Conan the Barbarian #71 – “The Altar of the Damned!”

((EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. Today’s installment is written by Dean Plakas.)


We find Conan, Belit, and members of the Black Corsairs imprisoned in a dungeon, recovering from drugged wine given to them by a tricky priest named  Akkheba. The bloodthirsty priest informs them that he plans to sacrifice them to the goddess Ashtoreth.  
They are quickly rescued by Belit’s sub-chieftain M’Gora and crew member Kawaku. The two men have discovered an escape hatch to the dungeon cells through which Conan and his imprisoned companions crawl to safety. 


Conan and crew make their way to a cliff where Conan spots the Tigress and her skeleton crew awaiting their return, but while Belit desires to go back to the Tigress, Conan has other ideas. 


The Cimmerian prefers to return to and punish Akkheba, take the gold and jewels owed to him and the crew of the Tigress for protecting the city (which Kawaku agrees that Conan should do), and save Aluna from the clutches of the evil Kelkans.  


An insanely jealous Belit believes that Conan‘s real reason to return is to rescue the lovely Aluna only, but he quells her doubts with strong words and a kiss. She believes him and orders her men to the ship as she and Conan make their way back to the city. 

Unfortunately, after fighting and killing several guards on their way into the city, Conan and Belit find Aluna has been sacrificed by the priest Akkheba, who manages to escape from Conan and Belit. 


As they search for him, they hear a woman sobbing. They climb the stairs, following the sound to the top of the tower. Conan comes across iron bars, and as he has done before in earlier tales, he breaks the iron bars with his bare hands and they make their way to the tower room.

There they find Astarta, a young woman who reveals herself to be Ashtoreth. Belit and Conan do not believe her to be Ashtoreth, so she tells them her story (via flashback). She reveals that she is a foreigner who was wed to a sea-god. The sea-god gave her immortality and she believes the sea-god destroyed her coastal city along with many other islands when he grew angry with Atlantis and had it swallowed up by the oceans. He spared her life and made sure she washed safely ashore on Kelka. Unfortunately when the island priests discovered her, they mistook her to be the goddess Ashtoreth.  She tells Conan and Belit that the high priests have kept her imprisoned and abused for generations. She also tells them that their magic has kept the sea-god from hearing her calls for help.

As they talk, the Barachan Pirates, led by Auro, return to the city and start fighting the guards. As Conan tries to avoid getting involved in this battle, he and Belit are met by Akkheba and his guards. They fight. Akkheba tries to escape again but Conan and Belit give chase. Cornered, Akkheba is about to face Conan‘s wrath when an angry Belit robs Conan of his revenge and kills Akkheba herself.  


With the wicked priest dead, Astarta/Ashtoreth’s powers return and in a foreign language she calls out to the sea-god who hears her calls to bring the seas down on the island. She advises Conan and Belit to flee for their lives.


As the island crumbles, we learn that Kawaku found Auro’s pirates on the far side of the island and that Kawaku encouraged their attack on the city as a distraction – so that he could steal the gold and jewels. He insults Conan and Belit. An angry Conan knocks Kawaku unconscious and he carries him as he and Belit run to the shore. The three crew members of the Tigress board a longboat and make their way to their ship and safety. 

CAPSULE REVIEW: This tale is freely adapted from the original story The Marchers of Valhalla written by Conan creator Robert E. Howard.  It’s beautifully illustrated with pencils by John Buscema and inks by Ernie Chan, who was credited for his inks on Buscema’s earlier Conan issues as Ernie Chua.


An interesting tale, but nothing really new here from Roy Thomas..Conan in a dungeon cell? Done. A jealous Belit? What else is new. Woman washed up on shore mistaken for a goddess? Check. Conan breaking iron bars with his bare hands? Seen it already. Crooked high priests? Done, and we’ll see plenty more of them. Sacrificed damsel? Yawwnnnn. Towers tumbled down and a city destroyed by magic? Seen that too. 


Far too many familiar themes here. If this were the first Conan issue I read or owned I could see giving it a 8 out of 10, maybe higher, but because there is really nothing here I haven’t seen for the last 35 issues I give it a 6 out of 10. Copies were available on eBay for $5 or less.


“And this story shall also be told.” –The Wizard in Conan The Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian #68 “The Coming of King Kull!”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series of classic Conan reviews ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. This review is written by Dean Plakas.)

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. 

Conan #60 – “Riders of the River-Dragons”

(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.)


This story begins with the Cimmerian handily defeating members of Belit’s crew in a friendly wrestling competition on the deck of their ship.  Belit arrives and challenges Conan to a playful sword fight that develops into something more serious when Conan tells her she has the “fire” but not the “skill”.


He ends the skirmish when she gets reckless and nearly cuts him. Belit questions the Cimmerian if he has ever met a woman who could best a man in sword play – and Conan makes the mistake of mentioning (and speaking highly of) the fighting prowess of Red Sonja. Belit gets jealous and lunges at Conan, who grabs the Shemite hellcat and kisses her.
Their romantic interlude is cut short when they learn the ship has arrived at the entrance to the river of death called Zarkheba. Over the course of several days, the galley sails further south to its destination – the home of the Watambi tribe. Belit expects to collect their usual tribute of ivory. They soon learn that the tribe does not have their tribute for Belit because the Riders of the River Dragons, a tribe that tames giant crocodiles, have taken it.


Conan calms a furious Belit down and they stay the night to see if the Watambi’s excuses are true. The Watambi tribesmen perform a frenzied ritual dance, hoping it will give them magical power over the dragon riders.  The Cimmerian joins in the ritual dance with Nyami, chief Ombassa’s daughter. Once again we see a jealous, angry reaction from Belit.

N’Yaga, her childhood tutor and shaman, drugs her drink to calm her down. When Conan returns from participating in the dance, he carries her unconscious body into their tent to retire for the evening. During the night, Conan feels the earth tremble and he runs out to witness the dragon riders attack, riding their monstrous crocodiles.

He and N’Yaga help the Watambi tribe to beat back the late night raid. Ombassa and Conan question a dying raider who confesses the dragon riders were there to capture members of the Watambi to use as slaves for Amra. Amra is a legendary wild man whose name means “lion” and is rumored to run with the great cats. Conan returns to the tent to see why the belligerent Belit didn’t join the battle, and realizes his femme fatale has been kidnapped!


CAPSULE REVIEW: This has to be the worst splash page I’ve seen by John Buscema.  How in Mitra’s name and why in the name of Crom would he pencil two human heads in the bottom right hand of the corner like that?  It’s not like the two men are on a lower level of the ship. You can clearly see in panel one on page three that it’s a one level deck. On the splash page, the two heads in the bottom right hand corner are nearly two heads without bodies; and being that they are on the same floor as the other characters, in terms of perspective, it should be their legs and feet we are seeing not their heads (see the similar panel later in panel one on page eighteen and compare.)


Even if they were knocked down and laying down on the floor they wouldn’t be positioned like that on the splash page. It would have been better had he not drawn them there at all.  The cover is disappointing too, as it looks flat. There are some poorly drawn and inked images of Conan. An example is panel six of page six as well as poorly drawn faces of Belit on page eleven; however, there are also some beautiful panels, like panel one on page ten.


It’s a bizarre issue as the artwork is feast or famine, but at least Belit is consistent. She gets furious and jealous several times in this action packed issue over the littlest of things; can’t wait to see her reaction when she learns she’s been kidnapped…


On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue a 7. On eBay, copies were available for $3-5.

Belit, Queen of the Black Coast. (SOURCE: Pinterest)

For those of you well-familiar with the story of Belit (SPOILER ALERT!) this issue actually alludes to her death in Conan the Barbarian #100, where the character of Tito proclaims “May I one day see her hanging from a yardarm.” 


Strangely, Belit was replaced with Valeria in the 1980 movie “Conan the Barbarian,” which is unusual, since Valeria merely appeared in a few issues of Conan. It’s also humorous to note that Conan isn’t particularly impressed with the she-tiger when he first meets her. 


When Tito first informs Conan of her name – and of who and what “Belit” was – Conan isn’t impressed. Even after battling her vicious crew and seeing Tito and his shipmates die at the hands of Belit’s corsairs, Conan still isn’t impressed by her. 


When she personally introduces herself to the barbarian, even with her reputation preceding her, Conan responds with a simple “So?”


If you’re unfamiliar with how to pronounce her name (which I always pronounced BEE-lit – Wally) Marvel editorial helps out with a little bit with an editor’s note on page #16, explaining that the creative team always referred to her as “BAY-LEET.”

Riding a horse he stole in town, Conan bolts to the nearby wharf in Argos harbor. He spots a small galley disembarking for sea and leaps aboard the ship.  With soldiers in hot pursuit , he demands the captain to shove off or he’ll kill every man on board. The captain, named Tito, orders his oarsmen to shove off, much to the displeasure of the soldiers who can only watch Conan sail away.


Out of danger, Conan introduces himself to Captain Tito and informs Tito that a captain of the guard was killed when he harassed a couple of Conan’s friends. Having been seen with the couple by witnesses, Conan was arrested and hauled into court. He refused to betray the whereabouts of his friends so the judge decreed that Conan rot in jail for contempt of court. Conan knew he had to make a break for it, so he roughed up some guards, freed himself from his shackles [yes, in that order. Hey, he’s Conan…] and took possession of his helmet and sword. Conan killed some guards, and the judge. The Cimmerian made his escape from the remaining authorities by stealing a horse from the high constable. 

Tito informs Conan that he was also fleeced by the courts of Argos and that Conan is welcomed aboard his ship of peaceful sailors. Conan agrees to sail with them in their journey south to Kush. Upon landing ashore, they discover the dead bodies of natives from the village he usually trades with. Tito and his companion Conan find more natives murdered and their village on fire. Tito believes this to be the work of pirates of the Tigress, under the command of the Shemite hellcat, The Queen of the Black Coast herself, Bêlit.  They leave the razed village and return to the ship where they encounter the Tigress at sea the next day.  

The Tigress quickly catches up to Tito’s small galley and despite their valiant effort, Tito and his crew are quickly overrun and killed. Conan puts up a terrific fight, even using bow and arrows (which he hates using because he prefers weapons where it is a man to man fight in close range). Just as the sailors of the Tigress are set to kill Conan, Bêlit orders her crew to stop as she is intrigued by the Cimmerian. He tells her he is from Argos but she does not believe him. She lets him know she has never seen his like in all of her travels [so we know she’s never been to northern Cimmeria].

Bêlit offers Conan the chance to prove himself against her best warrior, the giant Odongo. If Conan refuses, her crew will kill Conan with spears. Conan accepts this challenge, not only to avoid facing all of those spear tosses but because he saw Odongo kill Tito. They fight and during their battle, Conan tosses Odongo overseas to the sharks.  

As the sharks feast, Bêlit propositions Conan to be her king. He consents and her crew immediately accepts him in his new role. Bêlit introduces Conan to her shaman, N’Yaga, who tends to Conan’s wounds as the cargo of Tito’s ship is pillaged and the ship sunk with its dead aboard. 


As the sharks attend to their buffet, the Tigress sails southward. The story ends with Bêlit performing a dance in front of all of the men, even the ones dying form their wounds, and consummates her new relationship with Conan, the lucky barbarian.

CAPSULE REVIEW: This issue introduces artist Steve Gan, who inks the pencils of John Buscema. There is a lot of beautiful background work in this issue; with great detail but that all seems to disappear in the last few pages. Take a good look at several of the panels on pages 26, 30, and 31.


There is little to zero background work; even the floorboards of the ship have disappeared, replaced with nothing but a solid stroke of color. While on the subject of color, Bêlit is said to be of dark eyes, as she is depicted on the cover, but her eyes are often colored blue in her closeups within the issue. The cover is by John Buscema and John Romita though it looks more of Romita’s work than Buscema.


Again, there are a number of historical inaccuracies. As often pointed out, Conan is supposed to be living circa 10,000 BC. Often pointed out, and evidently often overlooked……


For instance, the splash page. We see Conan riding hard on a stolen horse. The soldiers are not far behind him as he rides upright in his saddle–wait! what?? Whoooooaa horsey! Whhooooooaaaa! Saddle?? The earliest known appearance of saddle-like equipment first appeared around 700 BC, in use by the Assyrian cavalry.  


Another example is on page 19, panel two, arrows bounce off of Conan’s armor…how lucky for him, especially since the kind of chest armor he is wearing hadn’t been invented yet and wouldn’t be for thousands of years. Then there’s the sailing ships in the harbor and The Tigress itself. All are beautifully illustrated. If you know an archaeologist please DO NOT show him or her this issue…because the first sign of sailing ships appeared around 3500 BC and not 10,000 BC. 


I’m looking forward to a future issue where Conan returns to the cold north and rides a snowmobile to the local ski lift. Perhaps he can order lobster at the lodge through an app on his cell phone while he takes scenic pictures with his Kodak camera as he skis down the mountain. 

CROM!

CREATIVE TEAM FOR CONAN THE BARBARIAN #58

On a scale of 1-10, I’d give this issue a 7. On eBay, copies were available for less than $10. CGC-graded copies in 9.6 or better began with starting bids of $95 or more.

Conan #56 – “The Thing From the Tower!”

(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.)

A furious Conan scolds the men of the city who ignored her cries for help. The Cimmerian and his young friends head to the tower, and once inside, they split up and take two different passageways. Conan shows his brute strength as he rips steel bars blocking his path to the bat creature and the kidnapped damsel. Meanwhile, Tara and Yusef encounter Mad Jakk, a deformed man chained to a chair, who begs them to release him.

As Conan fights the bat-creature, his every blow has repercussions on the whole city!. When Conan defeats the monster, it turns into dust, along with the woman it abducted. He further notices that the tower is now crumbling down around him. He departs to rendezvous with his youthful companions.


The entire city and its inhabitants dissolves into dust as they flee!  Before the city dissolves into oblivion, Conan spots a disfigured form at the top of one of the remaining towers. His companions then reveal to Conan their encounter with Mad Jakk. He was a sorcerer who had magically created the city long ago, wanting to live far away from a society that shunned him. The magical city developed a life of its own, vanishing away from reality, but it would appear when it sensed lone warriors nearby.

When it did, it would lure a lone warrior into the city with the bat-beast and beautiful woman as bait, attempting to increase the population of the town. A warrior would be cursed to become an inhabitant of this city once he was defeated by the bat-creature, which represented the wizard’s creation. It appears that the more warriors it claimed the stronger the city became. When he defeated the bat-creature (the city itself), Conan caused its very foundations to crumble.


The newly freed Mad Jakk finished the job of destroying the city, losing his own life in the process. This strange ordeal over, the companions get back on their horses and continue their journey onward to the city of Messantia.

CAPSULE REVIEW: I really like the cover of this issue. It is well composed, illustrated by none other than master Conan artist John Buscema. What caught my eye the most about the cover is that you can see the Tower beginning to crumble on the right with no sign of anything hitting it. The foreshadowing is subtle and well executed.


The artwork inside is beautifully rendered although you can clearly see some panels where Pablo Marco’s inks overwhelm the penciling of John Buscema. It’s something we will see again when Tony DeZuniga inks future issues of Conan Buscema pencils. This is not to say that I don’t appreciate the collaboration with these inkers, because I really do like them. I would love to own original pages of this type of finished art some day. My criticism is only to point out the different styles – they often add to the pencil work, but sometimes an inking style can overwhelm the original art.


As for the story, meh! You can take it or leave it. It’s one of those “filler” stories or “one-shots” that I really have no problem with as long as they somehow change a character, show a new dimension to a character, or have a moral lesson to be learned. In this issue, we see the romantic side of Conan again as he is willing to come to a fair maiden’s rescue even though he doesn’t know her. We see the Cimmerian in action because of his code of honor in defending the defenseless – not bad for a “savage barbarian.”  The lesson here is not to be cruel or bully a disfigured person – especially a sorcerer – for he will exact revenge and you will get your comeuppance. Well, that and if your horse gets the life scared out of it, take a hint at the bad omen and find another route pronto. Trust your horse! Remember, knowing is half the battle!


On a scale of 1-10, I give this issue an 8. On eBay, copies of this issue were available for less than $5.


“And this story shall also be told.” -The Wizard in Conan the Barbarian

Conan #53 – “Brothers of the Blade!”

(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 depart Ronnoco, Conan reveals his plan to infiltrate the camp of the Brothers of the Blade by sneaking in as a beggar with his squire, the young Tara.. The execution of his plan is quickly ruined by a suspicious Clawfoot who assaults Conan and Tara. Conan and Tara find themselves in a fight to the death with the Brothers of the Blade. In the heat of the fight, Tara kills Clawfoot; the first man she has ever killed in her young life. The other men in the camp prevent her from helping Conan fight the other two brothers, making it a fair fight as possible.


Eventually Conan kills the other two brothers and the Crimson Company rides in to take care of the rest of the guards at the camp. It could have been worse for Conan and Tara had the guards at the camp not been honest men and jumped in the fray during their battles with the Brothers of the Blade.

Conan and Tara would have been heavily outnumbered in the battle. Fortunately, the guards did not attack them. Unfortunately for the guards, The Crimson Company attacked them. With Yvonna now in their possession, The Crimson Company and Conan head back to Ronnoco.


In the epilogue, a giant shadow demon kills all but one man of an expedition searching for the men entrusted by The Crimson Company with the Ring of the Black Shadow. The man escapes on his noble steed to warn of its dangerous existence.

CAPSULE REVIEW: The cover could have been better composed. The three brothers would have been more menacing if they were drawn attacking Conan at different angles and from a bird’s eye view with Conan surrounded by them. Plus, the eyes of a couple of the characters on the cover seem to be misdirected. Conan looks as if he’s looking past them instead of at them and Steel-Skull appears to be looking directly at the reader of the comic book. Clawfoot’s foot doesn’t seem very threatening either; it doesn’t even appear to be made of metal as depicted within the issue either.


The names of The Brothers of The Blade are pretty simple as well. Unimpressive, uncomplicated, and basic names of a character is a tell-tale sign that a character in a Roy Thomas Conan story won’t last more than a few panels against Conan. Steel-Skull doesn’t even have a blade, he just has a steel helmet on the top of his head. Conan’s helmet is more threatening as it has bull horns on it, by Crom!


As for Clawfoot, he didn’t even fight Conan, although he did throw a knife at our Cimmerian. Tara is the one who fought and killed Clawfoot. He lost his life to a 17 year old girl who never killed anyone before. Clawfoot, Steel-Skull, and Slicer … these are not names that sound as threatening as “The Devourer of Souls” or “Thoth Amon.” The names of these three brothers of the blade are very simple names that are more “adjective” than they are “noun”…. but they are still an improvement over “Shammash the Invincible” from an earlier issue.


While on the subject of humor, we are exposed to more of Conan’s funny, sarcastic side in this issue. We also see more of his disdain for civilization and archers. It’s clear that his preference is to fight man to man. If he were a soldier in more modern times, he would not be a fan of snipers given his views on archers, which is ironic as he is a fine shot with a bow and arrow himself.


Frank Springer did a fine job inking John Buscema’s pencils both on the characters and the backgrounds. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Springer’s embellishments on Buscema’s work and he didn’t disappoint whereas the coloring by Janice Cohen did. Most of the coloring was good, but there were errors, particularly when it came to the white stripes on the pants of Clawfoot.


Overall, an entertaining well crafted issue. On a scale of 1-10, I’d give this issue an 8. On eBay, copies were available for less than $5.

Set in the evening at the Border Kingdoms, we find Conan with Stefanya, the young woman he stumbled upon and rescued from a blood-crazed mob (another recurring theme in these Conan tales) while on his way to Phalkar. She has brought him before her master Zoqquanor, who lies in a death-like sleep on a slab of stone (See Conan the Barbarian #46 for all the details!)

Stefanya tells Conan that if her master dies, then she will die too – at least that is what she believes, attributing it to a spell she claims Zoqquanor placed on her. Determined to awaken her master from his condition, she convinces Conan that they should leave with the body immediately. This way, they will avoid running afoul of any more spells of protection Zoqquanor may have placed on his lair (such as the giant stone golem from Conan the Barbarian #46!)


As Conan makes a travois to carry the wizard’s body, he sees Stefanya changing her clothes. Mentally he makes a note of an odd star-shaped birthmark above her hip. Zoqquanor is strapped in the travois (which is pulled by Conan’s horse) and the pair begin their travels. With his companion already asleep and Conan struggling to stay awake, the Cimmerian stops at some ruins to camp. He lays his lovely female companion on the ground, kisses her as she sleeps and covers her with a blanket. Then he goes to sleep himself. He’s soon awakened by Stefanya to behold an eerie sight.

Zoqquanor’s body is surrounded by a silver radiance, and grotesque goblin-like dwarves are creeping toward the sleeping wizard. Instinctively, Conan goes into berserker mode and fights the creatures with some help from Stefanya. With the dead but bloodless creatures lying on the ground, the duo shares a kiss and then continue their journey east without further rest.


A couple of kisses between Conan and Stefanya and humorous at times, this seems to be a promising develipment for Conan. But that’s the entire Conan story for this issue.


CAPSULE REVIEW: The nine pages that are here aren’t all that spectacular. It is possibly the worst John Buscema splash page that I have seen and I don’t recall ever seeing a bad page like this from the legendary artist. There is some texture and depth to the background, but the foreground is poorly composed. Conan’s profile covers much of Stefanya’s head and captions cover Conan’s head and arm. His hand is also awkwardly positioned. But it doesn’t end there – with regard to the second page, there is very little background work and the inks are very thick.


Where usually John Buscema’s sequential art tells a story without use of dialogue, this story is told through narrative with flashbacks from the previous issue which don’t conclude until the middle of the third page. The artwork improves from this point, but I wonder if the splash and pages two and three were part of the missing pages and possibly quickly re-drawn by Buscema and Adkins just in time for the looming deadline.

A Conan pin-up, Stan Lee’s Soapbox, an expanded letters page, and an essay make up for missing content in this issue of Conan the Barbarian.

They certainly had to find a lot of filler for this issue. Unlike Conan the Barbarian #22, where an entire classic issue was reprinted, the bullpen put all sorts of filler in this issue. There are two pages of letters from fans with responses from the staff. There’s another page of filler featuring “Stan’s Soapbox” and other news promoting different Marvel titles. Then, there’s a reprinted sword-and-sorcery mini-tale called “Sanctuary,” written and drawn by Wally Wood. Also presented in this issue – and perhaps the strangest of all – is a speculative essay about Conan’s parents which was written by Fred Blosser. 


He theorizes that Conan’s father was from Cimmeria and his mother was from the Aesir. In other words, according to Blosser, Conan is not a full-blooded Cimmerian. The essay originally appeared in Glenn Lord’s Howard Collector (in 1972) before it went out of print, hopefully along with Blosser’s theory. An essay? In a comic book? By Crom!


Finally, there is a pin-up of a young Conan by artist Tim Conrad. The artwork is somewhat reminiscent of Barry Windosr-Smith’s Conan work or at least appears to be influenced by it.


The cover is illustrated by Gil Kane with inks by Tom Palmer. The lettering on the cover is credited to Gaspar Saladino. No matter how much they tried to save it or package it, this is not much of an issue. 


On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a 3 (please see our review guidelines here.) Copies on eBay were readily available for less than $10.


“Ant this story shall also be told.”    – The Wizard in Conan the Barbarian


– Dean Plakas