SSoC#82
-------

The song of Red Sonja
Script by Roy Thomas
Art by Barry Smith, who reported having inked the whole issue with a Mont Blanc fountain pen that was ruined in the process.

Reprinted from Conan the barbarian #24, one of the very best comic ever produced IMHO.

This is the second apperance of Red Sonja, and at the time she hadn't yet been burdened with a cumbersome origin involving goddesses, magical fighting skills and ridiculous vows of chastity. She was a tough woman living in a world of tough men, one who cracked heads to make herself respected, and doing what she damned well pleased. If she wouldn't take a lover, it was because she had chosen not to, not because her "superpowers" depended on it. But anyway...

This story was subjected to censorship a few times along its many printings. Paulie showed us the bath scene in a previous post: Barry Smith had originally shown a little more flesh than was printed in CtB#24, and the original art is restored here. Also restored is the position of Conan's hands on Sonja's buttocks.

From CtB#24:


From this issue:



This is not the only change in the story: in CtB#24, the creators had managed to slip in a dirty word that went unnoticed by the powers that be:



It was changed to another word in Marvel Treasury Edition #15, and that is the version shown here.



Smith was happy to have managed to put a giant penis in an American comic-book, thanks to this tower. What I find more interesting here is the lovely statue in the foreground, a statue that will be seen again (in a different location) in CtB#25, drawn by John Buscema.



CtB#25:



The B&W art is poorly reproduced, for some reasons, The grey washes also don't do much for me; I'd have rather have seen Smith's unadulterated art.

I don't see anywhere in the thread where the first, and only, Savage Sword of Conan Annual is mentioned. And that makes sense since it is all reprints.

However, it is worth pointing out a couple of items. First, the black and whites are given a grey wash not unlike Alcala's charcoal effect so the reprints of Conan the Barbarian #10 and #13 look quite different than any of the other myriad places they have been published. I just thought I'd point this out since any kind of different look and format given to Barry Smith Conan art is at least worth looking at.

The other item of note is that the annual also contains black and white Kull reprints which feature the same grey wash. This one of the only places I know of that has magazine-sized black and white versions of the Severin's sublime renderings of Kull. Worth the price of admission.

"Houston, We have found the curiosity!"

SSoC#83


The demon in the dark
Script by Michael Fleisher
Art by Alfredo Alcala

Yes, that's right: the title here isn't the same as in the table of contents. No big deal, I guess.

The story from last issue continues, as the aged F'Qhar Razam tells the story of his people and of his family.

A long time ago, the rather chubby demon god V'Zhorr-Lok had appeared in Bharoni hills, enslaving the local people and forcing them to build him a temple where he took up residence. The demon also used to eat them.

F'Qahr Razam's ancestor didn't accept this desperate situation and stole a certain magical mace while the demon slept; using the device, the brave young man banished V'Zhorr-Lok to his nether realm. In gratitude, the liberated people made the young man their high priest, a title that would be hereditary. Unfortunately, the spell that had banished V'Zhorr-Lok had been imperfect, and every twenty years the veil between woirlds would part for a few seconds, allowing V'Zhorr-Lok to come back to Earth; to prevent this inauspicious event, someone had to sacrifice themselves, distracting V'Zhorr-Lok long enough for the portal to close again. That unpleasant task befell to the original high priest, and to his descendants every twenty years.

As the deadline approaches, F'Qhar Razam (now high priest of the Bharoni, as you'll have guessed) is ready to do his duty and sacrifice himself to keep V'Zhorr-Lok from our world. The old man seems to be closer to sixty than forty years old; maybe the previous sacrifice was his elder brother? That is not explained. It's also not explained why he sees fit to bring his only daughter with him on such a dangerous mission.

What's going on with captain Bor'Aqh Sharaq, meanwhile? The despicable pirate has reached the house of an old witch who had magically anticipated his coming. She means to sell the villain a magical trinket that will help him in his quest for revenge. (She has divined that Bor'Aqh Sharaq is secretly afraid of Conan and is in need of some secret weapon). The trinket in question is a small jewel that can cause living things to age prematurely.

Bor'Aqh Sharaq tries to take the crystal without paying, murdering the old witch the way he earlier killed the smith who forged his weapons and mask, but the crafty woman has also anticipated his treachery and she paralyzes him with a spell. Forced to pay up, Bor'Aqh Sharaq then takes his leave, his tail between his legs.



Later, in a tavern, the pirate overhears one of the thugs who had been trailing Conan for the rich man who wanted more jewelled bowls like the one the Cimmerian had earlier provided. The disconsolate thug explains how his comrades were torn to pieces by the northman. Bor'Aqh Sharaq makes it clear that the survivor is lucky not to have slain Conan, for the pirate would have made him pay dearly the theft of his revenge. The pirate then retires with a local prostitute, bragging about his name and his prowess, prompting the innkeeper to go warn the local constabulary.

Several armed men go to the tavern to arrest the infamous criminal, but they are welcomed by a ghastly sight: after sex, Bor'Aqh Sharaq used his magic stone on his partner (for no reason other than pure spite), causing her to age so fast that when the soldiers burst through the chamber's door, she is a living skeleton turning to dust.



Bor'Aqh Sharaq takes advantage of their surprise to kill all but one of them, and continues after Conan.

Returning to the Cimmerian and his two companions, we find them captured by two idiotic cyclopes. Yes, in Michael Fleisher's Conan universe, there are cyclopes. And nobody seems surprised. "A cyclops? Must be Tuesday".



One of the brutes is blinded by a thrown sword (a good forty feet throw, straight up), and the other one impales himself on a pointed tree stump.

Later, after it's shown that Conan and the girl Joya become intimate while F'Qhar Razam is sleeping, the trio crosses a marsh where a giant crab attacks them, killing the old man. His task now falls to Joya, but when she and Conan reach the ruined temple where the demon will appear, they are joined by Bor'Aqh Sharaq. The pirate uses his jewel on Conan, who ages precipitously. But throwing a stone at his enemy, the Cimmerian shatters the magic trinket and regains his normal age, allowing the two men to meet each other with drawn swords.

As they clash, the hour of doom is upon them all and the skies open to reveal the demon's hand coming through. Joya stands ready to distract the creature, but then Conan manages to manhandle his opponent and throw him to the demon's reaching hand! When last we see Bor'Aqh Sharaq, he seems to be squished by the paw of a retreating V'Zhorr-Lok. The pirate has unwittingly saved the world (or at least allowed Joya not to die saving it).



This was probably meant as the end for Bor'Aqh Sharaq, since he really looks pulped in that big demon's hand; there's even pirate juice dripping from it. But like the bad penny, he will turn up again.

Joya doesn't seem too distressed to gave lost her father. How sharper than a serpent's tooth is a thankless child!


Notes:

- This is set during Conan's Barachan/Zingaran buccaneer, so he must be between 35 and 37 years old.

SSoC #83

Red Sonja
Script by Roy Thomas
Art by Esteban Maroto, Neal Adams and Ernie Chan.



After CtB#24 last issue, this story continues the adventures of Red Sonja; it was first published in SSoC#1. Here's a link to the original review of the tale: classiccomics.boards.net/post/311/thread



"Red seas" (yes, with quotation marks).
Script by Jo Duffy
Art by Danny Bulanadi

This Solomon Kane adventure is a rare bird: an original adventure, it shows Kane at sea. We know the man was a sailor for a long while, but that was before the adventures chronicled by Howard, when Kane was younger. The story also sends him on the other side of the world, as he's embarking on a journey to Japan (somewhat against his choice). It is unfortunate that this intriguing premise was not followed by more stories.



For all the times I've said I dislike Danny Bulanadi's inking, it is only fair to state that I really like the full artwaork he proivides here. It reminds me of Gene Day, and it looks very good indeed. I certainly wouldn't have minded more Solomon Kane stories by the same creative team!

The plot puts Kane on the spot: he travels on a British ship, but when the English crew attacks a portuguese ship the Puritan finds that he cannot side with men who are basically acting like pirates, and he ends up defending the Portuguese enemy. A very nice way to show that Solomon Kane is a righteous man first and foremost.

SSoC#84
-----------

The darksome demon of Rabba Than
Script by Michael Fleisher
Art by Val Mayerik


I found myself enjoying this story overall, but it still has its problems. The most egregious of these is that the plot is the same as that of Conan the barbarian #45, including its "shocking" revelation at the end. The plot twist worked the first time, but when you've read it once you see it coming right from the start in this issue. Similarities to CtB#10 don't help either, and give an impression of reheated comics.

The art by Val Mayerik is pretty good, with grey washes used to good effect. Backgrounds mostly consist of rocky landscapes, but it didn't bother me.

This issue introduces the Brotherhood of the falcon to the Marvel Conan universe. This transnational secret society of assassins was conceived as an ominous threat, like the Hashishins of Hasan Bin Sabbah crossed with some ninja cult. Ninjas were a big thing everywhere in the '80s, after having been used to great effect in Frank Miller's Daredevil. Even in the Conan comics, we had seen ninjas in CtB#128-129; then the Black Dragons would be described as proto-ninjas in Conan the King; the Cimmerian himself himself would be shown to have been trained as one (or the Hyborian age equivalent) in future SSoC issues written by Larry Yakata, and so on. Larry Hama (the SSoC editor) created Snake-Eyes and Stormshadow in the G.I. Joe comic, and the short-lived Nth man comic was about "the ultimate ninja". Yep, no wonder Beverly Switzler dressed as a ninja to give her acting career a boost in the pages of Howard the duck.

The funny thing is that for a secret society of assassins, the brotherhood was amazingly inefficient. Like Captain Bor'Aqh Sharaq before them, their original concept eventually turned to self-parody after several appearances... but we weren't there yet with this issue.

The story of the darksome demon of Raba-Than begins in Arenjun, Zamora's city of thieves, where the 17-year old Conan has taken residence. Plundering the mansion of a wealthy councilman, the young Cimmerian doesn't only escape with a sackful of loot but also with the councilman's young and rebelious wife, who had been sold to her aged husband to settle a debt and wanted nothing else than to escape the bonds of matrimony.

Partying with his new girlfriend later that night, Conan overhears that someone else has been arrested for the theft he commited; it turns out that during his escape, the Cimmerian dropped a small golden item that was picked up by an innocent man, who was promptly arrested. The poor fellow now stands ready to be hanged!

Not one to let others pay for his deeds, Conan decides to save the innocent man, right from the hangman's noose if need be!



This reminds us of CtB#10, in which Conan's friend Burgun is also slated to be hanged. Only in that issue, Conan couldn't do anything about it, because let's face it... one lone man can't improvise a plan by which he will defeat an army of policemen and save a condemned prisoner who is already on the gallows. It's as if Fleisher is telling Thomas "see? this is how it's done".



So, Conan does save the innocent man and the two men (plus Kahlili, the concilman's wife) escape into the night. The cuckolded husband is quite upset, and when his guards report they couldn't stop the escaping trio he has them all massacred by his new employees, three men belonging to the brotherhood of the falcon. The newcomers are then sent after Conan and company.



The man saved from the noose is one Rala-Zalon, and he tells his new friends his story. He's from a village in the Kezankian mountains, where a certain monster terrorizes the countryside and sometimes steals women. Rala-Zalon never knew his father, but his mother sent him away to see the world when he was young. Now eighteen, the lad feels a compulsion to return home and free his village from the monster.

This is exactly the plot of CtB#45. Even the young man's name, Rala-Zalon, sounds a bit like that of Laza-Lanti, who was the focus of that issue. And so right from the start we can guess that Rala-Zalon's unknown father is the monster itself. It kind of kills the dramatic tension, really. The point is hammered further when Conan notices a star-shaped birthmark on his companion's neck; naturally, we readers are not supposed to know that such things are always ominous portents of bad things to come. (Wanna bet that the monster has a similar birthmark?)

But anyway, let's not overthink things and let the story tell itself. Rala-Zalon invites Conan and Khalili to accompany him, and it is interesting to see how the girl's affection shift slowly from her dark Cimmerian lover to the fair-haired Zamoran. (Wait, a fait-haired Zamoran? I hadn't noticed until now, but that's a bit unusual).

SSoC#84
-----------


Conan discovers the fortress city of Bontu, a pin-up by Alex Toth

I couldn't find a reference to an actual city of Bontu, but this image is very nice indeed. It's a double page spread, too.

Never would have thought Alex Toth<s style would be a good match for Conan but that one illustration makes me wish he'd done a whole story - or a bunch of them!