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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 30, 2015 8:04:52 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #110, March 1985 Cover by earl Norem I always liked covers featuring Conan in the snow. The same goes for basically monochrome covers. This one is pretty nice, and it fits with the inside story. Table of contents The army of the dead, a Conan adventure The dinner guest, a silent Conan adventure A few pin-ups by Ernie Chan
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 30, 2015 8:13:32 GMT -5
The army of the deadScript by Bill Mantlo Art by Gary Kwapisz Bill Mantlo didn't write much Conan, and in all honesty I'm rather glad that's the case. I loved the first twelve issues of Micronauts and several other Mantlo stories here and there, but generally speaking he is not one of my favourite writers. However, in the case of this issue, he does a great job. The tale is a stand-alone affair with no repercussions, but in and of itself it is an eery and almost oneiric tragedy with operatic overtones. It could be inspired form some real legend, so convincing it is. The artwork is by Kwapisz on his own, pencils and inks and even if several pages bring a strong impression of déjà vu I think it can easily be forgiven considering how good the pages look, and how much work went into them.
(the ones on the right are from CtB #115 and #39). Chronologically, this story is an odd duck once again. Conan is supposed to be leader of some desert raiders, but which desert raiders is not made clear. They definitely do not look like Zuagirs. Besides, their geographic location is also confusing: after a setback following the attack of a caravan, Conan and his men have been forced to flee to mountains so high that they're capped with a heavy mantle of snow. I doubt there are mountains around the Kharamun desert (near Zamboula) that could reach so high; are we in the Himelian mountains? It's probably better not to spend too much time over it, since the writer probably did not. Roy Thomas, however, retrofitted this tale into the Kozak period (as seen in SSoC #233. Conan is therefore around 28 years old. As the raiders were fleeing their pursuers, Conan has had the foresight to ditch his share of the loot to fill his horse's bags with food. His greedy men haven't been as wise, and all are loudly complaining of hunger (as did the guys in SSoC#105, with basically the same results). Turning on their leader and killing his horse to eat it, the mutineers cause an avalanche with their yells and are all smothered by it; only Conan manages to escape by the teeth of his skin. Waking up cold and starving, the Cimmerian is amazed to see the arrival of a long column of soldiers on the march: these fellows are all dead, and invite the Cimmerian to join them in their attack on the City of Life. Dazed and confused, half-dead himself of hunger, the barbarian joins the march wondering if he is still alive. The City of Life is magnificent, and apparently quite isolated in these mountains. The corpse army attacks the walls and is pushed back, retreating as dawn nears. Conan, who has been wounded by a crossbow bolt and yelled in pain before collapsing, is recognized as a living man by the city's defenders. The city's queen orders his wounds tended to. Conan awakes in the City of Life where he can finally eat. Agreeing to side with the living against the army of the dead, he is told of the terrible and tragic secret of the place by the queen and her regent, a young man who has been in love with her since they were children together. The City of Life once had to defend itself against attackers from the outside world, but since it lacked martial expertise it resorted to hiring mercenaries. To entice these warriors, the queen's father and the regent's sire offered them to come live in the city, which due to its location high up in the mountains somehow granted long life to its citizens (giving them the reputation to be immortal). Many mercenaries agreed to the deal and waged war victoriously on the city's behalf. However, the city's rulers had no intention of letting all these foreigners settle within their walls. They ambushed the returning victorious warriors when their guard was down and slaughtered them all, throwing the dead bodies over the walls. The next day, the corpses had disappeared. Since then, these murdered soldiers have been returning regularly, demanding that the ancient debt be settled and that they be finally allowed in the City of Life. Naturally, any living person they kill joins them, resulting in an ever smaller population in the city and an ever greater horde of dead besiegers outside. The only way to renew the city's population would be to have babies, but since the tragic events of yesteryear no child had been born within its walls. Conan understands that he's expected to play the stud to the queen, a plan that's endorsed by the regent even if it breaks his heart. The queen, meanwhile, eventually reveals that she has no intention of dooming more children to such a life and instead of laying with Conan, she offers him the possibility to escape the city. The regent tries to intervene, arguing that the fate of the city depends on Conan remaining, and as he tries to force the issue he accidentally kills his beloved. Conan escapes as the army of the dead finally breaches the walls, and the regent witnesses with horror the conversion of his beloved to one of the attackers. The Cimmerian looks back upon the doomed city of life, where all debts have been squared and where only the dead now dwell.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 30, 2015 8:15:46 GMT -5
SSoC #110------------- A very good story, with several non-conventional aspects: the regent, whom we expect to be a dick, proves himself ready to let the city's interests trump his own. The queen is regal and dignified, and her resolve at the end bespeaks of a strong moral fibre. The dead soldiers are not shown as ghouls but as the wronged party, and the artwork is quite good indeed. Many faces suggest that Kwapisz used photoreferencing, but I certainly don't view that as a fault, being a great fan of Al Williamson. The backgrounds are already noticeable in their richness (this will be Kwapisz great strength in the coming years: his backgrounds can be fabulous). Witness this little bird in the foreground: quite a lot of attention for a decorative element, don't you think? There are many double page spreads, and some graphic ingenuity is to be lauded: see how effectively large white segments are used in this avalanche scene. They convey a sense of vastness very effectively. The one thing Kwapisz will always draw strangely are wrists and hands. (Hey, some artists can't handle ankles!) But his characters have distinct faces, and many of his ladies look like movie stars from the '40s. It's quite different from what we've seen before and gives the artist his own "voice" in this mag.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 30, 2015 8:21:37 GMT -5
SSoC #110
------------- The dinner guestScript by Alan Rowlands, even if it is a silent script Art by Tim Burgard A short amusing tale of action told in completely silent fashion! Conan, pursued by men with ill intents, barges into the small cottage of an elderly couple as they're having dinner. His fights with his enemies trash the place, but the old man finds his blood stirred by all the action and machismo displayed! There are several instances of creative fight choreography, as with this scene where Conan makes good use of the arrow jutting from his shoulder: Other improvised weapons used in the battle are a stool leg, a soup kettle, a ham, a kitchen knife and a jug. The old couple won't forget that evening, I'm sure!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 31, 2015 14:48:49 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #111, April 1985 Cover by Steve Hickman, who gives the book a lovely retro retro look. Very appropriate for a character who first saw print in Weird Tales. Frontispiece by William Johnson and Geoff Isherwood, who had given us a great poem/portfolio in issue #105 and a single page in issue #109. The image is of course taken from Howard's story "The Frost Giant's daughter", when the goddess Atali tries to lure Conan into a trap set by her two giant brothers. Great scene, although Atali's clothes should consist of a veil so fine that no human hand could have woven it, and not what looks like animal fur. Table of contentsMud men of Keshan, introducing the Iron Maidens In the eye of the beholder, in which Conan doesn't get the girl even when he does.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 31, 2015 15:01:34 GMT -5
Mud men of KeshanScript by Michael Fleisher Art by Gary Kwapisz Kwapisz handles the art once again, and is becoming the mag's regular artist. John Buscema would start penciling The Avengers the following month. Big John often mentioned his love for the Conan character, but in the mid 80s he seemed to get a little tired of always working on the same books; he dropped SSoC first, and CtB something like a year later. He'd come back to SSoC in the early 90s, but wouldn't return to the regular CtB comic. I first learned about mud men not in a National Geographic documentary on Papua New Guinea, but in a comic book: a Martin Milan adventure from the early 70s. It's then very appropriate to meet more of them in another comic, even if these mud men are from the imaginary African country of Keshan instead of somewhere in Melanesia. Here the title's mud men are cannibals who prey on more peaceful tribes in Keshan, as the opening scene makes clear. (Notice the nice backgrounds by Kwapisz). Luckily, the violence of the cannibals is kept in check by the power of a shaman of the Borunyo tribe, Tekolleh, who can animate a small fetish called Kaintiba-Mah; when Tekolleh concentrates, Kaintiba-Mah can fly and konk attackers on the head. Such blows aren't more dangerous than being hit by any other wooden statue a foot tall, but it has a powerful psychological effect, prompting the cannibals to turn tail and run away. Michael Fleisher would eventually give up comic-book writing and do a Ph.D. in anthropology, studying cattle theft in Tanzania. I suppose that even in his SSoC years, he had an interest in foreign cultures, be they Papuan of African. Disaster strikes when northern thieves murder Tekolleh and steal Kaintiba-Mah, with the intention of selling the fetish to a Stygian merchant and art collector. It will be the duty of Tekolleh's son, Wurundi, to bring back the priceless little godling. Conan, who will naturally be involved in the return of Kaintiba-Mah to his people, is in western Shem, diving for pearls in the company of a pretty blonde. A bunch of thieves creep up on the couple and most of them escape with the pearls, having forced the Cimmerian to stay behind and save the girl whom the bandits had thrown off a cliff. Shortly thereafter, a definitely upset barbarian tracks down the thieves, surprises them as they were partying in a tavern, and kills them all. Meanwhile, we are introduced to the Iron Damsels, an all-female group of mercenaries who will be recurring characters in this series and will also make an appearance in the short-lived Conan the savage. Here they are: I originally had reservations about the Iron Damsels. "Great", I thought, "sexy and scantily-clad teenage sword-ladies, probably there to satisfy the prurient interests of teenage male fans and provide little in terms of actual storytelling". Well, it turns out I was wrong, if only partly. Most of the Iron Damsels show enough depth of character to prove that they are far more than mere eye candy. Despite being an all-girl group, they do not really define their existence in terms of their relation to men (the way Red Sonja would, say,) but since they live in a world that is clearly unfair and cruel to members of their sex, they have banded together for protection and profit. More power to them! We meet the Damsels as they assault the treehouse of a band of raiders in northeastern Shem (which should really be either a land of meadows or a land of deserts, but hardly a primeval forest), intent on collecting the reward for their capture. One of the Damsels' numbers, self-serving Tharla, is reprimanded when she tries to appropriate a few pieces from the thieves' loot; her leader, Soraya, insists that the Iron Damsels are not thieves. (That's a very nice tree house, isn't it? I love Kwapisz's way of drawing foliage, trees and wild animals). Next on their agenda is the capture of a certain Cimmerian, whose likeness can be found on western-style Wanted posters (the likes of which we've seen in issue 106). Why Conan would be wanted for crimes in Shem is not clear; perhaps it's because of the ruckus he caused in the tavern where he caught the pearl thieves. This is however surprising, because (a) the distance between the sea and northeastern Shem is at least 2500 km, and news don't really travel that fast; (b) there is no printing press in the Hyborian age, and so each of these wanted posters are done by hand; they require time and effort and must be in limited numbers, so they must be used only for really dangerous criminals. Conan is next seen in Akbitana, far to the east of the coast, where we also find Wurundi, on the track of Kaintiba-mah for the past three years. Two local brutes are busy roughing up the traveller, refusing him access to a well on account of his skin color. When they push Wurundi onto Conan and cause the barbarian to spill his own water, he angrily challenges them. One of the men is a blacksmith, and he first tries to scare Conan off by bending an iron bar over his head. He then dares Conan to try and straighten it. The Cimmerian, his blood stirred, starts by smashing the bent bar on the blacksmith's head, and then proceeds to do as asked, explaining as he does that "if we use your big mouth as a fulcrum, mayhap we'll straighten the bar again!" The fight degenerates, and many Akbitanans who join their compeers force Conan and Wurundi to run away on horseback. Wurundi has learned the identity of the art collector to whom his tribe's fetish was sold, and he enlists Conan's help in recovering it. When the Iron Damsels eventually show up, they are told that a giant Cimmerian and a horde of blood-hungry Keshans are to blame for the destroyed city block. The Damsels finally catch up with Conan in Zamboula, and once again I must deplore how the continent is always made to be smaller than it actually is in these stories. Zamboula is damn far from the sea; no way can the journey there have taken so little time. But anyway, the amusing excahange between Conan and a used-car salesman trying to get him to buy an elephant is amusing enough for us to forget this geographical faux pas. "This animal is still strong! He has hardly been forced to travel more than fifty leagues in his life! His previous owner was a frail old woman who was the great-grandmother of..." As the Damsels show up and make clear their intention to apprehend Conan, he uses the elephant to create havoc on the marketplace and escape with Wurundi once again. The next night, trying to surprise their pursuers and scatter their horses, the two men fall instead into a trap set for them! Luckily, a few days later, Conan has an opportunity to save Persephone from a crocodile as the band crosses the river Styx. Finding themselves in his debt, The Iron Damsels decide not to bring him back to the Shemite authorities. Wurundi then suggests that they help the two men recover his tribe's stolen god. The current owner of Kaintiba-Mah is in the Stygian city Sukhmet, and one wonders why Conan and Wurundi made a detour to Zamboula before going there; Zamboula is east of Akbitana while Sukhmet is to its south-southwest. Anyway, the important is to finally get there. The Iron Damsels, Conan and Wurundi enter the art collector's compound, killing several guards (which seems to me shockingly immoral. Those guards are only doing their job, and didn't even get the chance to threaten the thieves). The raid is successful and the thieves escape with Kaintiba-mah, but Tharla is captured when she stays behind to try and fill her pockets with jewels. Conan refuses to let the Damsels rush back to her help, insisting on setting a trap for their unavoidable pursuers. Tharla proves only too happy to betray her former colleagues in exchange for her freedom, but she is repaid by a counter-betrayal as the Stygians stab her when they near the Damsels' encampment. The warrior-women and Conan then emerge from hiding and slaughter the whole lot. Weeks later, the group is in Keshan, bringing back Kaintiba-Mah to its people. During a big welcome celebration, Conan and Soraya seem to grow fond of one another, when the cannibals attack once again! Wurundi tries to get Kaintiba-Mah to fly and show the attackers that his tribe is once again under its protection, but his control is not nearly as good as that of his father and the statue falls to the ground, encouraging the cannibals to continue their attack. It is finally good old fashioned swordplay that sends them running. Conan and Soraya can retire to a hut and we discreetly look away. Notes: - The story is supposed to be set right after Black Colossus (SSoC#2). Such placement disagrees with several other stories, but I guess it could be placed a little while before. It's just that all these travels to faraway places (Keshan is in Africa, far, far from the Hyborian lands) stretch the timeline considerably. Later stories will have the Iron damsels and Valeria co-star in the same story, and since Conan won't meet Valeria for another decade this might justify placing this story much later in Conan's life (he's about 27 for "Black Colossus"). Furthermore, Conan mentions his travels through the Black Kingdoms and he recognizes Wurundi's clothes as those of a shaman of the wetland tribes of Keshan. At the time, Conan hadn't been in the eastern Black Kingdoms and couldn't have had much knowledge of Keshan or its tribes. - More déjà vu in several scenes; the fight against the cannibals looks a lot like the cover to CtB#70. - Continuity errors that an editor should have caught: a) Pages 26 and 27 are in each other's place! b) When we get into the art collector's palace, we see him describing his priceless bas-reliefs "excavated at Xapur". Nope, nope, nope, that's not acceptable. Xapur is an island on the Vilayet sea, uninhabited, where age-old ruins are covered by the jungle and quite forgotten by everyone, thank you. That was the lost island on which the events from "The devil in iron" occurred, and that story tells us that nobody had been to Xapur in more than a century. c) The same merchant shows his "ancestor masks from Xuthal". AAARGH!!! Is the writer taunting us on purpose? Xuthal is the lost city from "The slithering shadow" and NOBODY knows about it. It's like Xuchotl and its dragon; no one outside of Conan could possibly mention it, and obviously only after he's been to the place.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 31, 2015 15:13:28 GMT -5
Eye of the beholderScript by Don Kraar Art by Ernie Chan As all stories by Don Kraar, this one is brutal and interesting. In Iranistan, Conan and his friend Aram Zed are at a slave market when a magnificent young woman is auctioned. The two men try to outbid each other and Conan wins, despite Aram Zed's obviously being smitten with the lady. Conan brings her back to his room, telling her he's not entirely the barbarian he seems to be and that she can have her freedom and gold besides if she'll give him a little comfort (which is pretty barbaric, if you ask me!) Conan is rewarded by a knee to the groin, and the woman turns out to be extremely foul-tempered and in absolutely no mood to be treated like an object! Conan relents immediately, saying he's not about to force himself on a woman since he's never done so, and agreeing to take her back to her lover from whom she was abducted. He also swears he'd pay twice the price he already paid to be rid of her! During their journey, the two are attacked by Aram Zed and a few helpers. Zed wants Conan to sell the woman to him, which Conan refuses on account of the lady not being his to sell. In the following fight, Aram Zed is stabbed through the chest and as he slips away Conan agrees with him that the woman is beautiful enough to be worth dying for. The tale is interesting in that we see Conan buying a slave, which is certainly unheroic. However, I don't think it is so wildly out of character. In "The slithering shadow", Conan had "appropriated" the girl Natala from a slave market in a Shemite city.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 2, 2015 16:47:48 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #112, May 1985 Cover by Joe Jusko, unrelated to the book's contents. Nice tiger on the right. Those underdressed ladies and Conan's phallic sword handle send all sorts of wrong messages, however. Table of contentsA dream of empire, where Conan meets king Yezdigerd once again Mitra defend us, featuring the Pict Shooz Dinj A pin-up of Bêlit by Gary Kwapisz
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 2, 2015 16:52:15 GMT -5
A dream of empireScript by Michael Fleisher Art by Dave Simons This is an ambitious story, dealing with a religious movement that comes very close to topple the Turanian empire. It's just the kind of story Robert Howard wrote so well, with individual actions by a few protagonists leading to sweeping changes at the geopolitical level (as in Black colossus, The hour of the dragon, A witch shall be born, The scarlet citadel, The people from the Black circle and so on). When does it happen? That question often pops up when Roy Thomas isn't the writer of a Conan comic. The pre-story blurb pretending to be an excerpt from Miller and Clark's Probable Outline of Conan's Career is not much help: it says Conan is traveling south through the Colchian mountains when he encounters members of a new faith on the war path, shortly before he is pressed into the Turanian army's service. Okay, this might be a slightly altered version of the events from CtB#29, in which Conan is indeed pressed into the Turanian army's service... except that it isn't. The king of Turan during CtB#29 was Yildiz, and here it is already his successor Yezdigerd. The most parsimonious placement for this tale would probably be sometime after The People of the Black Circle, as Conan returns to parts west following his failed attempt to unite the tribes of the Himelian mountains into a confederation. We had previously suggested that "the year of the rat" from SSoC#95 might also follow that period, since it placed Conan in western Khitai (thus required less travel time for the Cimmerian), and here we may witness Conan's return from the far east to western lands. His being once again pressed into Turanian service must be chalked up to coincidence. In some expository dialogue, several members of this new religious movement explain its origin: a beautiful woman with hypnotic powers and great charisma, Zarmi, has managed to band together people who usually disliked each other but who all suffered from Turan's yoke: Himelians, Yuetshi, Zuagirs and so on. Their goal, marching together, is to bring down the Turanian empire and replace it with one of their own. When Zarmi's leadership is challenged, she can scare off people or cause them to feel phantom pains; she can also, Joshua-like, alter the course of the sun and moon (causing a brief eclipse as a sign of her followers' upcoming victory). This is no natural solar eclipse, for it is a total one that lasts less than a minute. Maybe it doesn't happen and is the result of mass hypnosis, the hypothesis I personally favour. Our Cimmerian hero intends to shake off the road's dust in some alehouse in Aghrapur, Turan's capital. I was always a little annoyed by stories that put Conan in Aghrapur after he fled Turan in CtB#38. he's a deserter from Turan's army, he's the personal enemy of Turan's king, Yezdigerd, and there is little reason for him to risk his neck by going back to the place. Still, here we are. Defending a woman who is brutalized by a man, Conan breaks the fellow's jaw. However, it turns out that the man has an important political position, and the woman (his wife!), far from thanking the Cimmerian for his help, defends her abusive spouse. A police patrol arrests Conan and throws him in jail. He does not stay there long, as Turan is in dire needs of more men for its armies because of the military setbacks caused by Zarmi's crusade. Conan is recruited by one Captain Numallah, a honest one-eyed officer who recognizes talent when he sees it. Unfortunately, Numallah's superior, general Orne'q, is an incompetent and pompous buffoon. As if blaming Numallah for appointing an unwashed barbarian to a position of authority wasn't enough, he also forces the captain to lead his men into a canyon that everyone realizes is the ideal place for an ambush. And sure enough, the Turanian column is massacred. General Orne'q lays all the blame at Numallah's feet and king Yezdigerd has him hanged. Conan enters the chambers of the king nightly, telling him that he's hanged the wrong man and offering sound strategic advice. He then vanishes before anyone can arrest him. A few days days later, after Conan's warning to Yezdigerd about what was likely Zarmi's next move comes true, the king has Conan brought to him. He offers him the generalship of his armies. The exchange between the two is interesting because both men, knowing where their interest lies, pretend not to know each other -even if it is clear that Yezdigerd does recognize Conan. However well-written the scene is, it is however impossible to square with the two men's established relations. Yezdigerd absolutely hates Conan, as seen as early as CtB#21 and as late as CtK#7. I doubt that even the prospect of gaining a competent general would trump Yezdigerd's desire for revenge. Here it is as if Michael Fleisher doesn't remember that Conan's scarred the king's face for life in CtB#20, and in fact we do not see Yezdigerd's scar in this issue. (Although if we want to be absolutely fair, that damn scar tends to have a mind of its own; it even moved from Yezdigerd left cheek to his right one in his lifetime, as seen in the above images). Here's the conversation: Zarmi's next move is to send a ship into Aghrapur's harbor one night; the ship is filled with combustible material and is set aflame, starting a city-wide fire. Zarmi's men take advantage of the distraction to enter the city, apparently unopposed, and they start plundering and looting, losing all discipline. This is what general Conan had counted on, having anticipated this kind of plan. He brings his well-organized cohorts into the city, taking the pillaging crusaders by surprise, and the Turanian soldiers regain the advantage. Conan himself finds Zarmi atop a high tower, and he asks her not to sacrifice any more of her followers. (This image feels so familiar that I'm almost convinced I've seen a similar one before. That posture, that anatomy... it's really something Buscema would draw, but I couldn't readily find a matching image in the comics I thought it would be in. Does it ring a bell to anyone?) *EDIT*
Finally found it... It was in Kull the conqueror vol. 3, #1!!!Zarmi refuses to surrender and insists on the greatness of her vision: giving these oppressed peoples a chance to become something great instead of forever obeying their Turanian masters. Her passionate talk of destiny and divinity is interrupted when an archer puts an arrow in her back and she falls off the tower. Seeing her lifeless body, the disparate tribes that joined together to follow her turn on each other and their defeat is complete. Conan walks away from the burning Aghrapur. The art by Simons is nice, this time inked entirely with pen and brush, without an airbrush as in SSoC#106. Everyone looks the way they should: the Turanians look Turkish, the Zuagirs like Tuaregs, the himelian like Afghans. Even Yezdigerd has the proper beard, although he's missing his scar. Good job. Notes: - It is interesting that Zarmi's plans is pretty much the same that Conan tried to implement in the Himelian mountains a few months prior. I guess the Cimmerian just wasn't pretty enough to make it work. - Bad religion again: we're in Turan and no one swears by Tarim nor Erlik. Plenty of "Ishtar" and "Blessed Mitra" to go around, though.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 2, 2015 17:02:20 GMT -5
Mitra defend usScript by Don Kraar Art by William Johnson and Rey Garcia A short story of Conan's days as a scout on the Pictish frontier. It's inspired in part by Howard's essay The Hyborian Age, in which we learn of a priest of Mitra (Arus) who tried to bring religion to the Picts, and who was protected by the pictish chief Gorm. The priest would learn too late that it is not the gentle word of Mitra that interested Gorm, but his tales of the Hyborian nations' riches, and the technical lessons that would allow the Picts to forge iron weapons. Here the priest has gained the attention of the Pictish chief Shooz Dinj, in what proves to be a nice bit of cross-title continuity. In his first Conan the king issue, #29, Don Kraar would use Shooz Dinj as an old enemy of Conan's, their enmity dating back to the Aquilonian king's days as a scout. And here we meet Shooz Dinj in his prime. (CtK#29 is cover-dated July, 1985).
(That's the older Shooz Dinj, in his Pictish Baron Samedi regalia!) Shooz Dinj would be seen again in SSoC#143, another tale from Conan's frontier days. The artwork by Johnson is nice, but Geoff Isherwood is a better inker for him than Garcia. The Johnson/Isherwood pair works like Colan and Palmer or Buscema and Alcala, in a synergistic way that enrich each other's strengths.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 3, 2015 19:10:35 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #113, June 1985 Cover by Earl Norem. Nice texture on the lance's haft and on the morningstar! Table of contents
Quest for the shrine of Luna, the first long Larry Yakata Conan story in this mag Conan pin-up by William Johnson A quiet place, a short and funny Conan story
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 3, 2015 19:14:13 GMT -5
Quest for the shrine of LunaScript by Larry Yakata Art by Ernie Chan I have already mentioned how interesting and unique I thought Larry Yakata's scripts were. To reiterate my opinion: while his adherence to Howardian canon is pretty much nil, he handles the Conan character well and writes damn fine stories. He's the writer who, in my opinion, made the best use of the Cimmerian's psychological facets in his stories (especially his fatalism, sometimes bordering on nihilism). This is the first issue of SSoC to feature Yakata as the main writer. And because I intend to lavish a lot of praise on his prose later on, let me start by making a list of what is wrong with this issue! Able letterer Diana Albers lets many errors slip this time (are they typos when the lettering is done by hand?) "Wold" instead of "would", "tougue" instead of "tongue", "than" instead of "then"... Editor! Editor! We need an editor, stat! Then there is some poor Hyborian age scholarship, which is unfortunately par for course in these post-Roy Thomas years. The pre-story blurb claiming to be freely adapted from Miller and Clark's outline of Conan career is so freely adapted that it bears no resemblance to the real thing, and is therefore an usurpation more thahn anything else. " Drifting south in search of warmer climes and to escape the jealous hordes of Khaliem-Nokmad, Conan, in his third decade, reaches lower Aquilonia"... what in Crom's name is that? This blurb is supposed to be informative, to help us place this month's story within the frame of a larger saga; not to refer to tales that do not exist to give this issue some semblance of authenticity! The story is set somewhere in southern Aquilonia, near Poitain, where apparently the lush mountainous country we know is now covered with "steppes". Aquilonia, then, but we deal with a certain king Zamadal. King Zamadal? King Zamadal of what? Certainly not of Aquilonia, since the king at this juncture is Numedides; certainly not of Pointain, since it is no longer an independent kingdom and is anyway ruled by Count Trocero. Is this some never-before mentioned small kingdom in the south of Aquilonia, wedged between that country and Zamora or between it and Argos like Ravonna from issue #66? Will we see Aquilonia turned into a "loose confederation of small kingdoms" like Corinthia and the Border Kingdom before it? We do not know. Not that it matters much anyway, but in such a situation why not use some unknown barony instead of some unknown kingdom? They're easier to squeeze onto the map we know. More problems: one character is named "Gru the Kushite". He looks like no Kushite I have ever seen. Another fellow is at first referred to as "Vanir", and even if he seems a bit dark-haired for a Vanir and doesn't have their usual beard, he might hail from that northern country... until we learn that "Vanir" is his given name, and that he's actually a Hykrainian. A what? Do you mean Hyrkanian? And why give someone the name of a nation, which is pretty sure to be confusing? Yet more problems: the place is teeming with monsters that people don't seem the least bit surprised to see. Dinosaurs, giant pterodactyl-like things, hordes of murderous great apes... all in a day's work, right? It has to be repeated: the Hyborian Age is not an era when monsters roamed the earth as a matter of course. Conan's world is supposed to be our world some ten thousand years ago and the monsters, dragons and assorted spooky things that sometimes pop up in it are rare and things of wonder, like medieval unicorns. Finally, the basis for the plot makes little sense, if we stop to think about it. It goes like this: King Zaralla and his sycophantic warlords have organized a high risk, potentially lethal competition of skills and courage, the winner of which will be deemed worthy to undergo the quest for the shrine of Luna, which the champion will be supposed to bring back to the capital. Well, first, I sure hope the shrine in question is, as in its latin original sense, a chest for papers and not a sacred edifice. Second, since there is apparently no religious reason to select a single champion for the mission and that the kingdom appears to be filthy rich (each contestant receives a heavy purse whenever one of the challenges in the competition is completed), what is the point of the entire dangerous exercise? Why not simply offer a big reward to whoever brings the shrine back and leave it at that? What's the use of having contestants die in trying to prove their worth instead of having them die trying to get the job done? No wonder Conan thinks civilized men are decadent and crazy! Ah, but after this small avalanche of criticism, let me reassure you: once you get over these annoying details, Yakata's script offers much to be appreciated, and even applauded. It's rare that a Conan story brings a lump in my throat, but this one managed it without resorting to heavy pathos. The story alternates between two types of sequences: (a) Conan and the other contestants vie for supremacy in some contest, and (b) Conan has a conversation with his assigned maid, Laika. It is in those conversations that Yakata really shines as a writer. The contests are typical fantasy stuff. First the would-be champions must climb cliffs inhabited by carnivorous winged monsters whose eggs they must steal and bring back intact. Bringing back a broken egg brings disqualification. Later they must venture into a marsh teeming with poisonous snakes, dragons and explosive gas. There is also a challenge where they must get pairs of slippers from an island located in the center of a lake where dwell massive long-necked reptiles. (There's also an old-fashioned foot race, much to my relief). Each contest allows us to better understand that one of Conan's opponents, Gru the Kushite, is a liar, a cheat and an opportunist. We see him kowtowing to the king every chance he gets, an attitude the warlords praise even as they compare it favourably to Conan's rough and independent manner (despite the Cimmerian's success in the challenges). There is one person, however, who sees clearly in this game. Laika, the maid who has been assigned to Conan for the duration of the contest, is struck by the Cimmerian's honesty, his bluntness, his savage purity. A plain-looking young woman, Laika is extremely well-read and intelligent, and no mean philosopher. She sees in Conan the kind of man she thought did not exist, frank and devoid of the hypocrisy of civilized people. Conan, meanwhile, is also intrigued by this uncommon woman who speaks seven languages and seems to expect nothing of him while making her admiration clear. Her advice regarding how to deal with the scheming warlords and the vain king turns out to be very useful, as is her warning about Gru. Still, Conan is clearly on his guard, emotionally. It's clear he could easily fall for this woman, but does not want to. He's torn between his affection for her and his honest intention not to lead her on and give her false hopes. He'll eventually go as far as to tell her that he's not made for a single mate... at least no yet. The discussions between them is like watching two people dance around each other, each wanting to say more, perhaps, but also being aware that reality is not always what we want it to be. I found Laika's baring her soul extremely moving, and definitely not in the vein of a standard SSoC tale. Conan finally having won the contest, he is to be crowned champion when Gru and a double-crossing warlord attempt to murder the king. The Cimmerian saves Zaralla right before the monarch is to be slain, and the grateful man is ready to grant his saviour anything if he'll handle the quest for the shrine of Luna. Conan takes advantage of the situation and drives a hard bargain, insisting on a huge amount of gold; he also insists that the last surviving contestant, Vanir, also take part in the quest. At a disadvantage, the king readily agrees even to this last point (which makes us wonder what was the point of a contest to find a single champion in the first place). Conan gives his new-found fortune to Laika, so that she can settle down in her own house, with her own servants, and read all the books she likes. The woman did not expect Conan to stay with her but feels lucky, in a bittersweet way, to have shared a few days (and one night) with him. Conan says he might come back some day (note the "might"), and Laika says that is the hope that will carry her for the rest of her days. Very high marks to Yakata for this excellent exploration of two memorable characters' soul. On the art side, this is typical Ernie Chan work. I liked how he has Conan and Laika move and do things as they were discussing. The only small criticism I'd have is that Laika is not especially plain-looking, despite what she claims; she looks pretty much like any Ernie Chan-drawn girl. This is definitely one of my favourite non-Thomas issues. I loved it much, much more this time around than when I read it in the 80s... perhaps because of age? Damn, it's a fine love story.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 3, 2015 19:17:40 GMT -5
SSoC #113 ------------- William Johnson provides a pin-up with adistinct Japanese (ER! I mean Khitan) flavour, which almost heralds the several Conan-as-ronin stories that will pop up in the future. This is a very nice piece, as it really tells a story in only one picture. The contrast between innocence and brutality, triumph and guilt, is very moving.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 3, 2015 19:21:53 GMT -5
SSoC #113 ------------- A quiet placeScript by Don Kraar Art by Tony Salmon After the Vezek Inn in issue #109, here is another humorous short tale in which all Conan wants is to have a good night's sleep! Reaching an inn on a dying horse, Conan collapses on a bed. "I want a quiet place to sleep and a stable for my horse. And be quick about it." "But... but, sir. your horse is dead!" "Then BURY it!" Little does he know that a gang of thieves, knowing a rich merchant is also a patron of the place, intend to assault it! Luckily, Conan has taken the precaution of spreading caltrops on his room's floor, and when a thief sets foot on them he wakes a very angry barbarian. Conan brutally devastates the thieves' ranks in front of the merchant and his bodyguards, and reiterates his desire to just SLEEP! The next morning, we see the bodyguards twisting the neck of every rooster they can find in the vicinity, insisting that no noise must be made! As someone mentions that their master must be a very terrible man, they explain that it isn't him they're afraid of! Very funny tale, with lovely artwork by Tony Salmons.
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Post by benday-dot on Jun 3, 2015 20:00:29 GMT -5
Congratulations on your award for best review thread RR. It is well deserved.
For those who have followed Roquefort Raider and his traveling Cimmerian companion around the interwebs over the years have long since realized what a honour it is to have him here among us. I'd wager that there are few people in the world that know more about Conan and his universe in general and about the Savage Sword of Conan magazine in particular than our own Ben "Roquefort Raider."
Well done!
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