Beyond the Black RiverScript by Roy Thomas
Art by John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga
Adapting an original Conan story of the same title written by Robert E. Howard, and originally published in the May and June (1935) issues of
Weird Tales.
Beyond the Black River is probably in the top five favourite Conan stories of every fan. Departing from what could be seen as the "Conan formula" of exotic locales and lost cities, Howard sets this story on a western frontier that's an almost direct transposition of the american west, with buckskin-clad Aquilonians and Picts who are written like Indian braves. Conan is not "the stranger among us" here; he is not the primal savage cutting his way through the cobwebs of ancient and decadent civilizations. He is in his element, and although he's clearly a better woodsman than his cohorts, he is shown as merely the first among equals. (Kind of like Bane in
The dark knight rises, he didn't adopt the wilderness... he was born in it).
Tony DeZuniga joins series regular John Buscema; DeZuniga would eventually replace Alfredo Alcala as SSoC's most frequent inker over the following years. His arrival here is fortuitous, since his work on DC's western series
Jonah Hex showed how well he handled frontier tales. I wasn't always the greatest fan of Tony's inking, but I often appreciated the grittiness he brought to the art. It is very well-suited to this issue.
The plot is all-out adventure, with a magical element that's probably present only to satisfy
Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright's requirements. Aquilonia, the mighty western kingdom, has been extending westward into the Pictish wilderness, colonizing a strip of land located between the Black and the Thunder rivers. The people there are hardened by the frontier life, and they are in near-constant conflict with the native Picts who have retreated beyond the Black River.
The point-of-view character isn't Conan: as was the case for "the horror from the red tower" adapted in SSoC #21 (also known as "drums of Tombalku"), the tale is mostly described by a young Aquilonian. His name is Balthus, and I frankly can't really tell him apart from the previous story's Amalric: blond, young, brave, and looking up to Conan. This way of telling the story, by distancing Conan from the reader, always makes him look more cool and impressive.
The Cimmerian has been acting as a scout for the Aquilonians for at least many months as the story starts; he's famous among the local settlers and has "an intense familiarity with the river". His people have a generational feud against the Picts, but it doesn't really show here; he clearly respects the Picts as dangerous and canny foes without demonstrating any particular hatred toward them. Balthus reaches the region from a more peaceful (but still wild) part of Aquilonia, not exactly knowing if he wants to be a soldier or a settler; events will make that choice for him. He encounters Conan in the forest, at night, after the Cimmerian saves his neck from a Pictish ambush.
The two of them are then near-witnesses to the murder and decapitation of a certain Aquilonian trader by a forest devil. Conan explains that the merchant had had a dispute with a certain Pictish shaman named Zogar Sag; the latter had stolen ale-kegs from the merchant, had been captured while drunk, and had then been jailed. Zogar Sag had however escaped and sworn to get his revenge for this humiliation by sending a devil to kill the merchant and the handful of soldiers who had arrested him. The following weeks had seen the prophecy realized, and Conan surmises that there are now five heads on a pictish altar somewhere in Zogar Sag's hut in the village of Gwawela.
Balthus and Conan reach the fort of Tuscelan, which protects the region and where Conan currently resides. They report the murder to Valannus, the fort's commander, and the man regrets not having followed Conan's advice, weeks earlier: that of either sending Zogar Sag home with presents, or hanging him. He now sees how the wizard's actions are affecting his troops' morale, especially since there are rumours saying that Zogar Sag can control animals and that he's the reason behind not only the beheadings, but also behind a spate of bites and maulings by snakes and other beasts. He charges Conan to lead a small band of scouts into the Pictish Wilderness and murder Zogar Sag.
This page gives a good idea of the special quality that DeZuniga's inking gives to Buscema's pencils. It's not at all like John's own inking, of course, but the grit and harshness of the inked lines give an earthly and raw quality to the art.
The Aquilonians nightly make their way down the Black River up to a point from which to stage their operation, and set foot on the eastern shore while leaving Balthus and another man to watch over the canoes. The two men are promtply attacked by Picts and Balthus is taken prisoner.
He comes to in the village of Gwawela, bound to a torture pole, next to another of the rangers. It turns out that Conan's band was attacked too, and that all but the Cimmerian were killed (a pile of Aquilonian heads confirming the fact). The execution of the prisoners is a cause for rejoicing among the Picts, and it is quickly obvious that something big is brewing: there are members of several tribes present, including from very distant ones. This is bad news indeed, for like the Gauls during Caesar's time, the Picts are usually divided into feuding clans: their unification would mean doom for the Aquilonian settlers.
Zogar Sag appears, and summons a great saber-toothed cat from the forest by apparently
talking to it. The monster kills Balthus' companion and drags his body back into the forest. Zogar sag then calls a different beast to do away with Balthus: a monstrous snake that slithers into the village. As it's about to swallow the young man, a spear thrown from the shadows strikes in in the neck, and in its furious death throes the village is thrown into confusion! Conan (who naturally threw the spear!) then cuts Balthus free from the torture pole and the two flee into the protective shadows of a nearby hut, whioch turns out to be Zogar Sag's. There they find, as predicted, the five severed heads on an altar... as well as a chained great ape that Conan kills. The two men manage to jump over the village's wall and disappear into the forest.
Just like in Weird Tales, the story is prsented in two parts: we will read the ending in SSoC #27.
It is interesting to see that Alfredo Alcala
did contribute to this issue: pages 35, 37, 39 and 40 seem to be inked by him rather than DeZuniga. One inker helping a friend meet the dreaded deadline doom?
Notes:- In the Marvel chronology, this is the last period in Conan's life before he becomes king of Aquilonia. He would therefore be around 39. However, in another Pictish frontier story titled
Wolves beyond the border, set during the days of Conan’s rebellion against King Numedides of Aquilonia, a character remembers Conan from his days as a scout in Fort Tuscelan. Assuming that Conan took the throne in his early 40s (let’s make it 42 for the sake of argument), it forces us to place Beyond the Black River earlier in Conan's life, for the character in question is already a young adult. Depending on which of the two drafts for
Wolves beyond the border we consider, A or B, the character was either five (A) or ten (B) years old at the time of
Beyond the Black River. Assuming he is now something like 18, a likely age for a frontiersman old enough to hunt and fight Picts on his own but yet unmarried, that would mean Conan was either 29 or 32 during the events of
Beyond the Black River. (I'd go for 32 since he already seems pretty mature.
- The names from that part of Aquilonia have a distinct North American flavour to them, as befits the tone of the story: Conajohara, Shohira, Fort Tuscelan... It's as if James Fenimore Cooper had started writing S&S.