel and finds it abandoned, though there are remnants of a treasure having been carried in its hold.

Belit believes the treasure must have been taken into the cliffs and hidden there and so organizes a search party, delving into a nearby cavern. Once inside the cliffs, following Conan’s lead, they discover a colony of crab-men hauling the treasure chests into their cavernous lair.

The Cimmerian espies several sailors imprisoned in crude cells. Conan sneaks forward and speaks with their captain, an Argosean named Florannus, through a barred window.  Florannus explained how the man-crabs drew them to the cliffs by reaching into his mind and planting the suggestion there. Once captured, his crew had been experimented on by the man-crabs, who are very intelligent, maybe even more-so than humans.

Conan uses brains and brawn to free the sailors by cobbling together a make-shift rope of their clothing, tying it from the bars of the cell to a huge boulder that the Cimmerian then sent toppling over the cliff edge, bringing the prison wall down with it.

Belit, of course, will not leave without the treasure. As they make their escape, they are besieged by the man-crabs. Conan takes the battle to them and starts a rock-slide to slow the creatures. Both crews come together, dislodging a giant boulder that breaks through the cavern floor to the boiling hot steam tunnels beneath the cliffs. The man-crabs are roasted alive.

Belit agrees to let the Argosean crew sail away, even splitting the treasure with them. Conan thought this seemed out of character, but she explained that their bounty would encourage more ships to sail their way, and they would be ripe to be plundered.

Conan nearly faints, suspecting the weakness was caused by one of his injuries, though N’Yaga is concerned. The Cimmerian shrugs it off then Belit, seeing the Argosean ship sail over the horizon, calls on them to return to the man-crab lair to recover the remaining treasure.

CAPSULE REVIEW:  As one expects, this is a finely told tale in keeping with the general consistency of product from the team of Thomas, Buscema, and Chan. As a kid, I was turned off by the devil-crabs, finding their design somewhat off-putting, but now, decades later, I find them adequately alien and fearsome.

The artwork is fluid, the action well thought out, keeping the flow of the narrative clipping at a fevered pace. There’s little room to catch a breath as the story propels the reader forward and on edge.

One of my chief complaints with “modern-era” comics is the hollowness of the account. This issue is meaty. Even as you’re led forward, the story has weight. While the pace is break-neck, at the end, you feel like you got a complete story, something that is rarely the case in more recent offerings.

As the centennial issue looms, this was a perfect breather, albeit a frantic one, before the double-sized majesty of the Queen of the Black Coast’s tragic conclusion.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue an 8. On eBay, this issue generally is available for less than $10, and as low as $5.

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