Conan the Barbarian #65 “Fiends of the Feathered Serpent!”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. Weekly installments will be published until Marvel releases their first issue of the new Conan series. This review is written by Dean Plakas.)

As they sail into deeper waters, Belit’s trusted mentor and shaman N’Yaga approaches her and advises the she-pirate that he speaks on behalf of the crew. The shaman tells her that the crew would never mutiny but they sincerely want her to turn The Tigress around for the safety of everyone on board. N’Yaga adds that he personally agrees with their request and he implores her to consider his plea. Belit remains unmoved and the Tigress continues to sail into the dark waters of the ominous night.

At the break of dawn, the Tigress sails into the coast of a lone mysterious island in the middle of the sea. Conan begins to consider if the crew had a point about the waters being cursed. A landing party led by Conan and Belit gets ashore by rowboat. They find the island to be uninhabited, but come across an old shack, where they discover the body of the pirate Ahmaan the Merciless. It’s been perfectly preserved for over a century. His giant frame sits in a wooden chair. Beside him is a giant axe. Members of the landing party try to lift the axe, but only Conan is able to do so, further cementing his reputation as Amra, the chosen one.

As they head back to the Tigress, the crew encounters a band of pygmies. These pygmies use a gong with magical properties to render Belit’s corsairs unconscious. Baktu, Belit and Conan are brought before Tezcatlipoca, leader of the pygmies (who, ironically, isn’t a pygmy.) He reveals to them that although he slew Ahmaan a long time ago, he couldn’t take Ahmann’s axe – even though he should have been the one to claim the prize.

Tezcatlipoca kills Baktu for his amusement, and orders Conan jailed in the dungeons. As for Belit, the pygmy leader plans to sacrifice her! The Shemite hellcat manages to stab the leader and escape. She begins searching for Conan, who has broken free of his bonds but is still trapped in his dungeon cell. The Cimmerian encounters a feathered serpent in the dunegon with him, and luckily for the barbarian, Belit finds a sword for our hero, just in time for our hero to kill the beast.

Without warning, the lord of the pygmies appears (darn it, Belit, you can’t kill an immortal king!) Tezcatlipoca gives Conan a beating and he chokes the barbarian to near-death. The cavalry arrives in the form of Ahmaan the Merciless, thanks to a magical spell by N’Yaga! Ahmaan’s presence distracts Tezcatlipoca long enough for Conan to remove the king’s head with Ahmaan’s axe, killing him permanently.

Upon his death, Belit’s crew awaken from the spell the evil king placed on them. Conan and company quickly return to the Tigress and head out of the cursed waters of this sea.

CAPSULE REVIEW: This is by far the best illustrated issue of Conan that I have reviewed, with meticulous inking by artists credited only as “The Tribe.” This was a group of inkers, mostly Filipino artists, who worked for both Marvel Comics and DC, led by legendary inker Tony DeZuniga. One of my personal favorite inkers (the other being Alfred P. Alcala, a mentor of DeZuniga), you can see he inked John Buscema’s pencils in this issue. It’s stunning work compared to what I’ve seen in some previous stories.

There’s detailed background work in nearly every panel, with practically every angle you can imagine. Birds-eye view, close ups, etc. It’s the perfect example of the power of the inker; how he, she or they can make even a sub par illustration by the penciller look outstanding. It should be noted that an inker can also ruin a panel too if his inks are too thick, thin or flat – or if he makes an error, like misplacing or using too many shadows.

The inker has a great responsibility, for he or she can ruin a good drawing as much as they can save a lousy illustration. They set the mood, particularly in any “noir” comic book (think Frank Miller comics or the classic Dick Tracy). The inker does more than just ink the pencils. The Tribe certainly did a fantastic job here. Michelle Wolfman did a fine job coloring this issue.

It’s ironic that pygmies are in this issue, as I sarcastically dubbed myself “Lord of the Polka Pygmies” in my last review. On a scale of 1-10, I’d give this issue a 9. On eBay, copies were available for less than $10.

“And this story shall also be told!”   – The Wizard, in Conan the Barbarian


– Dean Plakas (still Lord of the Polka Pygmies)

Conan the Barbarian #62 “Lord of the Lions!”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. Weekly installments will be published until Marvel releases their first issue of the new Conan series. This review is written by Dean Plakas.)


Accompanied by a search party made up of members of his crew, the Watambi tribe and Tindaga of the dragon riders, Conan searches through the deadly jungles inland of the Black Coast in an effort to find Belit – she’s been kidnapped by Amra, the lord of the lions.


In this issue, Conan and his search party encounter a wild boar. The barbarian orders everyone to take cover in the trees until the boar gets bored (pun intended) and departs. A treacherous Tindaga takes the opportunity to betray Conan. In his attempt to flee from the group, Tindaga kicks Conan to the ground in the hopes that the boar will attack him. But Conan grabs a sturdy vine and makes his way back to the cover of the trees.

In the process of stopping his fall and regaining his footing, the clumsy Cimmerian drops his sword. Tindaga realizes his plan backfired as the boar sets his eyes on him instead and begins to chase the dragon rider. Anaki offers to kill Tindaga, but Conan doesn’t accept his offer to kill the guide; instead, he uses Anaki’s knife to attack the wart hog. While fighting, the barbarian re-acquires his sword and kills the beast.

To thwart any more escape attempts by Tindaga, he is tethered to Conan. The Cimmerian and members of his party continue the quest to find Belit with Tindaga the guide in tow. Tindaga will again try to escape from Conan later in the issue, but instead he becomes the victim of a poisonous snake, leaving the barbarian without a guide in Amra’s domain.

The scene shifts to Belit, who is prisoner of the megalomaniac Amra. The lord of the lions travels with his companion Sholo, a large black lion. Amra makes advances upon Belit but the Shemite hellcat refutes them. The jungle Casanova knocks her out with a single sock to the jaw and carries the unconscious damsel to his home, a ruined city guarded by lions and full of treasure.

In a private moment between Amra and Belit, Amra tells his life story – how he, a lone Aquilonian child and his father were the sole survivors of a shipwreck. His father got them to shore, but he was soon killed by a local tribe. After being taken as a child-slave, Amra witnessed the tribesmen slaughter a lion’s cub for good luck. The tribute backfired and the cub’s herd slaughtered the tribe in revenge and its mother claimed Amra for her own. Fatherless but no longer looking at life as a slave, Amra grew up with the lions. In time, he became their leader, claiming the ruined city as his domain. He filled it with treasures given to him as tribute from other tribes.

These tribes also sent brides to him as further tribute. Speaking of mates, Makeda, Amra’s current mate, finds Amra with Belit. She confronts Belit and attacks Conan’s queen in jealous rage, and in response is cast out by Amra.

The jilted Makeda departs and soon crosses paths with Conan, who was overdue for an appearance since he killed the wild boar. Conan demands that she bring him to Belit, but Makeda reveals that going to the ruined city would be suicidal. Apparently, she cast a spell which will release the living dead into her ex-paramour’s ruined city – all as revenge for being scorned and betrayed by Amra.

CAPSULE REVIEW: The Lord of the Lions tale is familiar. As an orphaned male raised by a group of lions, he is a thinly veiled, red-headed version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, Lord of the Apes gone bad. The story of a child raised by beasts is a recognizable tale, however, and the theme’s most famous character is Mowgli, from Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. It’s a totally believable concept as there have been several recorded accounts of feral children in recorded history (well beyond 10,000 BC!)

As for Marvel Comics scribe Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, they would soon find themselves as the creative team behind Marvel’s Tarzan the following year, in 1977. Buscema basically drew Tarzan the same way he did Amra, even in the same type of garment with the only change being different colors! Their run on Tarzan was not as successful as their run on Conan. The Marvel Tarzan title was cancelled after only 29 issues and 3 annuals due to issues with foreign publishers and creative differences. Thomas, as we’ve seen on his run with Conan, wanted to do adaptations. Buscema wanted to remain true to the legendary Joe Kubert’s version, and the foreign publishers wanted no adaptations.

The international publishers also wanted fewer pages produced than the standard amount published by Marvel. It would have been better for the House of Ideas not to have licensed the Tarzan character and focused more on their property created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby – the legendary Ka-Zar, Lord of the Hidden Jungle.