Review: Conan the Barbarian #42 – “Night of the Gargoyle!”

Conan the Barbarian #42 is a one-off story based on Robert E. Howard’s classic tale “The Purple Heart of Erlik.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. We’ll be reviewing issues of Marvel’s original Conan the Barbarian series weekly until Marvel releases their first new Conan comic books in 2019. This review is written by Wally Monk.)


This issue is one of the comics in our Countdown to Conan that I’ve been looking forward to reviewing. It’s one of those one-off stories that reflect the high quality, pick-up-and-read tales for which Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian is known. 


Written by Roy Thomas and “freely adapted” from Robert E. Howard’s “The Purple Heart of Erlik,” this tale is a great starting point for new readers, and I think old readers will appreciate it, too. The original Howard story was published in the November 1936 issue of Spicy-Adventure Stories, an adult-themed periodical with edgy stories to match. In this particular magazine, Howard wrote under the pen name “Sam Walser.” 

Howard wrote “The Purple Heart of Erlik” under the pen name “Sam Walser.”

Like many of Roy Thomas’ adaptations, “The Purple Heart of Erlik” was never a Conan tale. In its original incarnation, Howard’s story featured an American woman who was attempting to steal an extremely valuable, rare gem from a Chinese art dealer in Shanghai. In this comic book, a woman is trying to steal the dragon head of Koblar-Zann from a Khitan antiquities merchant. In the original story, the lady is backed up by a sailor; here, the woman has Conan to save the day. A full review of Howard’s original story is available in a well-written blog by Doc Hermes here. 



Another interesting note for Conan the Barbarian comics fans – and to provide the answer to the post on the Paint Monk’s Library Facebook page –  this issue is the first time the title splash page begins regularly featuring the famous excerpt from the Nemedian Chronicles. It will continue being featured on the splash pages of the comic from this point forward, with only a few exceptions. 

“Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the earth under his sandaled feet.”                                                    – The Nemedian Chronicles

WARNING! SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Review: Conan the Barbarian #42

Conan is relaxing in the fabled city of thieves when he overhears (and witnesses) a conversation through a nearby window. A lovely woman catches his eye, and it looks like she is in trouble. There’s a man yelling at her, and Conan doesn’t like what he sees.

It turns out that the man is Baron Takkim, and the woman, Arlinna, is in a bind. She spent last evening with a Khitan ambassador who is now dead, and Takkim claims he spotted her leaving the premises. She protests her innocence, but Takkim makes it clear that he can have her killed as a scapegoat for the real murderer – unless she does him a favor, of course. In the city of thieves, there’s always a price, it seems. 

Arlinna is given a fake amulet, which Takkim claims will prove she is a noblewoman seeking to buy treasure from a Khitan antiquities dealer. The dealer, Takkim says, won’t know the difference between the real woman who owns the amulet and Arlinna. The artifact that the baron seeks is a golden dragon’s head, the head of Koblar-Zann. It is said to give the owner eternal youth.


Arlinna leaves the building through a back alley, and is quickly accosted by a group of three (rather laughable) thieves – Armand the dwarf, Womar of the single eye, and Brutos of the weak mind. It doesn’t take long for Conan to jump into the fray, escorting Arlinna (who tells Conan her name is Merriam) out of harm’s way. A funny sequence takes place where the dwarf bites Conan on the calf – and Conan responds by hanging the tiny thief up on a nearby wall as he walks away. 

Thinking he’s helping the woman – and that he’s made a new “friend” – Conan engages in a brawl for a small sack of gold. Winning the combat easily, the Cimmerian spends the day with “Merriam” drinking and carousing. Then Conan puts on his proverbial, womanizing moves. “Bones of Bel!” Conan exclaims. “Look where we’ve wandered to, girl – my room is right up those stairs!” Conan’s “A-game” (not an endorsement, just an observation of behavior) is as smooth as sandpaper. As Conan prepares to bed down for the night with his latest ladyfriend in tow, Arlinna breaks a flagon of drink on the barbarian’s head. She’s got a mission to accomplish with a waiting merchant, but she mutters “hope I didn’t hurt you…at least not too much…” as she departs. 

Arlinna meets with the merchant, Lun-Faar, and he has been expecting her. He examines the amulet around her neck and shows her around the shop. Arlinna is terrified as she spots a massive stone gargoyle in the room – but Lun-Faar explains that it is merely stone and cannot harm her. She also appears nervous as she spies small figurines, shaped like people frozen in terror, in the room. He responds that they are simply trinkets he should have disposed of long ago.

Lun-Faar tells her the tale of Tavashtri, the gargoyle. It is said that it was turned to stone by ancient magic and can only be summoned to life by an incredible will, and only when the moon is full – “like tonight,” Arlinna says. 


Soon, the woman spots the dragon head for which she has been sent, and asks to look around the room. The merchant agrees, and she grabs the dragon’s head and tries to make her getaway, only to find bars over the window from which she hopes to escape. Lun-Faar is not as foolish as he appears, and he’s known from the beginning of Arlinna’s scheme. Now, the merchant says, she must pay – and the man who is behind her scheme will pay more dearly. 


As Arlinna is imprisoned, Lun-Faar approaches the gargoyle, releasing it from its stone sleep as it flies off into the night, in search of Baron Takkim.

Will Conan save Arlinna from certain death at the hands of the vengeful merchant? Or will Tavashtri seek the Cimmerian’s blood as well? Would Conan have ignored Arlinna’s blow to the head if he was wearing his yak-helmet? And is Armand the dwarf still hanging from the wall in the alley?

CAPSULE REVIEW: This is a really fun issue of Conan. The art by John Buscema is once again excellent, and the action sequences with the gargoyle are brilliantly drawn. Writer Roy Thomas could have done more with the story here, drawing more elements from Howard’s original tale. But since it’s simply a one-off tale, it’s sufficient and satisfying the way it is. What isn’t satisfying is that Thomas dumps the tale with a cliff-hanger (you’ll see) and the next issue jumps into a new plot entirely, featuring Red Sonja!


As stated above, Buscema draws the gargoyle well, and this issue has some examples of Buscema’s ability to portray a fight scene in nicely transitioned panels. There are some inconsistencies in Thomas’ writing, such as Conan referring to “hell” numerous times, but I’m willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy the issue the way it is written. 

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue a 7.6. It’s not spectacular, but it’s a good, solid read – the kind of stories that Conan the Barbarian will be known for throughout its 275-issue run. On eBay, copies were readily available for less than $10. 

As always, I am – Wally (AKA Paint Monk) 

Review: Conan the Barbarian #39 – “The Dragon from the Inland Sea”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. We’ll be reviewing issues of Marvel’s original Conan the Barbarian series weekly until Marvel releases their first new Conan comic books in 2019. This review is written by Wally Monk.)

“Been there, done that and got the t-shirt.” Or in the words of the famous jedi knight, “This isn’t the issue of Conan that you are looking for.”

That’s the quickest and most appropriate synopsis and review of this particular issue of Conan the Barbarian. Ironically, I agreed to finish this review when fellow PM blogger Joeseph Simon explained that he couldn’t honestly think of anything complimentary to say about the story. Not to mention he’s pinched for time, being knee-deep in the production and layout of the first unofficial Ka-Zar fanzine. More on that in a future column!

Sadly, let-downs occur frequently in”filler” issues. Author Roy Thomas explains in Dark Horse Comics’ Chronicles of Conan Volume #6 that Conan the Barbarian #39 is “…an on-the-road, getting-from-here-to-there story, with overtones of Andromeda being sacrificed to the sea serpent in myth…”

On that level, it works. It’s a simple story that could be left out of Conan continuity. Or for that matter, it could be a 1970s Ka-Zar story, too.

Take it however you wish, this original story by Roy Thomas and John Buscema is a typical Conan tale, one that we’ll see dozens of times before all 275 issues of this series are reviewed. It’s not awful – it’s just not original, memorable or anything you’ll want to read twice. You’ll have more fun counting the cliches and the number of times you think “didn’t Conan do this already in issue number x?“

Review: Conan the Barbarian #38 – “The Warrior and the Were-Woman!”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. We’ll be reviewing issues of Marvel’s original Conan the Barbarian series weekly until Marvel releases their first new Conan comic books in 2019. This review is written by Wally Monk.)

Conan’s learning curve when it comes to women is dangerously steep. I’m starting to think it’s our Cimmerian’s primary character flaw – for 38 issues (give or take a few that didn’t have a female protagonist), Conan has been betrayed, hit in the head, lied to, stolen from and used by various female characters throughout the series. In their defense, Conan does have a singular purpose as he pursues these various women, and one way or the other, these relationships always end badly.

This issue is no exception. Freely adapted from “The House of Arabu” by Robert E. Howard (a non-Conan tale), this issue sees the culmination of the affair between Amytis, Narim-Bey’s wife, and Conan. It’s a great issue – and in these pages we see a much darker Conan. We get to experience a barbarian who is not particularly heroic, in fact, he’s frightened throughout much of the story. Here we see a Conan who tries to defend his own actions and when he can’t and the chips fall down, he packs it up and leaves. Is Conan a hero or an anti-hero? I’ll examine this a little more in my capsule review.  

John Buscema returns as penciller this issue, after a one-issue hiatus. It’s this particular story where I believe Buscema hits his stride, and he seems to settle in to the Conan we’ll see throughout the rest of his run on the title. There are fewer variations in the way he draws Conan, and there’s a stability and continuity present in the artwork that’s slowly been building since he first started work on the title.

WARNING! SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Review: Conan the Barbarian #38

Conan sits in Narim-Bey’s feast hall watching the festivities, but his mind is elsewhere – he’s thinking about recurring dreams he has about a half-woman, half-beast he believes stalks his sleep. Narim-Bey even questions why the barbarian is so sullen, asking if it’s a woman that has him obviously depressed. Amytis, playing coy thanks to solid writing by Roy Thomas, inquires if Conan is thinking about Princess Yolinda, whom he rescued last issue. Conan remarks that perhaps Juma (from Conan the Barbarian #37) made a wise decision to continue on duty instead of taking a promotion – perhaps Juma has less time to think! 

The conversation is interrupted by a man who says that perhaps Conan’s troubles stem from his rumored killing of priests in Khitai. Conan doesn’t take kindly to the suggestion – and in typical Conan fashion, grabs the man (who happens to be Narim-Bey’s cousin) and throws him to the floor after the nobleman grabs a knife to defend himself from the barbarian.

Conan seems to be in for a rough night. As the dust settles from the tussle, the woman who was dancing in the feast hall grabs a knife from a drunken nobleman and jumps at Conan, claiming she wishes death to “barbarians who sprawl at ease among the Sons of Tarim!”  As she falls, she plunges the dagger into her own heart. Now it’s time for Conan to leave – as the feast hall clears, Conan hears (or imagines) a voice suggesting “madness – or a dead priest’s curse?”

Narim-Bey alone walks Conan home from the feast hall, but as they walk, Conan spots a deadly cobra lurking in the shadows. Perhaps there is a curse of some sort after all! It’s time for the Cimmerian to get some rest – or to at least try to rest.

Sleep doesn’t come easily to Conan, but eventually he drifts off. And as expected, the were-woman who haunts his dreams makes an appearance, only Conan finds out it isn’t the were-woman he holds in his grasp upon waking, it’s Amytis, who has managed to sneak into the barbarian’s room as Narim-Bey lies asleep. 

Amytis tells Conan that he’s not dreaming, and that he’s been marked – according to Amytis, “a woman knows the spells of other women, even inhuman ones.” Then Conan becomes violent, grabbing Amytis by the hair and demanding that she tell him who she knows who can lift the curse (remember when I mentioned in a previous review that Conan is the poster child for the Hyborian “hashtag-me-too” movement?)

Amytis tells him the name Gimil-Ishbi, claiming that the wizard dwells in the Mound of the Moon, which is found west of Aghrapur. Now Conan must head out to have the “curse” released!

As Conan rides away, we soon see Amytis, cowering before an unseen figure. The trap has been set.

Will Conan lift the curse? What is in store for our barbarian at the Mound of the Moon? Will Conan EVER learn how to treat a woman properly? And will the Cimmerian ever get a restful night’s sleep without nightmare dreams?

(WARNING: More Spoilers Ahead!)

CAPSULE REVIEW: Whoa. This issue is a winner. Normally, Conan’s love affairs end with a parting of ways, or some mutual dismissal by both parties. Here, we see a major affair destroy everything the Cimmerian has worked hard to build and nearly claim his life. Will he learn from this? Since I’ve read many of the later issues of Conan (and you have, too, most likely!) we know he learned nothing. 

PM blogger Joeseph Simon has repeatedly said in his Conan reviews that he’s plotting the progress of Conan from simple barbarian to eventual King of Aquilonia. Clearly, the barbarian has a long way to go in his interpersonal relationships before he’s ready to assume the throne. Rule Number One? Don’t betray the people that got you there. This issue should be his first lesson.

What’s more disturbing about Conan as a character is the epilogue of this story. Conan weighs going back to Turan – where he’s pretty much ridiculed as a savage, and Amytis will still be waiting – and then, with a hearty, Cimmerian laugh – decides to head “back to the Hyborian Kingdoms which are more to his liking.” 

Is Conan an anti-hero? He certainly displays the attributes of a traditional hero from time to time. But the subtleties (and not-so-subtle characteristics) of the Cimmerian make me wonder if he’s the first major comic character to change from hero to anti-hero fairly consistently depending on his circumstances. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. 

I genuinely thought from the series that Conan liked Narim-Bey and perhaps they would have developed a friendship – but Conan laughing and riding back west shortly after the manner in which this tale ended provides a different look at the character. 

Thought provoking, also written and drawn well, I’d give this issue an 8.9 on a scale of 1-10. On eBay, copies of this issue were readily available in ungraded condition for under $10. 

As always, I am – Wally (AKA Paint Monk)

Review: Conan the Barbarian #37 – “The Curse of the Golden Skull!”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Countdown to Conan, a series ringing in the return of Robert E. Howard’s popular Cimmerian to Marvel Comics. We’ll be reviewing issues of Marvel’s original Conan the Barbarian series weekly until Marvel releases their first new Conan comic books in 2019. This review is written by Wally Monk.)

Review: Conan the Barbarian #25 – “The Mirrors of Kharam Akkad!”

John Buscema, who holds the record of longevity working on Conan the Barbarian as penciller, took over the artistic reins with Conan the Barbarian #25.

Like many of the early issues of Conan, the story in Conan the Barbarian #25 is “inspired by” (as the title page proclaims) a Robert E. Howard short story called “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune.” Strangely, the story is a tale of King Kull of Atlantis and is one of only three short stories about King Kull which were published during Robert E. Howard’s lifetime!

The story was published in an issue of Weird Tales from September 1929. Interestingly, the entire tale is told by Kharam Akkad in this issue, as he speaks to a robed man he believes is the Living Tarim. It’s done in a narrative form, without word balloons, and is an interesting addition to the comic book. As a fan of King Kull, I really enjoyed reading this particular comic book and found it a fitting introduction to John Buscema as the new artist of this series.

Many of John Buscema’s backgrounds were less detailed than those of Barry Windsor-Smith.