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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 22, 2015 17:01:12 GMT -5
SSoC #122 ------------- One against allScript by Chuck Dixon Art by Valdis Semeiks, whim we will know better as Val Semeiks later on. In this short story, Kull reminisces of how he went from a gladiator in Valusia's arenas to a soldier in king Borna's Black Legions. He tells the story to Brule, during a boring cruise at sea with foreign diplomats (and hoping he was still in the arena!) Kull was quite a popular sporting figure back in the day, but he had the misfortune to be a litle too lucky when playing dice with a certain governor, winning the man's gold and his favorite concubine. A year later, facing other fighters in the arena, Kull saw that the games' master was none other than the aggrieved nobleman... who bore a large enough grudge to pay the other gladiators to gang up on Kull and kill him. Realizing the treachery, Kull dispatched his faithless colleagues and brashly taunted the governor to send him more opponents! These took the form of charioteers, then of an angry wild bear. Kull triumphed over all, but the governor then upped the ante by offering gold to the first archer who would kill the insolent Atlantean! As an ironic fate would have it, the order was countermanded by none other than King Borna of Valusia himself, who attended the games unheralded. He chastised the governor for attemtping to slay the finest warrior he had ever seen, and invited Kull to join him to listen to a proposal.  We know how things would proceed from there: Kull would become the commander of the Black Legions, then one day kill Borna and usurp his throne. And the governor? Well, this tale concludes with Kull pointing him out among the galley's rowers, saying "his luck continued to go the wrong way when I took the Topaz throne!" A good and fun story, this marks the first Kull tale by Val Semeiks.  The man's style back then looked like an early Barry Smith's, back when it still had a strong Kirby or Trimpe vibe. I think the arms of the men are drawn too big, but the overall look is highly enjoyable, and even at this early stage in his career Semeiks put certain types of detail in his work that made it stand out. Look at the texture of the chainmail on Kull in this picture: isn't it cool?  He also always added certain pieces of string to his characters' belts, with a small ring at the end; just the kind of thing to attach stuff to. I borrowed that "Semeiks string" decades ago and frequently use it when I draw an adventurer-type character! (Thanks, Mr. Semeiks!) The same story was told years later (in 1989) in the Kull graphic novel written by Alan Zelenetz. And therein lies a tale of continuity contradiction. In Kull the conqueror vol. 3 #5, we learn that count Murom Bora Balin is the one who redeemed Kull from the arena, a deed for which Kull always considered him a close friend. That should take precedence to the story from this issue. However, in the Kull graphic novel, Borna is depicted as a white-haired and feeble drunken fool who wants Kull to die in the arena until Bora Balin pays a fortune to buy Kull's freedom. There are therefore continuity glitches in both versions.  I also appreciate that Borna is drawn as he should be: no whimpering and weak king, but a big, strong and red-bearded guy. That's the Borna we saw Kull fight in Kull the conqueror #1! |
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Post by foxley on Jun 22, 2015 18:02:10 GMT -5
Could he mean the Red Brotherhood? Perhaps the writer misremembered the name, or the Crimson Brotherhood is an alternative name/bad translation or something.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 22, 2015 20:22:11 GMT -5
Could he mean the Red Brotherhood? Perhaps the writer misremembered the name, or the Crimson Brotherhood is an alternative name/bad translation or something. It's certainly a similar name, but the impression I got is that it was just easier to come up with a new name than do research on the actual Red Brotherhood. (When Kraar first used the Red Brotherhood name, if I'm not mistaken, he had it operating in the Vilayet sea... which strikes me as very odd, since Valeria of the Red Brotherhood clearly operated on the Western Ocean). No big deal as far as I'm concerned... it's a big ocean and there's plenty of room for competing pirate associations! (Might even be fun to have them duke it out from time to time). |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2015 8:56:44 GMT -5
Savage Sword of Conan #123, April 1986 Cover by Ernie Chan once again, a colourful rendition (and dramatization) of a scene he drew in the issue's main story.  Table of contentsSecret of the great stone, a Conan tale The debt of the warrior, a second one, albeit shorter!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2015 9:03:45 GMT -5
SSoC #123 ------------- Secret of the great stoneScript by Larry Yakata Art by Ernie Chan It would be interesting to confront my younger self about our reaction to Larry Yakata's stories. I am sure that the young Raider would bitch and moan about the bad Hyboriana and inexplicable plot holes, with the older one pointing out that Yakata's different take on the character compensates for those flaws. I'm also not as sensitive to bad Howardian scholarship today as I used to be... it still annoys me, but back in the 80s it would squarely drive me up the walls. Perhaps after several reboots of the Conan franchise (not all of them successful, far from it) it has finally dawned on me that these are just stories. Perhaps, too, having seen the extremes to which hardcore fans of this or that franchise can go, I don't want to become like them! ("No Tom Bombadil in the Lord of the Rings films? They're ruined! RUINED!") Anyway, I really enjoy most of the Yakata Conan stories. In a previous issue, the fountain of Umir (#121) the general theme had been that of greed, self-gratification, and the final motivation for one's actions. It had been demonstrated that neither kings, prophets nor barbarians had other people's best interest at heart; they were all looking for number one. Conan is a mercenary, a man who goes to war and kills for money, and that issue had demonstrated how that was hardly a noble outlook on life. Here we have a sort of thematic sequel, even if the plot is completely unrelated. After the relation between Conan and the acquisition of wealth, we have an examination of what Conan would sacrifice for it. In particular, the following question is asked: "would Conan sacrifice his freedom of decision, would he agree to play by someone else's agenda, for money?" The answer is no. He also wouldn't steal from babes, which is a good point in his favour. We open with a dynamic fight scene dramatically drawn by an Ernie Chan who's firing on all cylinders. As in the previous issue, #122, Ernie is doing great work here. He also takes the opportunity to vary the Cimmerian's choice of weapons: for the issue's initial fight, instead of the more familiar sword, he uses a mace and an axe.  Fighting a band of brigands intent on collecting a bounty on his head, Conan rids himself of those who had swarmed over him by jumping off a snowy cliff. Surviving the fall by landing on snow, he then makes his way down the mountains he had been crossing, killing a great snow worm as he goes along. He finally reaches a warm valley. As he goes, we readers are made aware that the Cimmerian is observed from afar by two very funny-looking witches: one with a grotesquely long nose and the other with protuberant eyes, both covered with warts. Great EC comics witches! The two seem to have an ongoing debate: will the Cimmerian follow the path one of them has chosen for him, or will he rebel and make his own way the way the second one predicts? We are made to understand that this issue will be all about how this debate concludes.  Conan reaches a village and collapses near a massive black monolith, which naturally evokes that of 2001: a spece odyssey. (No relation, however).  Bushed by his recent exertion, Conan sleeps for a good long while, not realizing that he's near a nest of vipers. Waking up when a snake crawls over him, he swiflty avoids the reptiles' fangs abd catches them all in his cloak. A bunch of local bullies, having observed the Cimmerian from afar, come nearer and try to scare him into giving up his sword and purse; Conan's reply is to throw the snakes at them, to great comical effect. At the local tavern, Conan asks about the great monolith. Regarding the giant stone, he is told that as soon as the moon is full, "Mahgmu will emerge as he has done as long as there has been light and darkness". Spooky. A besotted Cimmerian is later attacked in the same tavern by the bullies seen earlier, as they try to take advantage of his drunkenness. He beats them up and sends them running into the night, where the hapless lot meet the brigands that Conan had fought in the mountains. They have tracked Conan all the way to the village and propose an alliance. A still drunk Conan is led by a tavern maid to the monolith, as the girl hints that she will bring more girls who want to know if the burly Cimmerian can satisfy them all. "Bring more wine!" says Conan as the girl scampers off. This is naturally but a ploy, and Conan realizes it when a large hole bursts open in the centre of the monolith, letting a giant bat-like monster out.  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2015 9:10:18 GMT -5
SSoC #123 ------------- Conan kills the giant creature, and all of a sudden all the villagers are around him, cheering. For, as a man explains, " the scriptures revealed that whoever slays Mahgmu is our long-lost king Atamu, who vanished in the forbidden land during his search for his abducted child". Thinking Conan that Atamu fellow, despite the Cimmerian's protests, the villagers make him their king. Now this element of the plot has me scratching my head. Apparently, the giant Mahgmu caused problems for the local populace, since they cheer the end of his "blighted reign". But the monster was just that, a monster, not a tyrant of any kind; surely, when a monster terrorizes your village, you either find a way to kill it or move away; you don't sit around "for as long as there has been light and darkness". Second point, Mahgmu is said to have come out of the monolith every full moon for, like, ever; how come the monolith is intact when Conan shows up? We've just seen that when Maghmu comes out, he does so with great damage to the monolith. The previous times, did the great stone reform itself magically when nobody killed Mahgmu? And finally, if the goal of the waitress was to bring Conan to kill Mahgmu, what was the big idea in making him drunk first? I sure wouldn't want my champion to fight a monster while drunk! Anyway, Conan is now king and has a grand time, much to the pleasure of one of the scrying witches, the one who claims Conan would do anything for money, even give up his independence. The two witches go so far as to come to Conan's bedroom to tell him about their little debate! They also tell him more about king Atamu, whom he's replacing. The real king is long dead, and the thing about the abducted child is a bit garbled: it is the king himself who brought her to "the lost land" and had her confined to a dark tower, because she had been "formed and tainted under the influence of the evil ones; a horrid demon with three eyes possessed of unspeakable powers". Apparently for no other reason than spite, Conan decides to get to that lost land and free the child, even if he's just been told that the kid is a demon. The two witches observe as Conan walks through the hole in the monolith, with one arguing that fear will stop him and the other that he will defy their will and give up his newfound crown by saving the child.  The hole leads to the lost land, teeming with assorted monsters. After a few hours, the Cimmerian reaches a tall vine-covered tower; atop the edifice is a cell where a little girl is kept behind bars. Conan must first slay a one-armed cyclops before freeing her and taking her back to the real world. (For some reason the Cimmerian doesn't seem surprised that the daughter of a king "long dead" would be no more than eight years old).  Who would wait for Conan at the foot of the monolith but the two gangs of men he faced before? The local thugs and the mountain brigands still want their pound of flesh, but Conan dispatches them with style, probably greatly pleasing the fans who were upset when he couldn't beat Hanbo the nomad in issue #121. The girl is brought back to the village where the crowd bizarrely hail "king Atamu, saviour of the royal child". Don't they know the kid's supposed to be a demon? Anyway, they learn about it pretty quickly as the little girl reveals her true self, growing to giant size, complete with scaly skin and three eyes.  Her unleashed power blasts the entire town to the ground, reducing its citizens to smouldering skeletons, until nothing is left; only Conan and his then-girlfriend (a kindly tavern wench, not the one who first tried to trick him) are spared, because the monster is grateful for her liberation.  Very oddly, she claims to have wreaked her vengeance on "these wretched people (...) who colluded with my father to imprison me". That's fine and dandy but then if the villagers knew about her demonic nature and were involved in her banishment, why did they greet her return instead of running for the hills? I admit to being confused. One of the two witches then appears, the one who had bet Conan would go for the throne and the easy life. She blames him for his short-sightedness, insisting that only a buffoon would knowingly give up a kingdom. And for what? some stubborn ideal. When she hints that she may just strike Conan dead, the Cimmerian decides to take the initiative and decapitate her. The other witch appears as well, offering her gratitude for making her the winner in the debate with her colleague. She knew that Conan's spirit was free and unbridled!  The Cimmerian walks off. Notes: - The geography is once again uncertain. The pre-story blurb states we are in the Kezankian mounatins, and so somewhere between Zamora and the eastern steppes. However, the mountain brigands have a distinct northern look to them, looking like Vanirmen far more than Zamorans. Further confusing the point, they swear by the Stygian god Set, and the local thugs also sport Stygian headwear. - When the story occurs is also open for anyone's interpretation, although Conan mentions Nemedia as if he's been there before; he also mentions having seen ice worms (likely after the story "the lair of the ice worm", adapted in SSoC #34). I would then surmise that he is at least 22. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2015 9:11:01 GMT -5
SSoC #123 ------------- The debt of the warriorScript by Larry Yakata Art by Michael Docherty and James Baldwin A short story where matters of morality are once again explored. We've seen Conan as a mercenary not much caring for others, but here we see that he can feel responsible for his own actions. A chance encounter with the recently blinded widow of a warrior he killed a year before leads Conan to take her side against local thieves, even when he learns that the woman (who cannot see him, and to whom he didn't give his name) hates the killer of her husband, whom she knows by sight and name. Both she and her young son take a liking to the stranger, who builds them a small shack to replace their small tent. Conan then "steals" the woman's dowry, but only so he could buy the rare poultice that may cure her of her blindness. (As he was away, the tieves came back; he had to kill them all upon his return). Recovering her eyesight, the woman recognizes Conan for who he is and curses him; her son also promises that he will one day hunt Conan down and kill him. The Cimmerian departs, suggesting that perhaps the lad will feel differently when he grows up.  Even if it is a bit contrived, the plot packs a good emotional punch. The artowrk is sadly subpar, with Docherty's pencils being barely inked by Baldwin. This looks like a try-out job, to be honest. |
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Post by paulie on Jun 24, 2015 14:09:07 GMT -5
SSoC #123 ------------- Notes: - The geography is once again uncertain. The pre-story blurb states we are in the Kezankian mounatins, and so somewhere between Zamora and the eastern steppes. However, the mountain brigands have a distinct northern look to them, looking like Vanirmen far more than Zamorans. Further confusing the point, they swear by the Stygian god Set, and the local thugs also sport Stygian headwear. Perhaps the look is Chan drawing characters that look like Chan characters? Maybe he was not capable of distinguishing? This is my era of SSOC that we are in now. Starting around 120 and going to about 170 when... off to college, and girls!, I went. I read concurrently with Conan Saga and read all the classic (1-30) SSOC tales at this time. My general sense, then and now, is that Yakata and Kraar, were not as aware of the REH universe as Roy but were generally aware. I certainly don't recall Conan zig-zagging all over the map ala Michael Fleisher. Looking back it seems like they played it safe plot-wise to avoid coming into conflict with REH continuity due to their lack of grasp on the material. There seems to be a less pained tone to your reviews. Probably because you were able to make it through 5 years of total garbage in five weeks. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2015 15:29:10 GMT -5
SSoC #123 ------------- Notes: - The geography is once again uncertain. The pre-story blurb states we are in the Kezankian mounatins, and so somewhere between Zamora and the eastern steppes. However, the mountain brigands have a distinct northern look to them, looking like Vanirmen far more than Zamorans. Further confusing the point, they swear by the Stygian god Set, and the local thugs also sport Stygian headwear. Perhaps the look is Chan drawing characters that look like Chan characters? Maybe he was not capable of distinguishing? That certainly plays a role in such inaccuracies... Case in point, the Cimmerians seen in issue 119 (drawn by Chan) could have been from just about anywhere, and there were a few palm trees in the background. That is very interesting because it gives you a completely different outlook on these issues! You probably didn't come at them thinking with every issue "ugh, how are they going to mess up,this month?" the way I did month after month. Yep, agreed. Another writer who tried to adhere a bit more closely to Howard's outline was Jim Owsley, but he was mostly involved in the Conan the barbarian color book, and only wrote a few issues of SSoC. Heh! Heh! Once people like Yakata and Kraar started writing more regularly, we may not have gotten the same mag that we had under Thomas... but at least I can now recognize that there were good stories in there (even when they featured such things as Chuck Dixon's Nemedian navy, coming in just a few months). |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 27, 2015 8:21:55 GMT -5
Savage Sword of Conan #124, May 1986  Cover by Michael Golden. Very cartoonish, with oversized hands and feet on Conan making him look rather short, but a fun cover nevertheless. The carved wall in the background is extraordinary!!! Table of contentsThere will come a dark stranger. Not the same one as in the Woody Allen movie, of course. Song of the dead, in which King Kull's sleep is disturbed.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 27, 2015 8:32:31 GMT -5
SSoC #124 -------------
There will come a dark strangerScript by Don Kraar Art by Gary Kwapisz Kraar takes over from Larry Yakata, and so we're back into all-out action territory! The city-state of Khybal in Afghulistan (Howard's Hyborian Age stand-in for Afghanistan, akin to that found in Howard Lamb's fiction) has been taken over by the mercenaries of the Iranistan warlord Rashad Khan. Rashad has deposed the rightful prince, the young, peaceful and idealistic Aziz, and keeps him imprisoned while he himself has taken up residence in the royal palace along with his paramour, Aziz's half-sister Parviza. The people grumbles under the mercenaries' rule, and an old man is prophesying their downfall in the market place: there shall come a dark stranger with one foot unshod, and he shall restore prince Aziz to his rightful throne. (No, no, we haven't picked up an adaptation of Jason and the Argonauts by accident!) Who rides in town just at that moment? Conan of Cimmeria, rather angry because he lost a boot while crossing a river!  Conan negotiates the price of a new pair of boots with a cobbler who points out that his prices may be higher than those of a Khitan competitor, but that it's hard to come by boots of a size such as his giant customer needs. Conan partial footwear having been noticed by the market place prophet and by members of the police force, the Cimmerian is targeted by a group of Iranistani who tell him to follow them. Not one to be heavy-handedly ordered around, Conan resists and a fight ensues, leading to what would be a high octane chase through the streets and stairways of Khybal were it performed in cars; as it is, the pursuit is on horseback. After much damage, the Cimmerian is finally caught and thrown into a cell; all he can tell his cell mates is that as far as he knows, he was arrested for trying to buy a pair of boots. The old prophet from the marketplace then shows up, bringing the prisoners' daily gruel; he suggests that Conan be careful about what he may find therein. Lo and behold, it is the key to the prisoners' chains! Escaping from the cell, Conan and his companions are led to prince Aziz's own cell by the old man, whose name is Ismail, and who claims that Conan's fate is to help restore the prince to his throne. (Conan isn't interested in prophecies and the like, but a mention that Khybal's crown is a golden circlet set with blue diamonds grabs his interest). The prince is reluctant to use violence to gain his freedom, but after some unpleasantness with prison guards Conan brusquely tells Aziz that he won't let foolish ideals get himself killed. Managing to get their hands on horses and to jump the drawbridge as it is being lifted, the prisoners make good their escape and head for the hill country. These hills are inhabited by tribes who might not be friendly, but who are resisting Rashad Khan's rule. The small group is captured by one such tribe, whose leaders intend to sell the prince back to Rashad Khan for a hefty ransom. Ismail points out that the tribe would be better served by helping the prince get rid of the ambitious Iranistani warlord. Since the argument is valid, the tribe decides to let the gods settle the matter: the prince will have to fight for his life against their champion. The fight is a spectacular one and apparently of a type these people enjoy very much: it consists of a knife duel performed on a net drawn tight over a pit filled with cobras. Charming!  The scrawny prince is clearly no match for the massively muscled hillman he is to face, so Ismail suggests that he should be replaced by his own champion... after all, if he loses, it would be better for him not to be dead so that he can still be ransomed. The tribe's leaders see the logic in that, and Conan is asked to replace Aziz. Grumbling about how much a crown studded with diamonds might be worth, the Cimmerian faces the big hillman, an old hand at this sort of game. Things go poorly for Conan for a while, until he innovates in the art of net fighting by cutting a few of its knots, sending his opponent falling into the cobra pit. The hillmen agree to help Aziz regain his throne. Having seen how violence can sometimes solve problems (a theme quite popular in the 80s at Marvel, what with the new Savage tales title and the upcoming Punisher ones), Aziz realizes that pacifism may not always be the proper answer to life's travails. Since the prophecy says that Aziz must kill Rashad Khan himself to regain his throne anyway, the young man is trained by Conan. The denouement of our play occurs in the royal city, where Rashad Khan receives word that after months of negotiations and threats, the mountain tribes are finally ready to pay the tribute the warlord demanded of them. Rashad receives their envoys in his palace, after having poisoned his lover Parviza; Aziz's sister was becoming a real pain in the neck with her constant nagging. Rashad thinks his triumph is complete when the tribesmen bring in massive crates supposedly filled with tribute; they explain that to compensate for their tardiness, they decided to pay a little extra. But the crates are filled with warriors, not gold! Battle erupts in the throne room, while other hillmen attack the city on horseback! Aziz faces Rashad, but his sword breaks near the hilt. Conan, who had been busy securing the royal crown, intervenes before the warlord can kill the young prince. He then allows Aziz to take over, instructing him to keep his guard up. Aziz slays Rashad Khan.  Inadvertently dropping the crown he had meant to keep for himself, Conan passes for a selfless hero. He then mentions the role of the prophet Ismail in Aziz's restoration to the throne, but this draws puzzled looks from everyone: the prophet Ismail is a figure of legend, and hasn't been around for many centuries. Has Conan, perhaps, been hit on the head? (Actually, this plot twist may be very neat but should have been better prepared: looking back at the earlier pages of the tale, we see Ismail interacting with plenty of people, including Aziz, and not only with Conan). Later that night, the Cimmerian enters Aziz's room with the intention of stealing the crown. Ismail appears to him in his full magical prophet aspect, glowing nimbus and all, and kindly suggests that stealing a crown with no kingdom attached to it is an empty gesture; much better to wait for his own crown, which will come with a kingdom. Conan counters that the trade he had in mind would be fair: to Aziz the kingdom without a crown, to him the crown without a kingdom... but in the end he departs with only the diamonds. Discovering the theft the next morning, the prince is not angry at Conan (unlike his new councillors), and estimates that the Cimmerian's deeds were worth a far grander reward anyway.  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 27, 2015 8:34:34 GMT -5
SSoC #124 ------------- Notes:- Nice adventure story, all in all. - No reference to when the tale occurs, but for parsimony's sake I'd place it during the time Conan was operating in the Iranistan/Vendhya region, around the time of " The People of the Black Circle". - Déjà vu all over again: several images are heavily inspired by others we've seen before, or simply swiped: Princess Parviza is a dead ringer for Red Sonja, from CtB #44  The knife fight borrows a few shots from a similar one opposing Conan and the original Amra, in CtB#63   The charge of the hillmen repeats that of the Zuagirs in Khauran, in "A Witch ShallBe Born" (adapted in SSoC #5)  This Conan grumpily walking toward us was seen in "The Horror From The Red Tower", in SSoC #21.  Conan is chained to the wall the way he was in an Aghrapur cell, in King Conan #6.  Conan has only one technique to grab the arm of a young person, already practiced in SSoC #64.  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 27, 2015 8:42:16 GMT -5
Song of the deadScript by Chuck Dixon Art by Geoff Isherwood and Art Nichols A Kull quickie, seemingly preparing the way for something more ominous. We start with Kull snoring away while his lover Laria is woken up (or put in a trance) by a ghostly apparition.  This intimate setting is interesting in that we seldom see Kull with a woman, to the point that some fans suggested that he was homosexual. His closeness to the Pictish warrior Brule would certainly not contradict that, and in Howard's stories Kull didn't seem particularly interested in women. However, we *did* see Kull with ladies a few times before, and he even fell in love with an Atlantean princess in Kull the conqueror (vol. 2) #2. (At the end of that tale, writer Doung Moench had suggested that one heartbreak was enough for Kull and that there would be no other talk of wives in his life from then on, perhaps trying to explain the dearth of girlfriends in his adventures). My take on his sexuality is that to Kull, the job comes first; he exults in fighting, he's devoted to his responsibilities, and he views affairs of the heart as a distraction. Unlike Conan, he's just not that into sex; the same way that he's not that much into getting drunk. (Besides, we know that his potential lover Brule had children later on, something mentioned in the Howard story " Kings of the Night". In his later Conan stories, Roy Thomas hinted at an attraction between Kull and a time-displaced Red Sonja; now that would have been a good match! So... Laria walks out of the room. Kull wakes as well and follows his bewitched partner, summoning guards. The girl's path leads through abandoned sections of Kull's palace, where wall carvings seem to tell the tale of a great warrior from the north who defends his homeland, has a life of adventure, usurps a crown and then has to face a resurrected wizard.That king's totem seems to be the lion (and we knowledgeable readers understand that it must be Conan). Not quite getting the reference to the Cimmerian whom he may or may not have met at this point, Kull still points out that he himself cannot be the king in those pictures, since his (a) he's not from the north and (b) his own totem is the tiger and not the lion. The threat of an undead sorcerer is however still worrying. Laria leads them all the way to an iron grid that simply flies away to pieces when she approaches. Beyond the grid is a narrow path crossing a pit, in the middle of which a body lies on a dais. Before Kull can intervene, Laria cuts her palm with a knife and lets a few drops of blood fall on the lifeless body; this seems to be enough to bring the thing back to life while the girl comes out of her trance. Promising to destroy Kull, the reborn creature is promptly slain again after a short fight. Before it croaks we can however see it exchanging a gleeful look with Laria. "MINDSWAP!" will exclaim any proper reader of fantasy adventure stories. Kull withdraws, carrying Laria protectively in his arms; he may yet unwittingly have sex with a man before the night is through! (And people said Chuck Dixon was a conservative). This story is setting things up; we'll have to wait a while to see how things pan out.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 28, 2015 10:16:27 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #125, June 1986 The quasquicentennial issue of SSoC sports a very pulpy cover by Thomas Kidd. I apologize for the poor quality of my own copy, but its unfortunate scratch marks actually add to the image's classic atmosphere!  The frontispiece and back cover both feature the work of William Johnson. The first of these is a new interpretation of a classic scene from Conan the barbarian #3, wherein the Cimmerian meets a brooding Bori, god of the Nordheimr.  I like these reinterpretations; they give the original stories a sense of authenticity, as if they were actual legends that people keep telling and retelling, adding or subtracting detail with each iteration. 
Table of contentsAt the altar of the goat god, written by Jim Owsley, who basically saved the CtB colour comic in the 80s as far as I'm concerned Trail of blades, a Kull story in which the king faces his past as a brigand Special pin-up portfolio by Ernie Chan
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 28, 2015 10:28:01 GMT -5
SSoC #125 ------------- At the altar of the goat godScript by Jim Owsley Art by Gary Kwapisz Jim Owsley (the name by which writer Christopher Priest went by at Marvel in the 80s, although I understand he's changed it to just "Priest" since then) may not have been Roy Thomas, but as far as Marvel Conan writers went he had several outstanding qualities. He understood the character of Conan (a trait shared by a few other writers, admittedly) and he had a good understanding of the Hyborian Age as depicted by Robert Howard, something very, very few writers could boast of. Sure, Owsley would add a few "modern" aspects to the saga: he had a back-skinned man be king of a Kothian city-state, for example; that in itself was nothing to write home about (why shouldn't a southern warrior establish himself as king of a northern state?) but the colour-blindness of his citizens had a distinctly modern feel to it. (Howard's Hyborian Age, judging from the man's stories, was as racist as the Southern U.S.A. in the 1920s and 30s). Owsley also liked ninjas, and as fate would have it we have a few ninja-like characters in this very issue. But these are mere details compared to the joy he brought readers by having Kothians swear by Ishtar and Zingarans by Mitra, to have the Pictish Wilderness be the dangerous and uncivilized place we saw in Beyond the Black River, by having Zingarans look Spanish, and by finally restarting the colour comic chronology and have Conan work for a rebel prince in Koth before moving on to the east. Believe me, after years of seeing Conan take part in the great Cimmerian Olympic games where people face giant monsters, this was like the first drink of water after crossing the desert. Here Owsley's story isn't firmly set in the continuity, but it doesn't contradict it either; it just happens to be one of those tales that could happen at many different places in the saga. It's also pretty novel in the way it depicts a dysfunctional family of thieves and demon worshippers, with an innocent baby and Conan caught in the middle! Kwapisz's art is quite good, with some truly beautiful pages. I admit that after covering the many swipes from previous issues I felt a little distracted when looking at the images here: whenever something didn't look like Gary's usual style, I would go looking for what might be an older source! That's probably not fair to the artist. As ever, here, the backgrounds can be spactacular; another thing I very much enjoy is the (apparent) use of photoreferencing for certain characters, a technique giving them a very personal look instead of a generic comic-book character one. They really look alive. Look at this guy, on the left: doesn't he really look winded?  The story's setting is the 'non-descript city" of Zemizar, somewhere in Zamora. This city harbours famous slaughterhouses owned by a religious cult, the brotherhood of the goat god Sahb Delanzar. A band of rogues led by a bearded man named Slogg-Nhumazdar, sensing that there was profit tp be made in the meat business, entered in a partnership with the cult to manage the slaughterhouses, a deal that for a time led to great profit for all involved. But the Zamoran king, probably fearful of the growing economic clout of the city, choked off its trade with military and economic sanctions. To compensate, Slogg started doing something that was anathema to the cult of Sahb Delanzar: selling goat meat!!! A conflict erupted between the slaughterhouses' owners and their manager, which ended when the two parties agreed to certain terms: the selling of goat meat would stop, and Slogg would marry Lissandra, the daughter of the high priest of Sahb Delanzar. And so the peace has lasted for several years; a baby was even born unto Slogg and Lissandra.  When our story begins, however, things have started going south... Slogg has resumed selling goat flesh on the side, because business expanses have grown unmanageable. As a result, some cultists seemingly want his head. Conan is hired as a bodyguard, because Slogg is a friend of a friend of the Cimmerian. Just a few weeks after his hiring, Conan rescues Slogg and Lissandra right in their bedroom when a pair of ninja-like assassins enter their house.  Killing one man, the barbarian follows the other over the villa's rooftops and in its lush gardens, enjoying the chase; however, the fleeing assassin manages to disappear suddenly. All Conan can recover is a lost medallion. The following day, Conan inspects the grounds to try and figure out how a man can vanish so abruptly. He is distracted in his work by Lissandra, who keeps talking and talking, which leads to Conan being rather impolite with her and telling her to get lost. Nevertheless, the Cimmerian is ordered to accompany the woman when she goes to town to shop. He is convinced that Lissandra is is hiding some secret agenda and is just leading him into a trap, and he doesn't try to hide it. Lissandra: "Are you always so sullen, Conan? It's a beautiful day... We're out of Slogg's stifling estate... why not enjoy life?" Conan: "I'm amused". Lissandra: "Amused?" Conan: "I'm amused when people treat me as if I were an idiot". Lissandra: "I don't believe I like your attitude". Conan: "Now ask me if I care what you like. Don't you think I know what's going on here?" Lissandra: "Wait... this way is much shorter than taking the main streets. Let's go through here." Conan: "Why not. This is as good a place as any". Just as Conan expected, the pair is met by a gang of thugs that Lissandra demurely refers to as "th...thieves!" To which Conan replies: "Spare me". He then proceeds to kill them all, sighing "Well, I'm right again".  After this little fracas, Conan announces to Slogg that he quits. He then goes at night to the house of an old witch, to whom he asks why Slogg's men would be trying to kill him. (Really nice art, here, although not in Kwapisz' usual style).  The witch reveals that "the forces at work" do not want him to interfere with "the sacrifice". Apparently the goat god is owned a thousandth sacrifice two nights hence, and someone fears Conan might cause it to go wrong. Conan is then persuaded that Slogg and Lissandra's baby is in danger. He runs back to Slogg's villa, and arrives just in time to warn his ex-boss and catch the high priest with the baby in his arms, with Lissandra present. "S... Slogg?" stutters the woman. "The... The brotherhood is trying to steal our son!!" (A revelation that seems to take the old priest by surprise). Enraged, Slogg slays the old man. Conan agrees to resume his position until he discovers what is really going on in Zemizar, not trusting Lissandra. The night of the scheduled sacrifice, the woman tries to seduce the Cimmerian; when he insultingly turns her down, she starts screaming and pretending that Conan raped her. Slogg runs in and tries to beat up Conan, who claims that Slogg and Lissandra clearly deserve each other. During the scuffle, Lissandra runs away with the baby! Promptly following her, Conan tracks her to the spot in the gardens where the assassin had disappeared earlier; there he finds a trapdoor hidden under the turf. (Lissandra had tried to keep him from finding said door earlier by talking to him non-stop, as you'll recall). Running down the stairs hidden behind the door, he, Slogg and a few guards follow the fleeing woman, her baby and an accompanying cultist through long tunnels that double as catacombs. At one point, the cultist performs a ritual that brings some of the interred corpses to life, which manage to eliminate Conan and Slogg's companions. Only the medallion retrieved earlier saves the two men, as it seems to act as a talisman against the living dead.  Resuming the chase, Conan and Slogg reach a subterranean temple to Sahb Delanzar.  Sure enough, Lissandra, acting as priestess, is about to sacrifice her own child to the goat god! Conan and Slogg attack, ruining the ceremony. In a last-ditch effort, Lissandra cuts her own chest to provide enough bloood to draw a magic sigil on a slab of stone hanging from the ceiling that seems to act as a conduit for the goat god; this result in the creature appearing in our world. Since Conan is right on the god's altar when Sahb Delanzar appears (busy saving the baby, naturally), he is caught by the god's left hand. Throwing the baby to his father, Conan declares "I've finally decided, Lissandra. I HATE you." Unable to break free, Conan throws his sword at the rope holding the sacred stone in mid-air; falling to the ground, it breaks in several pieces. Sahb Delanzar cries in pain, his strength fading, and drops Conan. Trying to find new prey, it focuses on Slogg and Lissandra. The bearded man, ever the opportunist, tries to save his skin by offering the baby: "Take the child! I couldn't care less! I never wanted the whelp anyway!" but this has no effect, as the goat god grabs him and the woman instead. A caption explains why (very amusingly): "Fully grown mortals have far more flesh than suckling babies. The goat god often wonders why his followers bring him children..!" Conan saves the bay once again and departs the temple as the god vanishes.  Days later, Conan finds a woman ready to adopt the orphan, answering a question on whether its parents were kind people by "no... but they deserved each other". Notes: - The goat god was quite nice. It is described as "the god of a thousand young", naturally evoking Lovecrafts's Shub-Niggurath, “The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young”. - One confirmed swipe: Conan faces the goat god in the same posture he had when facing this big skull in CtB#175  - These faces are very well drawn, and although it could just be that Kwapisz tried a different style here, I could have sworn that they were taken from somewhere else. But maybe I've grown too suspicious in my old age. Couldn't find what they could be anyway, although I though "Paul Gulacy" or "Gene Day" initially.  - When should we place the story? Hard to say... Reference is made of Conan having been hired in Arenjun, where he dwelled in his late teens, but he looks way to experienced here for that. |
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