Savage sword of Conan #114, July 1985



Cover by Steve Hickman, once again managing to capture the charm of a 1930s pulp magazine cover.


Table of contents

Riddle of the Demuzaar
The toll

two Conan adventures.

SSoC #114
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The toll

Script by Don Kraar
Art by Andy Kubert, likely one of his very earliest for Marvel comics. Andy would do more Conan in the future, and since of the two Kubert brothers he's the one whose style approaches their father's most closely, Andy's work is the closest we had to a Joe Kubert Conan story until Dark Horse's Conan the Cimmerian #14.



This short story is a macabre one, where gallows humour reigns. Conan is travelling in a mountainous country and must cross a bridge across a deep gorge, a bridge guarded by simian-looking men who insist on a toll being paid: their king wants a severed head to be offered for each crossing. All around them, a forest of spikes adorned with past payments shows that they mean business.

Words are exchanged and things come to a boil, and Conan graphically cuts through the red tape and the guards' bodily integrity.

To the last one, who's busy trying to keep his intestines inside his open belly, Conan explains that he has already met the king, and that the two of them sort of reached an agreement regarding his paying the toll. The Cimmerian then opens a bag attached to his horse's saddle and reveals the severed head of the king himself.

Isle of the faceless ones
Script by Larry Yakata
Art by Val Mayerik

Val Mayerik is an artist who uses different approaches, and whose SSoC#74 remains a great example of what he's capable of. Here his treatment of the story is uncluttered, with minimalist backgrounds. Some would say that the art looks rushed, and perhaps it's not entirely false in the sense that there might have been more ink on the pages had there been more time to apply it, but I do not feel shortchanged by it; the simplicity of the art in this issue just means that it is simpler than usual, not that it is bad. The anatomy and storytelling remain quite good, if a little sedate at times.



The script is a variation on a theme we've seen many times in different media: that of a peaceful people who, to resist evil men who would exploit them, must learn violence and lose what made them special in the first place.

This is Yakata's second long Conan story, and once again the theme of morality plays an important role in it. We also get a few tantalizing bits of information about Conan's family, that will be expanded upon in issue #119.

The story could be placed at any time after Conan's career as a Black Corsair and his return to the Hyborian lands. We open with the Cimmerian and his friend Tebnar, as they are hired by a conclave of Zingaran merchants who want them to map the safest way to a certain island. Said island, the merchants explain, harbors gold deposits of incredible value but is also peopled by savage cannibals. The more islanders Conan and Tebnar kill, the better.

Before the two adventurers sail away, they have dinner with Tebnar's parents. Conan mentions the importance of family, and states that he doesn't have one anymore.



That's interesting, and later in the issue the Cimmerian will say how much a young boy reminds him of a certain young laughing rascal he would never forget; we assume that he's referring to a dead younger brother. In SSoC#119, Conan learns of his entire family's demise and mention is made of his having had sisters and brothers, plural, all killed while he was adventuring in the south. Considering Conan's sensitivity about the issue, I would guess that this story occurs shortly after SSoC#119. However, Roy Thomas disagrees: in the timeline published in Conan Saga, issues 79 and 80 put "Isle of the faceless ones" a few months before SSoC#119. I would definitely put "Isle" later, since Conan no longer has any family.

Irrespective of their order, Roy sets both tales roughly during Conan's 27th year, in between Queen of the Black Coast and Black Colossus. This, too, I disagree with because of a word balloon in SSoC #119, in which Conan mentions having once led the Kozaki. Since Issues 119 and 117 must perforce be set after the Kozaki period, I would suggest that they are set right after "The star of Khorala" (adapted in issue #44), when Conan is about 31. (Conan states at the end of that story that he's going to Cimmeria). I'll explain why this seems a particularly good fit when covering SSoC#119.

Another thing on the matter of Conan's siblings: issue #119 will tell us a little more about his family, but in the several "Conan as a kid" stories we read over the years (including, say, "Day on manhood" from SSoC#227), we never saw any of his other brothers and sisters.

But back to our main feature...

The journey to the island is naturally fraught with adventure, starting with a storm that nearly cripples the two men's ship. Then they and their crew must face ship-wrecking marine creatures evoking giant lampreys; these beasts attach to the bottom of the craft, chewing through the wood. Conan cleverly severs the beasts' necks, leaving their heads in place, so they act as stoppers for the holes they dug.



Finally reaching the island, Conan and Tebnar go ashore. The latter gets his leg caught in a giant oyster (an oyster which doubles a Checkhov's gun, as we'll see later).



The bivalve is killed, but Tebnar's leg is broken and Conan must splint it before continuing his exploration of the island on his own.

The savage cannibals against whom the two men had been warned are nowhere to be seen: they actually turn out to be a perfectly harmless and shy people. Little by little, the islanders come to see that the newcomers present no threat and make contact with them. They are called "Shoths".



What was true in the merchants' tale is the richness of the local gold veins: so abundant that the ore can be picked up right from the surface. Caves that contain even more gold are however guarded by giant creatures that look like a cross between moles and badgers.



Conan and Tebnar return to Zingara with the promised map (although I don't see how their efforts actually help the merchants; the map must contain informations like "here be countless giant lampreys; kill them all before continuing").

Now quite rich, the two men carouse and spend gold without counting for weeks on end, for life is short. Their revels are brought to a stop when they see Shoths being sold as slaves on the local market. Clearly, the merchants were after more than mere gold. Wracked with guilt, Tebnar insists on going back to the island and making things right by these friendly and peaceful folks. Conan declines to accompany him, claiming there's nothing they can do.

Traveling back to the island, Tebnar does find the Shoths in chains; they are used as slave labor in the gold mines or deported and sold. Protesting such treatment of a kindly people, Tebnar is mocked by the cruel slave drivers; one guard even murders a Shoth right in front of him to goad him into pulling his sword.

That guard is however killed from behind by none other than Conan, who then makes short work of the exploiters. He exlains his change of mind about coming to the Shoths' rescue by telling Tebnar he missed his whining.



Conan did more than just rally to his friend's cause; he also used the last of his gold to buy weapons for the Shoths.



The two men then train the gentle islanders into the arts of war and lead them against their oppressors. Using the local fauna, they lead some soldiers onto a beach covered with man-eating clams, then push them down holes inhabited by mole-badgers. Old-fashioned swordplay is also involved.



When the dust falls down, the oppressors are all dead and the Shoths are masters of their island once again; however, they have lost their innocence and friendly ways. As Conan and Tebnar depart, there are no tears as when they left the first time. But as Conan observes, there was no other choice. As the two men conclude: these people who had no word for killing, anger or hatred will have to find new ones.




Notes:

- As noted above, Conan is probably around 31 for this story, fresh from a trip to Cimmeria.
- The pre-story blurb continues to be useless, referring to non-existing stories instead of helping us place this issue in the ingoing Conan saga. 
- The lampreys are met in the equivalent of our Sargasso sea, where they hatch, just as real-world eels do (although lampreys are not eels).

That is one beautiful panel by Bismuth, an artist I am totally unfamiliar with.

And speaking of Rudy Nebres. I don't think he is universally loved (then who is?), and I used to be lukewarm toward him, but these days I find myself holding him in pretty high regard. His well defined musculature really impresses me.

Lords of the Falcon
Script by Larry Yakata
Art by Ernie Chan


There are few things more horrible than the loss of one's intellectual capacities as disease or old age creeps in. My own father suffered from Alzehimer's disease, and I can vouch that it has to be one of the cruelest fates one can endure. Age-induced dementia plays a role in this issue's main story, and we can appreciate Conan's fidelity (and even affection) to an old man during his last days.

The main theme of the story is however one of a revenge plot gone awry. As we open, the three current rulers of the Brotherhood of the Falcon convene with a sizeable number of their brethren to swear revenge on Conan the Cimmerian (again), and to discuss their latest plan to reach their goal.



The town where the meeting occurs is described by Yakata in a very lyrical prose, and I must reiterate my appreciation for the man's writing skills:



Unfortunately, Yakata's ability to turn a phrase is far superior to his knowledge of the Hyborian age. The story is set in a kingdom called Tranicos, located in western Pictland. DOUBLE-U TEE EFF??? Tranicos is not a place, it's the name of a famous pirate dead these past five score years! And the story "the treasure of Tranicos", while it is indeed set in western Pictland, refers to the pirate's treasure, not to a town where the treasure is kept! Besides, as we've had the opportunity to point out two issues ago, there are no civilized men, no castles, no baronies, no cities in Pictland! It's a wild country peopled by savages, panthers and giant snakes.

What's more, at the end of the story, Conan gets his hands on a sizeable amount of money which he estimates is "...enough at least for a month of carousing in Shadizar's most opulent pleasure dome". From western Pictland to Zamora's capital (roughly the distance from Santiago de Compostela to Odessa, judging from REH's map of the Hyborian age), there are more than 3000 km as the crow flies. I very much doubt Conan would undertake such a trip just for a little carousing. In other words: Hyborian age geography is handled pretty loosely in this story, as in most of Yakata's stories.

But such consistency glitches should not keep us from enjoying this tale of adventure, duty and revenge.

Conan the Cimmerian, at some undefined point in his career, is asked to come to the help of the aged Gwal of Tranicos, an elderly king now haunted by the memories of his past deeds and the prospect of his coming demise. Conan worked for him in the past and even slew the king's own brother, against whom he apparently waged war. There is a clear respect between the two men, although the king suffers bouts of senile dementia: praising Conan one moment, he accuses him of being a traitor the next. The Cimmerian patiently does what he can to make the king's last few days comfortable, keeping doctors from bleeding him and standing at his right hand.

The Brotherhood of the Falcon plans to trick the king into helping in Conan's demise. They first organize a series of brutal murders against the rural population of Tranicos, which prompts Conan to travel to the countryside to investigate. Meanwhile, the three leaders of the Brotherhood, posing as foreign kings, come pay a visit to Gwal. They all pretend to have been abused by a monster of a man, a certain Conan of Cimmeria, who got into their confidence before committing horrible acts of theft and murder. The feeble-minded Gwal believes them and shudders to think that he let a viper like Conan gain his own confidence. Gwal is then invited to join the Brotherhood of the Falcon, which is presented as a righteous organization whose goal it is to rid the world of Conan (apparently, unlike most people, Gwal hasn't heard of that famous criminal organization. But then, he is pretty senile).



To prove their trust in Gwal, the three Falconmen reveal their most private fears: one is a claustrophobe, the other is afraid of drowning, and the third fears both heights and the sight of his own blood. This revelation will play a role later on.



In a scene probably meant to bring some action to the book, a band of Falconmen attacks Conan while he's alone at the site of a burned farm. I'll give them credit: they first try to shoot him from afar before moving in. The resourceful Cimmerian slays a good many of them before they retreat, and we learn that this attack was merely meant to delay Conan while the three leaders were recruiting Gwal. (That strikes me as a bizarre plan since the attack can't have lasted more than 5 minutes. If these guys wanted to delay Conan, sending him a pretty and flirty girl would have worked better; killing his horse even more so).

When Conan returns to Tranicos he is told that Gwal has gone away on horseback, ordering the guards to let him pass despite their orders to keep watch over him. Tracking the old king, the Cimmerian finds him next to a small pyramidal tomb. Gwal enters the tomb through its sole door and Conan follows, finding the inside walls covered with mirrors. Such a mirror tricks Conan into thinking Gwal is at the other end of the tomb, and when he realizes that he's looking at a reflection it is too late: a heavy stone door seals the tomb shut. Laughter erupts from outside: the Brotherhood is at last avenged.

The Cimmerian remains trapped for days, until in a fit of anger he strikes the mirrors with his sword. This apparently triggers some sort of death-trap mechanism, for the ceiling starts collapsing bit by bit. Realizing that the falling stones are hitting a floor made of soft dirt, Conan starts furiously digging a tunnel with his sword. He has barely made a man-size hole when a heavy stone slab falls from above and seals the tunnel, barely missing crushing him. Luckily, the tomb has no foundations to speak of (as we see in the accompanying image) and Conan manages to dig his way to freedom.



What can come next but the Cimmerian's revenge?

First he pays a visit to Gwal, who pitifully reveals the Falconmen's plot and their secret fears. Gwal then conveniently dies of a heart attack before Conan has to decide whether to punish him for his betrayal or to spare him out of pity.



Next, each of the Falconmen (who hadn't travelled far from Tranicos) receives an invitation to return to Gwal's side to discuss a matter of life or death. The invitation is naturally fake, and each of the men is in turn captured by Conan and disposed of in the way they most fear: the first is attached to a rock at low tide (and so we're probably near the western ocean and not near Zamora); the second, the claustrophobic one, is trapped in the pyramidal tomb (which has in the meantime been cleaned up of all the fallen stones, apparently, with its death trap rearmed); and the third is left, bleeding, hanging from a high cliff.

When their leaders fail to return, the remaining Falconmen suspect the people of Tranicos of treachery and attack Gwal's castle, which they set to the torch.



As they're busy with that, Conan plunders their camp and makes off with a sizeable fortune.



Notes:

- With the death of the three leaders of the Brotherhood of the Falcon, we might have expected this to be their final appearance (and honestly, that's how I remembered it); however, we know that the organization can replace leaders when it needs to or even when it wants to. In CtB #162 (in color, with the Falconmen dressed in red, white and blue) a previous leader, having failed to avenge the brotherhood's honour by managing the death of Conan, is ritually sacrificed.



That event occurred in Conan's 27th year or so, a decade after he first met the Falconmen, and so the feud between these guys and the Cimmerian is a long-standing one indeed. In CtB #171, a few months after CtB #162, they show up again dressed in purple and yellow. Perhaps local chapters of the brotherhood use different colours?



Anyway, far from being extinct, they would appear again in the very next issue, #117.

Savage sword of Conan #117, October 1985

Cover by Michael Golden.



I am of two minds regarding this image. It features a character in full fantasy regalia, heavy, useless as a form of protection and totally impractical (Conan's not even wearing shoes, and the horse's saddle has no stirrups. But then, it still is Golden, and I love most of what Golden does. The colours are striking, the skulls and severed heads look cool, the shy girl has a 1980s Golden face and many details are interesting: the way the horse's mane has been carefully braided, for example. The sword's crosspiece is also uncommon.

It is still one of the most derided SSoC covers, if we judge by what vocal fabns say on discussion boards. I personally would classify it as "odd-looking", but not bad; it certainly attracts the attention of a potential buyer.


Table of contents

The winds of Aka-Gaar, a desert adventure
The opponents, a short story.

The winds of Aka-Gaar
Script by Larry Yakata
Art by Gary Kwapisz

Considering that the "Aka-Gaar" in the title is a youth-giving oasis, the story could have been called "the waters of Aka-Gaar". But since its promises turned out to be as ephemeral as thin air, the wind analogy works as well.

Yakata uses this story to underscore Conan's resilience, basic dislike of bullies, and the vanity of people who have climbed so far up the social ladder that they forget what real life is. The art by Kwapisz is getting better and better (despite the funny hands); the backgrounds grow increasingly authentic and rich, and the wildlife looks very good, very... lifelike. The scales on these snakes... wow!



There are many swipes in the issue too, but we'll look at those later on.

Conan apparently once worked for a certain king Shondar of Khemdri, who considered him almost a son. (Never heard of that king, and never will again). Since Khemdri has a clear Stygian (Egyptian) look, I first assumed that "Khemdri" was a misspelling of "Khemi", the main commercial city-port in Stygia. However, there are several reasons to revise that opinion. First, king Shondra is a one-time character but his rule must have lasted many years, according to this tale; there's little room left in the Stygian line of rulers already seen in the saga to fit him anywhere. Second, "Khemdri" is consistently spelled the same way throughout the issue. Third, I can't see Conan having served the Stygian king (any Stygian king) for very long, considering the rather tense relations between the Cimmerian and many rulers of that nation (who, lest we forget, are as often as not advised by a certain Thoth-Amon). Fourth, no mention is made of known Stygian landmarks such as the great river Styx or the cities of Luxur, Kheshatta or Sukhmet. Finally, Khemdri is referred to as a "dying kingdom", which Stygia most certainly is not. For all these reasons, it is parsimonious, I think, to assume that Khemdri is a small kingdom past its prime located somewhere within the sphere of Stygian cultural influence. Since Zamboula, the famous desert city, is one ruled by Turanians but founded by Stygians, there could easily be other cities and city-states that the Stygians founded here and there in the eastern desert.

When does the story occur? Roy Thomas, in his extended Conan chronology published in Conan saga, puts it in the very busy 27th year of the Cimmerian (between the stories Queen of the Black Coast and Black Colossus). Personally, I would place it later. First, when the story begins Conan returns to Khemdri, a place where he has long ago served the king; this means the previous adventure would have to be placed at an even earlier time point, but the early 20s of Conan are already a pretty busy time, covered in the CtB magazine. Conan couldn't have served Shondra when he lived among the Black corsairs, and before that he had been busy as a mercenary in the Hyborian lands, and before that he had briefly been a soldier of Turan... not only was he very busy, but wasn't he also a bit young to act as a king's right-hand man?

I think the story better fits the period following Red Nails, when Conan parted from Valeria and had adventures in the east and south, in Keshan (the teeth of Gwahlur) and Punt (The ivory goddess). He would be about 38 at the time.

And now, to our story!



Queen Yanna of Khemdri, an aging but still beautiful and vain woman, is entranced by the tall tales of a "prophet" named P'Than who tells her of the legendary oasis of Aka-Gaar, where youths frolic in an edenic garden the waters of which bring eternal youth. The vain queen naturally wants to obtain these precious waters, and for this mission she hires Conan, who used to be her deceased husband's trusted right-hand man. Conan feels no loyalty to the queen herself, but undertakes the mission anyway for purely mercenary reasons. This indisposes the warlord Meisut, who feels such a honour should have been given to him and not to a foreigner. (Apparently, Conan's service to Shondar was so long ago that few people remember him as the king's right-hand man). Since Khemdri is short on fighting men, Conan will recruit companions in the city's prisons.

The general directions to the oasis of Aka-Gaar are clear enough, but fraught with danger. Only Conan's iron disciplines saves his companions from thirst and despair in the first weeks of the journey, but he doesn't make friends with his brusque ways when ordering them around.

Finally reaching an oasis, the band faces what appears to be a two-headed gorilla guarding its precious waters! Conan decapitates the beast, and it turns out to be a fake animal. The gorilla is actually the disguise of a small man with a wooden leg, Rezza, who hoped to keep people away from the spot until he could find a way to charge travellers for access to the water. Conan's companions, who basically shat their pants when first seeing the monster, would like nothing better than to pummel the rogue to death; but Conan stops them, finding the ploy ingenious. Rezza ends up following the band when it continues on its journey.

Tension continues to grow between Conan and his followers (except for Rezza). When he warns them not to run blindly to what appears to be a freshwater lake, many disobey. The lake is however a mirage, and at least two bandits sink in quicksand before anyone can help them.

The next obstacle is a forest of dead trees, "the forest of sticks", where vipers are abundant.



Conan is unimpressed by the normal the size of the reptiles (he knows of the giant snakes that the priests of Set nurture, animals that can swallow a horse), but he should have been more wary when slashing at the snakes: chopping one in two he inadvertently cleaves its venom sacks, which causes his eyes to be sprayed with poison. Conan quickly becomes blind.

The bandits see an opportunity to get revenge for their treatment at the Cimmerian's hands, but even a blind Conan can chokes one to death and send the others flying. Only Rezza remains, offering to be the Cimmerian's eyes.

Not one to cry over his fate, the cimmerian starts relying on his other senses and trains himself to detect what lies around him by listening to the way the wind moves. He practices his swordplay against cacti, impressing Rezza by how he manages to localize the thorny plants.

A bit later, the bandits have made their way back to Khemdri where they report to the warlord Meisut. Learning of the Cimmerian's blindness, the crafty man intends to complete the mission himself, and to topple queen Yanna while he's at it. To help him get to Akla-Gaar, he goes to the local chapter of the Brotherhood of the Falcon (them again!) and tells them of Conan's predicament; the Falconmen are ready to pay Meisut a fortune for the information and send a hundred riders with him.

Conan has gotten pretty good at using his other senses, and he has the opportunity to demonstrate it when he and Rezza are attacked by a giant scorpion. (The scorpion is really nightmarish, the way it is drawn... all black and thorny and slick). Conan manages to get the scorpion to sting itself, and it dies instantly. (This should not have worked, as scorpion's are insensitive to their own venom).



The next night, Conan's keen ears detect the apporoach of many riders, whom he suspects to be after Rezza and him. The two men prepare booby-traps.

When dawn comes, the Falconmen and Meisut attack; a taut rope sends many horses toppling into quicksand, and Conan's amazing blind swordplay severely depletes the Falcomen's ranks. (Their reputation as the world's greatest assassins is way over-rated, if you ask me).

Retreating, the few survivors of the attack make their way to the oasis of Aka-Gaar, which they are the first to reach. No frolicking youths, but hey... it's the right place and there's water. Drinking their fill, they are quitre refreshed when Conan and Rezza also arrive, but the following fight still goes badly for the surviving Falcomen... especially when they, too, become blind! The waters of Aka-Gaar, far from being a panacea, are deadly poison! Conan dispatches the remaining Falconmen (nice fight choreography, here, very movie-like) and the sole survivor, Meisut, suffers the full effect of the waters he drank: the flesh peels off his body and his skeleton falls to the ground.



Conan then realizes that the venom's effect has passed and that he can see again. He and Rezza leave the oasis.


Notes:

- This is a good adventure story, and Kwapisz's attention to background details, to lighting (he uses zip tones to great effect) and to the depiction of wildlife all contribute to make this issue look very good. The scenes with the queen are evocative of a 1950 Hollywood movie.

- Déjà vu section:

The two-headed gorilla scene is like the illegitimate child of an image from CtB#113 and one from an early Prince Valiant adventure!



Conan rested in pretty much the same position in Beyond the Black River (SSoC#27).



This one is from CtB#100.



When a skewering technique has proven efficient in the past, why not use it again? (the image swiped is from SSoC #32).