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Post by paulie on Mar 7, 2015 21:30:39 GMT -5
nice thread, are you scanning from the Dark Horse reprints? Or are you lucky enough to have pristine mags with no yellowing. Or are you doing some kind of post-editing trick? No reprint, I'm working from my collection of old SSoC issues. I can't say that I ever noticed any yellowing of the B&W mags, although some of my colour Conan the barbarian issues did. Guess I'm indeed lucky! So you have a complete run? I've holes here and there but have in upwards of 150 issues. And I'm keeping up. #76 was the best issue out of the last five or six. No glaring continuity errors and place names that fit. #77 is a stinker. You are being to kind. |
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Post by foxley on Mar 8, 2015 6:06:30 GMT -5
The outfit looks practically identical to the design Jusko uses for his female Barsoomian outfits. Maybe this started as some sort of John Carter study he re-purposed?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 8, 2015 6:56:17 GMT -5
No reprint, I'm working from my collection of old SSoC issues. I can't say that I ever noticed any yellowing of the B&W mags, although some of my colour Conan the barbarian issues did. Guess I'm indeed lucky! So you have a complete run? I've holes here and there but have in upwards of 150 issues. And I'm keeping up. #76 was the best issue out of the last five or six. No glaring continuity errors and place names that fit. #77 is a stinker. You are being to kind. Yes, I have a complete run of SSoC; I was lucky to start collecting it early. I dropped the title when too many Fleisher stories got to me (and dropped comics altogether for a while a bit later) but started reading the title again when Roy Thomas came back. Thankfully, the issues I had missed were neither rare nor expensive. Completing my run of SSoC still took a little longer than that of Kull and the barbarians! |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 8, 2015 7:01:41 GMT -5
The outfit looks practically identical to the design Jusko uses for his female Barsoomian outfits. Maybe this started as some sort of John Carter study he re-purposed? Could be, although I view it as a generic "woman covered in jewelry" look. I'm really not a fan of that type of imagery... It doesn't look dignified at all. More like the idea of what a horny teenage boy would imagine a woman dressed only with jewelry would look like, and less like what the real thing would. |
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Post by foxley on Mar 8, 2015 17:30:53 GMT -5
The outfit looks practically identical to the design Jusko uses for his female Barsoomian outfits. Maybe this started as some sort of John Carter study he re-purposed? Could be, although I view it as a generic "woman covered in jewelry" look. I'm really not a fan of that type of imagery... It doesn't look dignified at all. More like the idea of what a horny teenage boy would imagine a woman dressed only with jewelry would look like, and less like what the real thing would. You may be right. However, I know that Jusko is a huge Burroughs fan (as am I) and did two series of trading cards depicting scenes from the Burroughs novels (including the more obscure non-series ones) which were later published as a book. (Highly recommended for Jusko fans, by the way.) In the John Carter novels, the female Martians wear only jeweled harnesses and the design Jusko went for on that cover is practically identical to one used on the cards. The one used on the cards if fluid and looks more 'wearable', so it makes me think the cover was an early attempt at the design. |
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Post by paulie on Mar 11, 2015 9:59:13 GMT -5
The star of Khorala
Script by Roy Thomas Art by Sal Buscema and Tony DeZuniga Adapting the Conan pastiche of the same title, written by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. This story is a sequel to Shadows in Zamboula, adapted in SSoC#14. As the tale's first few pages remind us, Conan has recently left Zamboula with a certain ring, the star of Khorala, that he took from the inanimate body of the city's satrap. That ring is supposed to have certain powers, including that of giving its female bearers the power to seduce men. It had previously been stolen from the queen of Ophir, far to the west of Zamboula, and the lady had offered a roomful of gold for its return. A roomful of gold that Conan now intends to collect! The country of Ophir is said to be rich in gold, but when Conan arrives there it looks kind of gloomy. A bartender explains that the land's weak king Moranthes has imprisoned the young and popular queen Marala in a tower, accusing her of lewdness. The disharmony between king and queen is hanging a pall over the entire land. The king's cousin Rigello is said to be in favour again, and we guess that he will be the villain of the play. The captain of the now-disbanded queen's regiment, Garus, happens to enter the tavern where Conan has stopped, and when some of Rigello's soldiers barge in to accuse him of treason, the Cimmerian sides with him. After a good brawl, the men ride off toward Ophir's capital, with the intention of liberating the queen from her prison. With the complicity of the lady's doctor, Khafrates, a daring plan is set in motion: Conan will climb the tower and bring the queen down with him, using metal climbing implements. (The queen, by the way, is extremely hot... as one would expect). Conan, queen Malara and Garus make camp that night and the queen tells the story of the ring. Generations prior, the lords of Ophir met with a residue of their knights in order to discuss the defense of the land against the growing powers of Koth and Turan. Nothing came from that meeting, but shortly before its end the ancestor of Rigello withdrew, right before the rest of the lords of Ophir were attacked by surprise and slain. The ancestor of Marala was killed by a crossbow bolt, defending his family's banner. As for the ring, it had been owned by that ancestor, but he had always refused to use its magic (whatever that was). His widow inherited the ring, and many attribute to her wearing it the eventual ascension of her son (and Marala's current lofty position). Since then, the jewel is associated with Marala's family's success. Conan gives the ring back to the queen, suggesting that since she doesn't have a roomful of gold handy, she might consider offering him a generalship when she regains her throne. The fugitives make for the border of Aquilonia, where Marala has relatives. They are however caught by Ophirean cavalrymen in hot pursuit, and must find shelter in a small ruined castle. The situation looks grim, but Marala is encouraged to realize that they are in the remains of Theringo castle, where her ancestor met his untimely end. Perhaps that is a sign from the gods! Rigello himself arrives to take part in the siege, and the trio manages to push back the few initial assaults. They would have to fall eventually, of course, except that a supernatural event occurs: a group of ghostly riders burts upon the scene, scvattering the Ophireans. They are the ghosts of the knights murdered by Rigello's ancestors. Rigello urges his men to keep fighting, until a crossbow bolt brings him down. Queen Marala insists that it must be the magic of the ring that summoned the ghosts, but after she cleans up Conan's wounds she realizes that the jewel slipped from her finger and is lost! She sees the loss as a sign: "That settles it. I had but feeble chance in Ophir when I possessed the star-- none without it. Nor do I think that Mitra himself could make a man of Moranthes. I shall go to Aquilonia where I have kin. Let the men of Ophir settle their feuds without me-- and may the gods help the people of the realm!" Luckily, before she fled the capital, Marala remembered to bring with her a fortune in jewels (hidden in her belt). Conan suggests she could ride with him instead of going to Aquilonia, but the queen insists on being true to her marriage vows as long as her feeble husband is alive. She then leaves with Garus toward Aquilonia, where she expects she will eventually take the name of her kin's ancestral land. If and when she meets Conan again, she will likely be countess Albiona. Albiona, of course, is the young countess that was so loyal to King Conan in The hour of the dragon, and with whom he shared a few chapters of that particular adventure (see Giant-sized Conan #2 and 3). Notes: - Since this story occurs right after Shadows in Zamboula, we can expect Conan to be around 31 or 32 at this time. - Continuity point of interest: as he departs, Conan says he intends to visit someone in Cimmeria. "Say that I visit an old woman; who she is is my affair". This strongly suggests that Conan's mother is still alive at this time. If SSoC #119 is set after this issue, he will discover that she has died while he was away, along with his entire family apart from his sister Siobhan and a cousin. Note that because of the influence of the John Milius Conan movie, some writers at Marvel claimed that Conan's parents had died while he was a child; this statement here contradicts that. - The name "Khorala" has been used to describe the capital of Ophir, which Howard never called by name himself. Another name, created by de Camp I believe, is Ianthe. Both names were used at Marvel. I'm always reading and re-reading these! Are you taking SSOC #119 as the gospel truth? Did Roy ever have anything to say on the matter? |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 12, 2015 5:40:09 GMT -5
- Continuity point of interest: as he departs, Conan says he intends to visit someone in Cimmeria. "Say that I visit an old woman; who she is is my affair". This strongly suggests that Conan's mother is still alive at this time. If SSoC #119 is set after this issue, he will discover that she has died while he was away, along with his entire family apart from his sister Siobhan and a cousin. Note that because of the influence of the John Milius Conan movie, some writers at Marvel claimed that Conan's parents had died while he was a child; this statement here contradicts that. Are taking SSOC #119 as the gospel truth? Did Roy ever have anything to say on the matter? That's a fair question. Personally, I try to consider everything as canon unless some clear contradiction makes it impossible. The destruction of Venarium by magic in the "Conan year one" story arc is one such story that must be rejected, because it flatly contradicts other stories published before and after. In the case of SSoC #119, some aspects don't seem right: the use of magic by a Cimmerian clan, the presence of palm trees in that northern land, and the fact Cimmerian society in that story doesn't look like the little we've seen of it in previous stories. But overall, there's little in it that would invalidate it completely. I don't know for sure what Roy thinks of thatbstory (I would guess he'd have written it differently) but when he showed Conan's family a few years later he did use Corin as the name for Conan's father (as in SSoC #119). And when Conan returned to Cimmeria around CtB #260 or so, his family was indeed gone. So I'd say Roy gives the tale a "soft" approval; not endorsing it officially, but not referencing it even when he tries not to contradict it. One thing I really did like about #119 is that Conan wasn't there to help his family in its time of need. Considering he spent most of his life away from home, it's only natural that it would be so. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 14, 2015 10:08:38 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #78, July 1982 Cover by Earl Norem.  The cover doesn't have anything to do with this month's story, but it still looks pretty good. I love to see Conan in the snow. He should just dress a little more warmly! The cover announces "The new origin of Red Sonja", but that's a bit disingenuous. It's the same origin we read before, but redrawn. The Conan adventure featured in this issue is to be concluded in issue 79. I do not know if the entire adventure was meant to be published in one go initially. Since both parts could fit in one issue, it may be that the dreaded deadline doom forced a publication over two months. A last-minute separation in two parts could explain why this month's cover does not reflect the story while issue 79's cover does. Then again, chapter one does not end abruptly the way many parts of Island of pirates' doom do, and we have several pages of recap at the beginning of part two. So perhaps publication in two parts was planned right from the start. For most of the early years of its existence, SSoC presented a map of the Hyborian Age world on its second page, with a short blurb briefly telling us at what time in Conan's life the following story was set. This blurb was originally adapted from Miller and Clark's "A probable outline of Conan's career", which was given appropriate credit. This both helped the reader place the adventure in context and gave the tale some measure of legitimacy, as if it was on the same level as The devil in iron or Beyond the Black river. Here the blurb continues this tradition, but even if Miller and Clark's short essay is credited the text itself has nothing to do with it. Not to make a federal case of it, but this is something of an usurpation: name-dropping for the sake of gaining legitimacy, without actually using the text referenced. In this particular case, Miller and Clark appear to have read SSoC #71, "the lurker in the labyrinth", for it is right after that tale that issue #78's adventure is set; no mention is made of any actual Conan story written by Robert Howard. Mind, it's really not a big deal since the blurb is at least useful. In future issues, the "Miller and Clark" blurb would sometimes refer to events that were found neither in Howard's original prose nor in any Marvel comic, just for the sake of sounding a little more scholarly! Table of contentsDemons of the firelight, starring Conan Day of the sword, re-telling the origin of Red Sonja Barbarian SPFX, a few stills from the first Conan movie Island of pirates' doom, part V, starring Valeria
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 14, 2015 10:13:25 GMT -5
Demons of the firelightScript by Michael Fleisher Breakdowns by John Buscema and finished art by Ernie Chan This is a good story despite a few plot holes. To his credit, Fleisher plugged a few of these holes in part two (or, more appropriately, revealed that they weren't plot holes to begin with), making critics look at the others with leniency. The adventure's main interesting features are a Hyborian Age equivalent of the Frankenstein monster and Conan outsmarting his enemies in an unexpected way. Still too many apostrophes, but all in all I enjoyed this two-parter.  (This splash page could be used in a class on writing comics. The "Unnghhhhhh" word balloon is completely unnecessary and its positioning gives it entirely too much importance). Conan is still acting as a mercenary captain somewhere in Corinthia, which in the Marvel universe is a loose coalition of independent city-states. The city of Turbin-D'Qhat, ruled by king Maklos, is at war with the forces of neighbouring Rh'Barr P'Hmenn. Under Conan's leadership, the mercenaries manage to convincingly defeat king Maklos' enemies, and the soldiers are to be honoured and feted by the grateful ruler. Never trust a despot too far, however; now that Rh'Barr P'Hmenn is no lobger a threat, Maklos sees Conan and his men as a potential source of trouble and he decides to have them all killed during the party. Conan notices what is afoot right before the attack can begin, but in the ensuing struggle fully half the mercenaries fall to the swords of Maklos' treacherous soldiers. Conan himself retains his life only thanks to the timely shout of alarm of a pretty dancer.  As the survivors run away from the royal palace, Conan takes the girl with him and swears to have revenge on the faithless monarch. Aiding king Maklos is his alchemist, a fellow who clearly indulges in nasty experiments involving cadavers. He's trying to bring back a corpse to life, with the aim of raising an unkillable army of monsters! He goes so far as paraphrasing a certain famous doctor who will later perform the same type of experiments...  As Conan's mercenaries scourge the countryside and make life difficult for Turbin-D'Qhat's army, the alchemist assures king Maklos that he has a secret plan to take care of the Cimmerian. The mercenaries are doing well for themselves: their opposition to Maklos makes them popular to the population, and many regular soldiers desert to swell their ranks. Militarily, they seem on the verge of inflicting a total defeat to Turbin-D'Qhat's forces. But something is amiss: the pretty dancer, at night, casts some herbs in the fire by the side of which she and Conan sleep; the resulting fumes induce hallucinations in the Cimmerian who fights invisible monsters with loud shouting and curses. His men, witnessing the event, start grumbling that their leader seems to be losing his mind. After a few nioghts of such irrational behaviour, groups of mercenaries start to desert and Conan doesn't help his case by insulting the departing men and verbally abusing the remaining ones.  Back in Turbin-D'Qhat, the alchemist's "Frankenstein monster" is a success and the old man cant wait to try it on actual enemies. That shouldn't take too long, since a message sent by the dancer (who is a spy for the alchemist!) reveals that Conan plans to attack Turbin-D'Qhat with his few remaining forces. The alchemist blackmails the king into sharing half his power with him, and although the price is steep Maklos has no choice but to agree. The first chapter ends as the pitifully outnumbered mercenaries charge to attack Turbin-D'Qhat. Notes: - Conan is somewhere in his early 20s here, even if he looks older. His being a captain in a mercenary company is also a bit surprising considering this story is set before his stint in Murilo's army (CtB #52-55), which seemed to be his first job as part of such an outfit. (He had acted as a mercenary before, but in regular armies). - Plot hole #1: how can the dancer be a spy??? The original plan was to have Conan and all his men be slain during the king's party, but the girl saved Conan's life during the event. What sense does it make to concoct a plan and purposely have it fail only to plant a spy among one,s enemies, if the spy is supposed to help bring about the same result as the original plan? - Plot hole #2: how can Conan go berserk and yell after imaginary monsters night after night without any of his men mentioning it to him? (This is actually not a plot hole, as will be explained next issue).
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 14, 2015 10:16:26 GMT -5
The day of the swordPlot by Roy Thomas, script by Doug Moench Art by Dick Giordano and Terry Austin, after Howard Chaykin. This is the "origin" of Red Sonja, explaining how she became a she-devil with a sword. To my utter disappointment, it destroys the concept of Son-ya as introduced in CtB#23: a woman who refused the diktats of a patriarchal society and lived her life as she saw fit, fighting, drinking, and refusing to be any man's lover. As they said in CtB#23, "every man's delight and no man's love". She would jokingly say that she'd never take a man as a lover unless he was skilled enough to defeat her in battle, underscoring the fact she saw herself as any man's equal. I loved that concept. And here... damn... Sonja's turned into another helpless victim whose skills are essentially a cheat, since they are given to her by a goddess after her family is slaughtered and she is raped by a gang of thugs. That ugly tale had already been told in Kull and the barbarians #3, drawn by Howard Chaykin. I do not know why it was redrawn here by Giordano and Austin; it is not a new take, it is the same story... with panels done the same way. It's not that I dislike these gentlemen's art, but Chaykin had already done a good job that did not need to be corrected or anything. So, why? Chaykin (KatB #3):  Giordano and Austin (this issue):  After this story, Sonja's skills would always be tainted by an absurd supernatural aspect. Her vow never to take a lover who wasn't good enough for her was turned into some kind of curse according to which she had to give herself to any man who defeated her, an event that would result in her losing her martial talents and her strength. It's her own green kryptonite. Roy seemed to want to veer away from the "magically-powered" Sonja in MSS#9 and then around the time he left Marvel, and later Jim Owsley would try to get rid of it altogether by having Sonja raped again in CtB#197 and realize that her losing her strength was a psychological effect. But as far as I'm concerned, the damage was done.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 14, 2015 10:17:09 GMT -5
Barbarian SPFXby David Anthony Kraft  Some photos of the film, notably showing Thulsa Doom transfroming into a giant snake. I remember that when I saw Conan the barbarian in the theater, it was as a double feature with An American werewolf in London. And let me tell you, the metamorphosis effects in the latter were way superior to what we saw in Milius's movie. (It also had Jenny Agutter. But that's a different story). Island of pirates' doom, part VScript by Roy Thomas Art by John Buscema and Danny Bulanadi From a pirate story by Robert E. Howard, adapted as a Valeria adventure. To better introduce this chopped-up piece of story, a new splash page was commissioned from artist Ricardo Villamonte.  Valeria and her comrade Metallus are still on an island, trying to beat a crew of pirates to an old temple where a famous treasure is supposed to be hidden. Everyone arrives at the same time and fighting erupts, with Metallus being hit in the arm by a thrown dagger (I believe it was a bullet in the original tale) and Valeria being captured. And the story stops again!
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Post by paulie on Mar 14, 2015 12:51:36 GMT -5
You know... It was never that the Fleisher stories were bad. It is that they were 'samey'. Read one at a time, at random, they are perfectly fine adventure stories. Read one at a time you could even possibly stick one into the RT continuity somewhere.
But those apostrophes... ugh!
I think I have #83 on tap for this weekend.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 15, 2015 13:40:58 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #79, August 1982 Cover by Joe Chiodo, with Conan fighting hallucinations caused by certain burning powders (as seen in SSoC#78).  Frontispiece by Pablo Marcos, a scene inspired by CtB#37 ("The curse of the golden skull"), the one issue of Conan the barbarian entirely drawn by Neal Adams. Here Marcos took the liberty of turning the wizard Rotath into a golden skull, while in CtB#37 the skull was covered with a normal face.  Table of contentsDemons of the firelight, part II, concluding the Conan adventure that started last issue. Bront: in the halls of Shlime, continuing the adventures of John Buscema's new character. Edward Pressman, an interview with the executive producer of the first Conan movie. Edward Summer, an interview with the associate producer of the motion picture. Island of pirates' doom, part VI... at last, the conclusion of this Valeria adevtnure! Chan's barbarians, a portfolio by Conan's most famous inker.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 15, 2015 13:42:21 GMT -5
Demons of the firelight, part IIScript by Michael Fleisher Breakdowns by John Buscema, finished art by Ernie Chan A three page recap reminds us of what happened last issue: Conan and his mercenary gang are at odds with king Maklos of Turbin-D'Qhat, whose alchemist is planning to use corpses to create undead soldiers. Unknown to the Cimmerian, his girlfriend acts as a spy for the alchemist, and she's using black lotus pollen on him to induce hallucinations that get him to fight imaginary monsters, apparently causing his men to doubt his sanity and prokoving mass desertions. A seemingly unhinged Cimmerian then orders a suicide attack on Turbin D-Q'Hat, where Maklos's forces await him. Maklos gloats about the coming victory when he witnesses the reckless charge of the outnumbered mercenaries and his own men's countercharge. But suddenly, more mercenaries appear from hidden positions, taking Maklos's soldiers in a pincer move!  The desertions in Conan's army were a sham. After his first bout of hallucinations, the Cimmerian had been told of his erratic behaviour. The next night, he had seen his girlfriend throw her powders in the fire and understood that she must work for the other side; using her to feed false information to king Maklos, he had feigned madness night after night, and many of his men had pretended to abandon him in disgust. The rebels crush Maklos's men and charge into the city. Maklos accuses his philosopher of having betrayed him and orders him killed; the old man, stabbed in the back, manages to reach his laboratory and free the sole undead soldier he has managed to raise to date.  As the monster starts prowling, killing all he encounters, Conan is busy hunting king Maklos. The treacherous monarch meets the undead monster and is slain, and then it's the Cimmerian's turn to face the creature. The thing is quite impervious to the sword: its severed arm continues grabbing and the rest of its body doesn't seem to be affected by repeated stabs. Conan finally succeeds in pushing the thing into a large vat of acid. (It is remarkable stupid for scientists in fantasy tales to leave unprotected vats of acid lying around like that, if you ask me). Conan then faces his girlfriend and the two reconcile.  Notes: - This story is all climax. - The Frankenstein reference was cute and carefully handled, despite the "It's aliiiive" scene from issue #78. The alchemist isn't called "Fr'Ankh N'Styn", for example.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 15, 2015 13:45:08 GMT -5
In the halls of ShlimeStory and art by John Buscema Script by Bruce Jones This series gives John the opportunity of drawing things he likes: wild animals, beautiful women, handsome men, jungles and fantastic backgrounds. I don't think he had any kind of long-term plot for it. That being said, the first and second instalments were resolutely serious. The main character, Emmanuel Cody, had been banished from an Orwellian highly repressive society to a wild planet full of dangerous beasts and (as we would soon learn) dangerous amazons. Captured by these warrior ladies, we kind of expected our hero to make his place among them as he learned more about his new world, but this is not what happens here. In fact, not only does the plot veer into an unexpected direction, but the tone of the strip becomes far less serious and much more tongue-in-cheek. That would be even truer in chapter four. We open this chapter as our bound hero is being led the amazons, one of which decides to call him "Bront". (Remember, Cody has lost all sense of self). As the column of warriors cross a high bridge, they see far below "one of the Kell", which is some sort of very bad news. The Kell in question is a tall man with empty eyes, silently driving a boat with a pole. The Kell's presence coincides with the bridge falling apart, and Bront and the amazons fall in the water. The Kell fishes out Bront while the amazons swim to the shore. The captured Bront is then led through a lovely and desolate fjord, as seen below.  The Kell carries an unconscious Bront to a castle, where the man eventually awakens on a stone slab, dressed in new barbaric-looking duds. A voice invites him to come see his host, who is a small bald man sitting behind a grand dinner table. This fellow, Shlime, has some food served; but before Bront can taste the first bite, he must get up and face a man in armour approaching him with hostile intentions. Shlime says Bront will have to "forgive Ghort; I'm afraid he's been trained to behead all of our guests. Mind the axe, now". As Bront and Ghort exert themselves, Shlime makes wisecracks about the fight. When Bront finally wins by pinning his opponent to the ground, Shlime says "Bront! Yoo-hoo, Bront! That's fine! That's enough! Brooont! He's already dead, dear boy. You can't kill him any more than that! Thank you, Ghort. Go polish your armour now. Good lad." It is then revealed that Shlime's lower half, previously hidden by the table, is a solid block of stone. To be continued, as the mystery deepens! The full art by Buscema is still beautiful, but it's really hard to know where this story is going.
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