“The Bamulan witch doctors have finally had enough of the bronze-skinned Cimmerian and our hero is once again on his own. Discovering an abandoned ruin, Conan seeks shelter inside. But as with most abandoned places in the Hyborian world, not all is as it seems! Will Conan survive the Castle of Whispering Shadows?”

(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, #105.)

By ANDY MAGLOTHIN – Paint Monk’s Library Writer

This issue, we are treated to another one of Roy Thomas’ adaptations of previously published work. In this case, it’s an adaptation of L. Sprague deCamp and Lin Carter’s Castle of Terror.

Our tale begins with a flashback conversation between Conan and a Bamula priest. The priest accuses Conan of bringing war, drought, and a plague to their people and orders the surrounding Bamula warriors to attack him. Unable to reason with the high priest, Conan slays him, toppling a large totem onto the warriors and fleeing. Conan runs northward, regretting that he did not kill the witch doctors when he took over as war-chief.

Days pass. Conan travels the grassy Kushite plains until he realizes he is being followed by a pride of lions. In an attempt to keep them at bay, Conan fires arrows, and the missiles continue to hit their target but only frighten the beasts off for a short time.

Their hunger increasing and seeing the potential for a great meal, the lioness’ patience wears thin and two attack. Swiftly, a desperate Conan fires an arrow into the first lion’s neck with success but her counterpart is not deterred. Conan takes off in a full sprint until he is almost exhausted.  The remaining pride continues their steady pursuit.

The oldest male lion has tolerated this long enough and sprints at the Cimmerian, but suddenly comes to a screeching halt along with the rest of the pride. This confuses Conan, but he continues his journey, observing a dark structure in the distance and travelling in that direction.

As Conan approaches the fortress-like ruin, a thunderstorm is rolling in across the plains. Conan decides to enter the odd premises. He climbs the stairs to an upper level when he realizes he is fatigued and decides to rest. As he dozes off, his Ka (Stygian for spirit) is aware of supernatural forces in the air. They are the lost souls of beings who died in the building. The spirits are trying to take Conan for their own, but his Ka keeps them at bay.

A group of Stygian warriors also trying to avoid the thunderstorm enters the castle. They set up camp, building a fire and sending a guard to the entrance while the other troops rest. Between the thunderstorm and the commotion from the Stygians, both Conan and the spirits are now on the alert.

The spirits, uniting together, morph into a massive, vile monstrosity of death which attacks large groups of Stygians at the same time.

Knowing the demon is out of his league, Conan takes the quickest way out, scaling the castle’s exterior by using the vines growing growing on the walls.

Unaware of the commotion inside and ignoring Conan’s plea to temporarily join forces, the lone Stygian warrior who was standing guard falls victim to Conan, who slays him on his way to freedom.

CAPSULE REVIEW: The cover of this issue features Buscema artwork with a cast of demons surrounding Conan. The mix of black, white and grey sets an ominous tone, foreshadowing the dangers Conan will face in this issue.  It is a unique cover, marked by lack of color with the exception of our Cimmerian himself.

Thomas’ adaptation of the L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter short story “The Castle of Terror” is a fast paced, exciting read.  Thomas sets the stage tensely multiple times in this issue with encounters between Conan and the Bamula priest, then lions, and finally the demon. Without using thought or word balloons, we know Conan is on edge with each encounter and can glean insight from the artwork into the Cimmerian’s decision to fight or flee.

There is little character development, as the story focuses more on Conan’s speed and decision making skills. I appreciate Thomas providing little explanation for the demon – it adds some mystery and leaves the reader with as many questions as answers. 

Have I mentioned Buscema is my favorite Conan artist?   This issue is another example why I enjoy his art so much.  There’s enough background in the artwork to set the tone, but not distract from the characters. Chan’s shading provides both texture and depth.  Let’s not forget the monstrous blob of a creature constructed by the demons – it is enormous, bloated and foul, and features multiple regenerating arms and tentacles. 

Mix Chet from Weird Science, Jabba the Hutt and the creature from John Carpenters’ The Thing and you’ll understand why Conan opted to flee instead of attempting to fight.

I give it 8 Aquilonian Luna out of 10.

Living life my own way – Andy from Aquilonia