“Conan saves yet another damsel in rags, only to discover she is an old lover, now hideously deformed. Claiming that Conan must take her to “the valley,” the barbarian looks down to see that he, too, is now covered in boils, afflicted by the pestilence that has claimed his former paramour. Can our barbarian find a cure for this mysterious affliction?”

(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) #118.)

By BOB FREEMAN — Paint Monk’s Library Writer

I am a huge J.M DeMatteis fan. His work on titles such as The Defenders, Justice League, House of Mystery, Captain America, and the short-livedAbadazad really stand out and should be counted among some of the best work in the business. He is a gifted storyteller, without doubt, but for me, his Conan never felt right. It seems I wasn’t the only one —

“Some months into my run on the book, editor Louise Jones let me know that John had been rumbling and grumbling about Conan’s direction.  I was still relatively new to the comic book business—Conan was my first, full-length monthly assignment—and the last thing I wanted to do was displease a man whose work I profoundly respected and admired.  I called John up, we had a short and, as I recall, somewhat uncomfortable talk—I was completely intimidated—during which he outlined all the elements he thought were essential to a great Conan story. “

J.M. DeMatteis

DeMatteis wrote Conan the Barbarian from issue #118-#130, eventually driving Big John off the book altogether and setting up some rather bleak times for fans of the Cimmerian, at least by my account.

At a time when my love for Conan was at its all-time high, I walked away from the Conan the Barbarian series, focusing solely on Savage Sword, which, to be honest, had always been the superior format.

Moving forward on reviews of Conan, I will be reading many of these for the very first time.

REVIEW: Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) #118

Conan rides up on a large, heavily cloaked man attacking an unarmed woman. The Cimmerian intercedes on the woman’s behalf, disarming the man and pushing him away from his intended victim. The man claims he was only trying to save others but now must save himself. He draws a dagger and plunges it into his own heart.

The cloaked woman thanks the Cimmerian but collapses at his feet, bemoaning that she never should have left “the valley”. Conan puts her on his horse and rides into a small town. The townspeople run in fear from him, casting rocks as they keep their distance.

Conan finally corners one of the townspeople, demanding answers. The terrified man draws attention to Conan’s hands which are covered in boils. The Cimmerian checks his appearance in a nearby water barrel and he discovers the boils have spread to his face.

The woman he saved apologizes, calling the barbarian by name. Lowering her hood, she reveals that she is an old love interest of Conan’s, Jenna, from his days as a thief in the city of Shadizar the Wicked (Conan the Barbarian #6). Jenna is covered in boils as well, far more than the Cimmerian. She tells him it will only get worse, and that they must go to “the valley.”

After traveling to the valley, Conan espies dozens of those infected, all cloaked in rags and chanting in a strange, alien tongue. One of them runs off, proclaiming his fealty to some wizard in the mountains.

Jenna then shares her tale, of being sold into slavery and eventually being brought to the valley to be inflicted like the others. All those infected are transformed into hideously deformed figures who go through a religious conversion in which they recognize the wizard Myya L’rrasleff as their god.

Conan sets out to confront this wizard, fighting his way past a “rock-thing” and harpy before entering Myya L’rrasleff’s cavernous lair.

Inside, Conan and Jenna espy dozens of the transformed, reveling in the worship of their wizard god. Jenna rushes forward, proclaiming her devotion and conversion.

As Conan hacks his way through the throng, Jenna is led away by Myya L’rrasleff who reveals to her a large black jewel. From it Jenna receives a vision of how the wizard came to this world in exile from another planet, bound to transform this world into a mirror of that from which he came. The black jewel rejects Jenna, however, for her conversion was faked. As the wizard attacks her, Conan storms into the room.

In a grueling battle, Conan gains the upper hand despite having his life force slowly drained away. The Cimmerian hurls the alien wizard into the black jewel, destroying both. As he and Jenna escape the collapse, they revert to normal, the boils fading away and Jenna is beautiful once more.

CAPSULE REVIEW:  This story was better than I remembered, helped by some terrific artwork by Buscema and Chan. There are a few typos throughout. Marvel Editorial was really slipping a bit here, but nothing overly offensive.

The story is interesting enough and fits nicely into the canon. It was smart to have a call back to earlier adventures tying DeMatteis’ run to that which had come before.

It ensures the reader is not in for a jolt to the overall story’s continuity. Yes, the writer has changed, but the vision remains the same. We’ll see how long that lasts.

As I rate this issue, I wonder how much influence the current Conan titles are influencing my opinions?

I declare this issue worthy of 7 out of 10 Skulls of My Enemies.

—Alba Gu Brath
Bob Freeeman
OccultDetective.com