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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 11, 2016 8:32:23 GMT -5
SSoC #187 ------------- Blood bondStory by Larry Yakata Art by Ernie Chan As stated previously, I am of two minds regarding Yakata's handling of Conan. On the one hand, his stories seem to be very distant of either Robert Howard's concepts or even those established in the Marvel Comics. On the other hand, they are often very good and go deeper than a simple "wizard of the month" formula. So they're enjoyable, if you're ready to accept that they'll feature a character named Conan who isn't quite the Conan you know. Once again, as with Disciple in issue #184, the general atmosphere is that of a martial arts movie. Conan is minding his own business in an eastern tavern when a dapper stranger enters. Instantly there is some kind of rapport between the two men, as there would be between two lions around a watering hole, surrounded by jackals. The stranger sits at a table, and his refined appearance makes him the target of local low-lifes who try to extort money from him. The stranger is not intimidated and a fight erupts, in which he demonstrates rare martial skills. One of his opponents however crashes on Conan's table, and after the fracas is over the stranger goes to apologize. Conan does not mind, appreciating the man's skills and favourably commenting on his ivory throwing darts. The two engage in friendly if careful banter when another band of armed men enter the tavern : this time, they are after Conan. It is the Cimmerian's turn to wreak havoc while the stranger watches, and when the dust settles they decide that it would be wise to hie themselves to more peaceful premises. The stranger's name is Aniki, and his knowledge of Cimmerian sayings suggests that he might himself be from that land of gloomy hills, something he does not outright confirm. He just admits that "Aniki", a non-Cimmerian name, is not the one he bore in his youth. He explains that he is a man who has traveled the world in search of his fortune, and in a quest to refine his fighting skills. The two men have slightly differing views regarding combat training : while Aniki favours preparation, technique and the proper maintenance of weapons, Conan is more carefree and just intends to change swords when his will prove too damaged to be of service. (Aniki is slightly older and understands that when the power of youth will fade, he will have to rely on patiently developed skill rather than strength to remain alive). Aniki explains his current mission. Some time before, he learned of exquisitely carved ivory objects sold by a pair of rich Vendhyan merchants. The merchants showed him the source of these treasures : a hight square tower devoid of doors, in which live a colony of blind men and women who compensate their lack of sight by an astonishing dexterity and the ability to create objects of surpassing beauty. When paying a visit to the tower with the Vendhyan, Aniki fell in love with a blind young woman, Esumi, whom he swore to free from bondage. What Aniki suggests to Conan is to go to the tower and get rid of the guards the Vendhyan merchants left there to safeguard their livelihood; then the two of them would lead the blind artisans to a certain hot spring in the mountains, a spring the waters of which are said to restore sight. In exchange for these services, the blind artists have promised Aniki to work exclusively for him for the next three years. Conan is game, and the two men travel together to the tower. They work amazingly well together, like two fingers of one hand. Or Xavier and Magneto in the X-Men : first class movie. The guards are defeated and the survivors beat a hasty retreat to warn their masters. Conan sees his friend use eitai daggers (sai, to us modern readers) and says he himself was trained in their use by Sennan, master of the broadsword (as seen in issue #132). When asking Aniki whom he trained with, he only gets the cryptic answer "you ask too many questions". Aniki and Esumi are reunited, and touching Conan's face the girl states that he can be none other than Aniki's younger brother. The blind artisans are carried down the walls of the tower by a system of pulleys. They are then tied by the waist to a long rope so as not to get lost and start the journey toward the magical spring. The trip is long and fraught with danger. The Vendhyan merchants have sent more troops after them, helped by trained baboons. Several of the artisans are killed during a snowstorm before the group can hide in a shallow cave and Conan and Aniki can put their swords to good use against their pursuers. Really fearing for their future income, the two Vendhyan merchants next hire a sorcerer to try and get rid of the two warriors who are about to steal the ivory trade from them. Just as the blind artisans reach the magical spring, the sorcerer waves a spell that summons a huge monster right from beneath the water's surface. Conan and Aniki once again work wonders as a team, eliciting more exclamations that such a well-matched pair must definitely be brothers. The next morning, Esumi touches the face of a sleeping Conan, calling him Aniki and saying he's even more beautiful than she had imagined... she has regained her sight, thanks to the wondrous waters of the spring! The confusion is dissipated when Aniki shows up, and the potential triangle between the three of them is not mentioned again in this issue. The entire group returns to the tower, where the artists intend to resume their trade, this time for their own (and Aniki's) profit. The man departs for a few weeks to secure trading partnerships, leaving Conan in charge of defending the tower. When Aniki returns, a terrible surprise awaits him : the effect of the waters was temporary, and the blind have lost their returned eyesight once more. The man is crushed, as he had planned on taking Esumi with him on his life of far-ranging adventure; now that Esumi is blind again, such an existence would quickly prove to be the death of hers. Conan advises his friend : he has seen how close he and the girl are, and assures him that his place is with hers. Right then the merchants play their final gambit : having reached the tower's top, they take Esumi hostage and threaten to kill her if things don't go back to the way they were before. Aniki realizes that he cannot let any harm befall Esumi and would be ready to surrender, when Conan crashes through the ceiling of the room the merchants have retreated and slays one of them forthwith. Aniki kills the other and is reunited with Esumi, declaring that he will henceforth stay with her, and protect her and her colleagues. Conan leaves the happy couple, not having resolved the question of whether Aniki is a soul brother, a brother in training having shared the same master, or an actual long-lost brother he (and we) never knew of. Notes: - Some lines were really good; Yakata has a nice way with words. Aniki is anguished by Esumi’s returned blindness : “thus for the rest of my days would I carry her n my shoulders like the burdens of a legless beggar?” and Conan is far deeper than usual in his reply : ‘No, like old age and the infirmities that come to us all. But you’ll carry it happily with her.” Also, when Conan just helped saved Esumi and opened Aniki’s eyes to his true feelings, the man says says “again, I am in your debt”; to which Conan responds “debts are for strangers and merchants”. - Conan being sloppy when it comes to weapon maintenance comes as a surprise. The son of a blacksmith, he would probably have grown with a certain respect for the tools of all trades... especially his own. - The encounter between Conan and Aniki first seems to be fortuitous, but their close connection later on (both being Cimmerian, both having perhaps been trained by Sennan) suggests otherwise. The point is however not developed. - Roy Thomas, when mentioning this issue in his comprehensive timeline in Conan Saga, really stresses that Aniki is unlikely to be Conan's actual brother. I would agree with that. In fact, any Conan story that mention Sennan should be considered apocrypha, as far as I'm concerned.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 11, 2016 8:33:32 GMT -5
SSoC #187 ------------- Red Sonja quells the song of the sirenStory by Marie Javins Art by Steve Buccellato and Alfredo Alcala Red Sonja is hired to protect the virtue of a beautiful young woman who is sent across the sea by her father to be married in a faraway city. The problem is not only that sailors are attracted to her but also that she is an incorrigible flirt! Sonja must tell the girl to stop enticing the sailors on several occasions, and even asks her to stop singing for them -for on top of being pretty, she has a lovely voice. The ship comes across an island occupied by that scourge of the Aegean sailors : sirens! Their song drives the men to jump overboard. Sonja asks her charge to sing to the amorous sailors to compete with the sirens' deadly call but the girl refuses, even under threat, vexed by Sonja's earlier reproach. "Fine", states Sonja slyly, "clearly you're not up to face the competition anyway". This stings the girl's ego, and she does start singing, causing the sailors to snap out of their entranced state and to swim back to her. Good thing, too, because as the ship gets farther away from the island the sirens are revealed to be horrible and long-fanged sea-hags. All would be well that ends well excepts that it is now the girl who jumps overboard, having decided on a singing career among the sirens. That is surprising, to say the least... how is she to say the monsters won't eat her, the same way they would have the sailors?
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Post by foxley on May 11, 2016 21:38:01 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #187, July 1991 Cover by Ovi Table of contentsBlood bond, in which Conan may meet a long-lost brother. Red Sonja quells the song of the siren, a Red Sonja adventure in which... well, in which Red Sonja prompts a siren to sing. There is something I don't get about the signification of the verb "to quell", apparently!!! Technically Sonja did 'quell' the siren's song by using the princess's singing to overcome it, but it would uncommon way to use the verb. Easier to chalk it up to sloppy writing/editing.
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Post by senatortombstone on May 12, 2016 22:07:38 GMT -5
RE: SSOC#187: I really enjoyed this story when I read it the DH TPB. It probably would have never been written were it not for how popular the martial arts genre was at the time. A lot of those movies were cheesy and cliched, but they were damn good. It's unfortunate that Aniki never makes another appearance, as it would have been interesting to learn of his origin. I agree though that this story falls under the category of non-conanical apocrypha.
But the entire SSOC series was full apocrypha, much of it excellent. I would love to see DH continue in that vein and explore the further adventures of the likes of Boraqh sharaq.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 13, 2016 6:52:18 GMT -5
(...) But the entire SSOC series was full apocrypha, much of it excellent. I did not think so back in the day but with the benefit of hindsight I agree with you. The Chuck Dixon stories are often a lot of fun even if I have a hard time fitting them in the probable outline of Conan's career as penned by Miller and Clark (and as used by Marvel), and the Yakata stories can be very moving even if they don't seem to feature Conan at all! In the final analysis, I guess a good story is a good story.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 17, 2016 17:18:18 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #188, August 1991 Cover by earl Norem. Not topical, but a goof action cover nonetheless. Table of contentsThe power of honor, in which Conan champions a little mute girl. The endless river of blood, in which Conan becomes the mystical champion of the god Mitra. Also, a few pin-ups by different artists like Ernie Chan, Alfredo Alcala and Armando Gil.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 17, 2016 17:29:10 GMT -5
SSoC #188 ------------- The power of honorStory by Doug Murray Art by Tod Smith and Donald Hudson Tod Smith didn't draw a lot of Conan and in fact this is his only full-length contribution. Some images are really good, and some details he puts in brought a smile to my face; things like a wizard appearing somewhere, surrounded by a circle of lit candles... that's a cool idea! He doesn't have the anatomical mastery of a Buscema, though, and some of the characters' costumes are meant to look good on the page but would be impractical in real life. As in previous issues, Doug Murray's Conan can hardly be called a barbarian. "Conan the brawny Samaritan" would be closer to the truth, as once again he proves to wear his heart on his sleeve. I don't mind a hero being noble, but this Conan is hardly "a thief, a reaver, a slayer". The story opens in the Kothian city of Khartoosh, described as a wretched hive of scum and villainy where the dregs of humanity, renegades, murderers and evil wizards congregate. There, the evil wizard Kharban, leader of the Drakkian" cult, is busy torturing a man named Heiron. From the expository dialog, we learn that Heiron is the father of a mute girl with magical powers that Kharban wants to access. Underscoring the dubious wisdom of torturing a man who himself possesses magical skills, the Drakkians are suddenly zapped by power bolts that Heiron shoots from his eyes. The man orders his daughter to escape as he frees himself from his bonds, but he is stopped and killed by Kharban himself. Meanwhile, the girl has managed to slip between the Drakkians and escape to the benighted streets of Khartoosh, where she runs right unto a certain Cimmerian. When Drakkian soldiers catch up to her, Conan takes her under his wing and answers the threats of the Drakkians with some deadly swordplay. Later that night, Conan has brought the girl with him to a tavern where a thief versed in Hyborian Ameslan translates what the mute girl signs. (Yes, apparently they had sign language for the deaf in Hyborian times). The little one is named Najia. He father was a white mage as well as a worshipper of Mitra, and her mother was a Drakka sacred dancer. The girl born from this unlikely pair manifested magical abilities very early on, and her father put a spell of silence on her to keep her from unwittingly hurting herself or others. The family had to run away when the existence of Najia came to be known to the Drakkian priests, who wanted to make use of her and her power. For undisclosed reasons, Heiron thought it would be good idea to reside in Khartoosh. (Why in tarnation would he bring his young, endangered daughter to live in a city as vile and repugnant as Khartoosh? Especially since we'll learn later that Najia's mother now lives in a nice little cottage in the countryside?) Anyway, Najia signs that she and her father were captured by the Drakians of Kharban, and that the evil wizard wants to get his hands on her. To which noble Conan exclaims that he will NEVER let that happen! This exchange has been witnessed by Kharban himself, thanks to his magical crystal ball. You can almost hear him laugh sardonically as he prepares to retrieve Najia! First the thief who translated the girl's story is attacked in the night by a huge flying reptile called "the drakka". The murder is justified by the need for secrecy, apparently. (It's hard not to link the name of the Drakkians to that of the flying monster, but this drakka is definitely not treated as a god's avatar. In fact, when they invoke a god at all, the Drakkians refer to Ahriman rather than to anyone named Drakka. Perhaps they are worshippers of Ahriman who frequently use a monster named drakka, from which they'd have gotten their name). Conan leaves Khartoosh with Najia in tow, and two days later they are ambushed by a band of mountain brigands led by... Holy cow, is this DC's Beowulf? Well, no, it's a fellow named Skull. He's been hired by Kharban to recover Najia. Being a honourable sort, he suggests that Conan and he engage in single combat and that the victor gets the girl. Conan agrees, pretty confident in his chances to defeat his opponent. Skull's partners aren't so keen on the idea, because they're essentially trading a guaranteed easy profit for a now uncertain and not so easy profit. Conan and Skull fight, and when the Cimmerian badly wounds his enemy's leg the matter seems to be settled. However, Skull's men decide they'd much rather take the girl anyway, even if he orders them to stand down. Now if they are all as inept as this fellow with the bow, I'm sure Conan and Najia would have nothing to fear...Seriously, I've never seen a bow and arrow so clumsily handled so many images in a row!!! The above image wasn't a fluke; take a look at these ones! But in any case, Najia uses her powers to disperse the attackers and then tries to stab Skull himself. Conan stops her, explaining that the girl must not abuse her power and must respect a honourable foe. (Kharban who has once again seen it all via his crystal ball is naturally furious at Skull). Conan and Najia reach an inn where the Cimmerian spends most of his time smooching a local girl, much to Najia's annoyment. She casts a spell on the Cimmerian, and when he leaves Najia in a separate room to have some private time with his new ladyfriend, Conan discovers that... well, we don't know what exactly but it sure sounds as if he's incapable of putting it up anymore!!! Very funny and unexpected scene, I must admit! The effects of Najia's spell seem to be of short duration, for the next morning Conan's girlfriend manifests no sign of displeasure -quite the opposite, in fact. Conan once again tries to teach responsibility to Najia, telling her that it's especially bad to play dirty tricks on one's friends. A while later Kharban shows up again with his goons, and he even summons the drakka to take care of Conan. The creature is carrying a badly injured Skull, who is dropped to the ground and moans that he should never have worked with wizards. Conan fights the monster while Kharban seizes Najia, and Skull's heroic final gesture helps the Cimmerian in defeating the flying lizard. Things would still end badly, we're sure, but right then Najia recovers the ability to speak and access to her full power! She explains that her father knew that if anything ever happened to him, Kharban would doubtless eventually send the drakka after her and conceived his restraining spell to dissipate if she ever came into the presence of the flying lizard. (How dramatically convenient. Had Heiron made the spell to dissipate immediately after his death, things would have gone much easier on his daughter!) Kharban is disposed of and Conan brings her to her mother's cottage. The mother invites Conan to stay a while, but he laughingly remarks that the kind of hospitality she has in mind probably would not go well with Najia and he takes his leave of the two, reminding Najia not to use her powers to control people's lives. She swears to remember that always, and never to forget him. Notes : - Conan as surrogate father is a theme we have explored a few times. He certainly seemed more comfortable in that role here than in previous occasions. - Why were Najia's father and mother not living together? Why did Heiron bring her to a highly dangerous city in which he was sure to encounter the Drakkians? That could have been due to an undisclosed agenda, but here it really just sounds as if the plot simply demanded it.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 17, 2016 17:37:15 GMT -5
SSoC #188 ------------- The endless river of bloodStory and layout by Sandy Plunkett Finished art by Dave Cockrum Sandy Plunkett is an artist I like, with a style that reminds me of P. Craig Russell, and whose work in Conan the barbarian #251 I thought looked very good indeed. His teaming up with Dave Cockrum should be cause for great rejoicing, but I must admit that despite the overall elegance of the art in this story and some striking individual pictures, the whole thing feels a little flat. The story is an attempt to write a cosmically-important tale, but there again things didn't really come together for me. Perhaps the ambitious plot would have been better served by a longer story? Or perhaps Conan is just not meant for things like cosmic championing and direct divine interventions? Let the readers judge. (Some suspect Hyboriana also grated on my nerves, but that's the curmudgeon talking). Conan is traveling on the border of Aquilonia (which one isn't specified). He has a vision of an angel of Mitra, just as the ones who come and take the souls of men at the end of their lives and who were described to him when he was a child Look, Conan is a Cimmerian. Their gods are numerous and their pantheon does not include Mitra. Their goddess of death is Badb, who as far as I know does not employ valkyries the way Bori does, and after death Cimmerians just wander a gloomy afterworld for eternity. This is a case of using Hyborian age names willy-nilly, as Michael Fleisher and Bruce Jones used to, and this close to Roy Thomas's return (in issue #190) I could have done without it. Anyway... Conan's horse falls into a crevice and he hangs onto its slippery edge, noticing that far below there is a big statue of a demon with rubies for eyes. Just then someone arrives to help pull him to safety : it is a woman, an officer in charge of Aquilonian troops, who recruits him on the spot. Having just lost his horse and equipment and intending to come back for the rubies later, Conan accepts the offer. When the Cimmerian goes awol from the Aquilonian camp and makes his way back to the crevice, he finds that someone is performing a ceremony in front of the statue! The masked individual chants the name of Yog, a god/demon who was mentioned in "Shadows in Zamboula" (SSoC #14). The individual also mentions Ishtar, because why not? (It's like someone invoking Buddha while praying to St. Gabriel, but what the hey). It turns out that the Yog cultist is none other than the Aquilonian woman, who used fake references to get a commission and access to this region. She intends to bring back Yog to our plane, and the magical trinket she waves around really looks like the wand of Watoomb that the wizard Xandu used to carry around to cause trouble for Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. The Aquilonian uses her powers to cause the cave's ceiling to collapse, and her spell causes her to grow to gigantic size. Conan is crushed, his spine broken, when the angel of Mitra appears once again, silently striking a bargain with him. Conan will be healed if he becomes the champion of Mitra in his battle against Yog. Conan accepts, and he grows to gigantic size as well. Conan and the girl fight and when clouds hide the stars and the constellation of Yog, the Cimmerian gets the upper hand. He strikes the woman with the wand and she collapses, dead. We learn that in the coming millenia, just like what happened to Ymir in Norse legends, her bones will become mountains and her blood rivers etc. We also learn that the taint of her demonic intentions will curse the land she fell on, a land that will forever know strife and one day be known as... Palestine! Conan wakes up normal sized and goes on his way. Notes : - That bit about Palestine at the end was probably meant to be deep but struck me as unnecessary and almost ridiculous. It was really giving recent politics far too much importance in the grand tapestry of history, and felt shoehorned. - Why would Mitra intervene in such direct fashionto save the earth from Yog, when he sat quietly when sooooo many other primordial demons threatened to walk the earth again in past issues? That's not very logical. - It is very appropriate to have women acting as captains, admirals and presidents in Star Trek or even Marvel superhero movies, but in the Hyborian age, a distinctly phallocratic society, a woman acting as an officer really requires some kind of explanation. There's a reason Red Sonja and Valeria stood out so much.
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Post by foxley on May 18, 2016 3:20:03 GMT -5
Speaking as an archer, I have to agree. I have seen some appalling depictions of people using a bow, but few so consistently bad as this.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 19, 2016 7:07:46 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #189, September 1991 Cover by Ovi Table of contents Eye of the storm, in which Conan meets the wizard Zukala again. Featuring a cameo by Elric of Melniboné! (sort of). What can one do, in which Conan faces an army. In the letters page, the editor states that “Barry Windsor-Smith was the first artist to draw Sonja for comics, in Conan #24”. That was of course in issue 23, “The shadow of the vulture”, which adapted the Robert E. Howard story that introduced Red Sonya of Rogatino, the model for Red Sonja. That issue #24 is the one that gets reprinted all the time shouldn’t keep an editor from getting such basic facts straight. But hey… any editor who brings Roy Thomas back to the Conan mags must be a good person deep down (see the announcement at the end of this review).
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 19, 2016 7:18:03 GMT -5
SSoC #189 ------------- The eye of the stormStory by Michael Higgins Art by Michael Docherty and Ricardo Villagran By CROM, how I like the Docherty and Villagran art!!! It doesn’t have the elegant finesse of Barry Smith’s vision or the anatomic grace of Buscema’s, but may I lose my collection to a flood if their version of Conan doesn’t have a gritty power all its own! Writer Michael Higgins is the one who penned the “Conan year one” story arc from Conan the barbarian #232-239, a tale so… wrong that Roy Thomas had to retcon it away when he took back the reins with issue 239. That story arc meant to soft reboot the Conan mag by returning to the teenage days of our hero, and we see echoes of that here since this issue of SSoC makes several references to older Conan comics. Now I’m all for a tight continuity, really, but it’s not enough to have read and liked old comics; one also has to make sure that the way we reference them fits with the overall continuity. Just imagine a new and enthusiastic writer writing his first issue of Marvel Team-Up in which, say, Dark Phoenix is robbing a bank. “Dark Phoenix”, says Spidey. “But you’re dead!” “I was, my old enemy! But dying and being reborn is the nature of a Phoenix, is it not?” This is pretty much how Higgins’ Conan come across as far as I’m concerned. Naturally, your mileage may vary; I am, after all, a crotchety old fan. So… Conan wakes up in the hold of a slave ship; he’s wearing his fur loincloth and a shirt but even his boots have been taken away. In a long soliloquy, he reveals that all he remembers was having a drink with a woman in Koth when “the perversions of magic… sorcery most foul… did seem to fill the very air!” Was Conan abducted by a wizard, you might fairly ask? Actually no, he was just abducted by slave traders. Since when do slave traders abduct people by using sorcery? And even worse, since when are there slave ships in the vicinity of Koth, which is completely landlocked and 1,500 km away from the coast in the best of cases (4,000 at worst)? Anyway… Conan jumps one of the guards, steals his keys and frees all the slaves in the hold. Disguising himself as the guard, he gets on deck (why?) and is soon discovered. He defends himself against the slavers and finally jumps overboard just as the other slaves come out of the hold and take control of the ship; Conan laughs from the water and then… decides to turn his back on the ship and start swimming toward the faraway coast!!! (“Quite a workout”, as he himself admits). Why would he do that instead of getting back on board? I've no idea. Where are we once we reach land? I’d have said we were off the coast of Shem, but the rest of the issue makes it sound as if we’re still in Koth. First Nemedia had a sea coast in SSoC 148-149, and now Koth as well. Editoooooor!!!Making his way to a nearby town, Conan goes to a blacksmith’s shop to purchase a new sword. (With what money? Was there a secret pocket filled with coins in the slaver’s clothes that Conan donned earlier? Must have been, I guess.) Also on sale in the shop is… surprise! Conan’s old helmet, which he lost in issue #6, way, way over in Zamora! He buys that as well, for old time's sake. Going to a tavern to slake his thirst and spend even more of that mysterious money, Conan notices he’s being followed by two men. Challenging them in an alley, he learns that they have been sent by the wizard Zukala, who wants to talk to him! Zukala is a character first introduced in CtB#5, seen again in CtB#14-15, then again in CtB#115 (in which he dies) and finally in CtB#242-243, in a godly/ghostly form. Today’s issue seems to be placed between CtB#15 and CtB#115, even though issue #115 really gave the impression that it was the first time Conan and Zukala had met since #15. Oh, well. After a recap of CtB #14-15 (in which we see Elric of Melniboné, at least in part), Zukala sends Conan on a mission against the wizard Razal-Gulath, who owns a certain magical jewel that is draining Zukala of his strength. (See that gloved hand, there on the right? It’s Elric!) Razal-Gulath is also the owner of a vast treasure, to which Conan can help himself if he helps defeating him, which is imperative because Razal-Gulath is trying to unravel the balance between chaos and order. (Because, you know, evil wizard). Razal-Gulath is indeed a powerful sorcerer, and he rules cruelly over a small region. Entering his castle, Conan sees that Zukala didn’t lie about his wealth, at least. But the Cimmerian is identified as an intruder and magically transported into the caves beneath Gulath’s castle, where he meets… Gaynor the damned? (Gaynor is a Michael Moorcock character, a servant of chaos, whom we last saw in issue #15. Apparently the writer doesn’t remember that Gaynor was slain by Elric in that adventure and that his soul was stolen by Stormbringer, which pretty much guarantees that there’s no way he could be resurrected. But then Conan kills him so fast this time around that this was probably an imposter animated by Razal-Gulath’s magic). Next Conan fights a giant octopus, and then a winged demon who, wounded, drops him right onto Razal-Gulath’s treasure hoard, on the top of which is the very jewel sought by Zukala! My, how convenient!!! Gulath shows up and tries to blast Conan to pieces with a force bolt, but Conan is unscathed. An image of Zukala then reveals that Conan’s helmet has been ensorcelled to confer its wearer a measure of protection against spells. (Clearly that’s a capricious defensive spell; it didn’t help much earlier when Gulath used magic to send Conan down in the caves). Zukala had somehow expected that his Cimmerian ally would refuse to have a protective spell put on his sword but that he’d not resist the temptation of purchasing his old helmet back. Say what? Last time they met, Conan didn’t even wear the helmet anymore. How could Zukala have known that Conan would place any value on it? How did he get his hands on it from all the way in Zamora? How did he know Conan would visit that particular blacksmith? How… oh, never mind. Zukala, acting through the jewel that Conan has recovered, zaps Razal-Gulath into non-existence. He then thanks Conan for his help and assures him that his own power, that of Razal-Gulath, and even the magic contained in Elric of Melniboné’s old cloak (now worn by Zukala) will now be used to maintain the balance between chaos and order. He then disappears into a nimbus of light. (When he returns in issue #115, he will be far, far less friendly...) Conan is left alone. He chooses a good sword from the pile of gold and jewels in Rzal-Gulath’s vault, claims that it is all he wants, and leaves without taking a penny, bequeathing all the hoard to the poor villagers exploited by Razal-Gulath. WHAT IN CROM’S NAME??? WHAT???Conan has been known to perform a few selfless acts now and then, but never in a thousand years would he abandon the totality of such a massive treasure to a few dirt farmers. Cripes, Conan has spent years acting as a reaver, plundering innocent people to fill his pockets! He’s a thief looking for number one, not some kind of Robin Hood! Grumblegripegrumblegripegrumblegripe.A note written in very tiny characters, signed by editor Mike Rockwitz, tries to reconcile continuity issues right next to the word “end”. A brave effort, but asking for a partial rewrite would have been more appropriate. Still. The artwork makes this book a good-looking one, at least, and references to old issues are always appreciated.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 19, 2016 7:19:05 GMT -5
SSoC #189 ------------- What can one man do?Script by Doug Murray Art by Patrick Archibald and Alfredo Alcala Conan belongs to a mercenary band working for the Turanians. After the city of Tisaletta has been taken, the turanian commander demands of Raythius, the captain of the mercenaries, that his men surrender the loot they took when conquering the city. Raythius refuses, angry words are exchanged, and the Turanian stabs Raythius in the back. He then orders the mercenaries slain. Conan manages to escape the massacre, and from that moment wages a one-man guerilla war against the Turanian regulars. Causing piles of huge logs to fall on them while on mountain paths, sabotaging bridges, getting angry bears to attack them, Conan reduces their numbers to almost nothing before killing the Turanian captain single-handeldy. Classic tale of righteous revenge, but I wonder why Murray chose the Turanians as the bad guys… it’s unlikely that Conan would work for them, even as a hired hand, after leaving their service back in CtB#38. Next issue… The return of ROY THOMAS!!!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 28, 2016 15:24:42 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #190, October 1991 Topical cover by Earl Norem, with the main story's protagonists. Tables of contents The skull on the seas, part one. The return of Roy Thomas to Savage sword of Conan! Death and life in Tiger valley, the early, early origin of King Kull. This issue is a special one, as is made clear by the editorial pages. The return of writer Roy Thomas to characters he helped define for entire generations is certainly cause for celebration, but perhaps the most profound change this issue heralds is in its philosophy. With Roy aboard, Savage sword would no longer be a "barbarian adventure of the month" mag. Letters of comments would no longer receive glib and uninformed responses. The Conan movies would not be referred to but comic-book continuity would *definitely* be adhered to. Characters would act in character. The Hyborian age world would be treated as a coherent one, with proper history, geography and cultural differences. No more Nemedian navy nor Kothian seaports, no siree! To many readers it might not have made much of a difference, but to old Conan fans it was like a return to the golden age. People like Robert E. Howard scholar Steve Tompkins would contribute to the mag, through intelligent and informed letters of comments. Stories would once again enrich the Conan saga, instead of puzzling readers by clashing with previous ones. Yes indeed, the future looked bright. Maybe you can't really go home again but this was a honest and enjoyable try. To me personally the "bad old years" were truly over. (Okay, granted, they hadn't been all that bad; there was a lot to be enjoyed during the Thomas interregnum years. But the ever-present lack of serious Hyborian Age scholarship had been a constant irritant). With issue #190, Roy would also try something new : a continuing storyline. There had been multiple part stories before in SSoC, and a good number of Chuck Dixon's stories had been presented in chronological order; but here, for the first time in SSoC, we'd cover a period of Conan's life for an extended period and keep the same supporting cast and general environment. Roy decided to focus on Conan's career as a Barachan pirate, and while I really would have preferred the Kozak period, I understood that that one was just around the corner in the color mag Conan the barbarian (and I got exactly one issue of that before the book was cancelled! Oh, the ignominy). Also returning were old fan favourites John Buscema on breakdowns with Tony DeZuniga and Ernie Chan finishing the art. Roy recently said in Alter Ego #139 that Tony had been brought in because both John and Roy liked his style, but that the finished work on #190 wasn't satisfying and that he was replaced by Chan. Now Chan was already announced in the editorial section of issue 190 as a regular inker along with Tony. Perhaps the two men were scheduled to share inking duties at first but that it was decided to go with Ernie only after the first and disappointing DeZuniga issue came in. (I don't find it that bad, really, especially compared to some rush jobs we had seen in the past by various inkers, but I agree that it wasn't Tony's best work). I had personally no problem with Gary Kwapisz or Mike Docherty (especially inked by Villagran), but John Buscema's Conan always felt like the real thing. Another neat thing : a regular Kull back-up. This wouldn't be more King Kull against the Serpent Men stuff : it would be the origin of young Kull before he became king. It had been little acknowledged in the comics, except in passing, that Kull had had a rich and exciting life before gaining his crown. Atlantean savage, galley slave, brigand, gladiator, soldier, general... he had a pretty strong résumé before sitting on the Topaz throne. (There's even a Howard fragment, the one from which "curse of the golden skull" in CtB #37 was developed, that mentions Kull in his pre-monarchy days). Here Kull's youth would be explored in more depth, and because Roy was at the tiller you could bet that all the published references to Kull's younger days would be considered! Illustrating this series would be the excellent Filipino artist E.R.Cruz, who always adds a classic touch to his stories. This would mean, however, that the sub-plots introduced by Chuck Dixon and John Arcudi in their Kull stories would never be resolved.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 28, 2016 15:39:24 GMT -5
SSoC #190 ------------- Skull on the seas, part one Story by Roy Thomas Art by Joh Buscema and Tony DeZuniga What better way to start a pirate stories than with a motley crew getting ready to bury a treasure chest? This is how we reunite with the Thomas-Buscema-DeZuniga crew, and as an unexpected twist the busy Barachan corsairs are taken by surprise by Khitan warriors. The Barachans are naturally taken aback, because Khitans are of course a very uncommon sight in those waters. They are also quite discomfited to see that while they were busy digging, the Khitans have boarded their ship and sunk it! The problems of the Barachans' leader don't stop there, either : the treasure chest starts shaking like an awakening volcano before bursting open, revealing a very angry Cimmerian inside! It turns out that after the events of SSoC #45 Conan became captain of the Hawk, the Barachan boat he was serving on as second mate before the untimely demise of its former master. That didn't go well with the first mate, Twist, who got a few friends to back him up and clobbered the Cimmerian while his back was turned, intending to bury Conan alive. Swearing revenge, Conan brushes off the Khitans for the moment. The Khitans' leader does not intend to stand between a man and his vengeance in any case, and observes the fight as any sports fan would. Conan makes short work of his mutinous former first mate, and next must face the foreign warriors. Their leader, Kuchum, admits to being disappointed; he had been led to believe he would find treasure hereabouts, and instead found a chestful of barbarian. Conan laughs at him, for there was a treasure indeed... and by sinking the Hawk, Kuchum sent it to the bottom of the sea! Resolving to cut his losses, Kuchum orders Conan peppered with arrows but the Cimmerian countermands his order by addressing the archers in Khitan. (And oh, how sweet it is for a writer to realize that not all these characters speak English!) Impressed by Conan's surprising fluency in his own language, Kuchum spares him for the moment and asks where he learned to speak it. Conan replies that he was once an envoy of King Yildiz of Turan to King Shu of Kushan, a minor kingdom just west of Khitai. (Bingbingbingbingbing! We have a winner for the perfect continuity reference award! That happened in SSoC #32). He also mentions knowing Kobe, the prince of the Yagyu clan (his Khitan comrade introduced in CtB #190), something that intrigues Kuchum. It is decided than Conan will go one living a little longer. Aboard Kuchum's ship, the Cimmerian asks who it was who gave the idiotic order to sink the Hawk. It turns out to be Kuchum's own daughter, Li-Zya, who doesn't take kindly to be so disrespected by a western barbarian and tries to carve her pound of flesh out of his hide. Conan calmly parries every of her sword strokes, explaining that he doesn't fight women if he can avoid it, but that if Li-Zya keeps it up he’ll spank her like a child. Kuchum orders everyone to stand down and takes Conan and his daughter to his cabin for a chat. Kuchum reveals what led him to the spot where he was supposed find a treasure (the one that, unfortunately, was in the Hawk's hold rather than the chest on the beach) : it is a talking skull! Conan suspects this is just a mummer's trick until the skull makes itself known : it is none other than Thulsa Doom, the Thurian Age wizard slain by King Kull in Marvel preview #19, brought out of Hell by Conan in Conan annual #12, and defeated again in CtB #203. Here Doom is missing his body, reduced to just a skull, and one humbly claiming to have lost much of its sorcerous power. Found by Kuchum, Doom promised to lead him to a treasure, and claims no responsibility regarding the Khitan's inability to secure it (not Doom' fault that Kuchum sank the ship the treasure was in)! However, not all is lost : Doom knows of another treasure, one found a vast distance away on another continent. He didn't mention it before because he thought Kuchum would want to sail for the closest treasure the wizard could pinpoint, which he did. This, Doom only reveals because Conan gets ready to smash the skull against a wall as a precaution. The Cimmerian stays his hand, reflecting that it would make sense for a helpless skull to barter for its life. Kuchum and Li-Zya, however, frown upon seeing Conan and Doom striking deals with each other and send their soldiers at the Cimmerian! Conan slays a few and ends the fight by disarming Li-Zya and taking her hostage. He retires to the ship's treasure hold with the girl, warning that she'll come to harm if the crew tries anything; but Kuchum well understands that the Cimmerian is not the type of man to hurt a defenseless girl. (I also suspect that he doesn't dislike the idea of curbing his daughter's waspish tongue and having her learn a little bit of humility.) Later that night, Li-Zya discovers than Conan has left the hold and is having a talk with Kuchum. Now that tempers have cooled down, the two men can engage in a civilized conversation. Conan warns that Thulsa Doom is a trickster and that Kuchum should be wary of him, no matter how diminished he appears, but he also agrees to accompany the Khitan on his treasure quest. Next, with copious amounts of wine, the Cimmerian agrees to tell Kuchum and Li-Zya about his adventurous life, in a sequence that lasts fourteen pages (the longest ever retelling of Conan's past, as far as I know). This gives Roy an opportunity to reestablish the mag's continuity (and the editorial pages contain all the references to the events alluded to in this part of the tale). The two Khitans (and Thulsa Doom) seem to take such an undending series of adventures with a grain of salt, which is fair enough; Robert Howard himself described Conan's adventures as ones that would be told around a campfire by a traveler as likely to make stuff up as to stick to the facts. (No mention, in this retelling of Conan's life, of anything resembling a ninja master, a wheel of pain, a career as a pit fighter or a flying city. Thank Crom). Later, Kuchum’s ship is pursued by Zingaran galleys. Against these overwhelming odds, Doom’s magic is required and the skull casts a spell. The sea erupts as an enormous monster surfaces, and Li-Zya is caught in one of its tentacles. Conan jumps to save her by cutting the viscous limb, but is himself seized by another one; it is all he can do to grab Doom's skull from out of Kuchum's hand before behind carried away, in direction of the creature's cavernous maw! The Cimmerian throws the skull straight between the threatening jaws, and the monster's head explodes. Conan recovers the floating skull of Doom, and although the wizard is now quiet and does not protest, the Cimmerian explains that he knew the treacherous sorcerer would never summon a creature he could not destroy. In the epilogue we travel to a distant place, where a Serpent Man is talking to the body of Thulsa Doom, promising to soon reunite it with its missing head. To be continued! With Thoth-Amon next issue? Be still, my beating heart!
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Post by senatortombstone on May 28, 2016 15:43:55 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #190, October 1991 Topical cover by Earl Norem, with the main story's protagonists. Tables of contents The skull on the seas, part one. The return of Roy Thomas to Savage sword of Conan! Death and life in Tiger valley, the early, early origin of King Kull. This issue is a special one, as is made clear by the editorial pages. The return of writer Roy Thomas to characters he helped define for entire generations is certainly cause for celebration, but perhaps the most profound change this issue heralds is in its philosophy. With Roy aboard, Savage sword would no longer be a "barbarian adventure of the month" mag. Letters of comments would no longer receive glib and uninformed responses. The Conan movies would not be referred to but comic-book continuity would *definitely* be adhered to. Characters would act in character. The Hyborian age world would be treated as a coherent one, with proper history, geography and cultural differences. No more Nemedian navy nor Kothian seaports, no siree! To many writers it might not have made much of a difference, but to old Conan fans it was like a return to the golden age. People like Robert E. Howard scholar Steve Tompkins would contribute to the mag, through intelligent and informed letters of comments. Stories would once again enrich the Conan saga, instead of puzzling readers by clashing with previous ones. Yes indeed, the future looked bright. Maybe you can't really go home again but this was a honest and enjoyable try. To me personally the "bad old years" were truly over. (Okay, granted, they hadn't been all that bad; there was a lot to be enjoyed during the Thomas interregnum years. But the ever-present lack of serious Hyborian Age scholarship had been a constant irritant). With issue #190, Roy would also try something new : a continuing storyline. There had been multiple part stories before in SSoC, and a good number of Chuck Dixon's stories had been presented in chronological order; but here, for the first time in SSoC, we'd cover a period of Conan's life for an extended period and keep the same supporting cast and general environment. Roy decided to focus on Conan's career as a Barachan pirate, and while I really would have preferred the Kozak period, I understood that that one was just around the corner in the color mag Conan the barbarian (and I got exactly one issue of that before the book was cancelled! Oh, the ignominy). Also returning were old fan favourites John Buscema on breakdowns with Tony DeZuniga and Ernie Chan finishing the art. Roy recently said in Alter Ego #139 that Tony had been brought in because both John and Roy liked his style, but that the finished work on #190 wasn't satisfying and that he was replaced by Chan. Now Chan was already announced in the editorial section of issue 190 as a regular inker along with Tony. Perhaps the two men were scheduled to share inking duties at first but that it was decided to go with Ernie only after the first and disappointing DeZuniga issue came in. (I don't find it that bad, really, especially compared to some rush jobs we had seen in the past by various inkers, but I agree that it wasn't Tony's best work). I had personally no problem with Gary Kwapisz or Mike Docherty (especially inked by Villagran), but John Buscema's Conan always felt like the real thing. Another neat thing : a regular Kull back-up. This wouldn't be more King Kull against the Serpent Men stuff : it would be the origin of young Kull before he became king. It had been little acknowledged in the comics, except in passing, that Kull had had a rich and exciting life before gaining his crown. Atlantean savage, galley slave, brigand, gladiator, soldier, general... he had a pretty strong résumé before sitting on the Topaz throne. (There's even a Howard fragment, the one from which "curse of the golden skull" in CtB #37 was developed, that mentions Kull in his pre-monarchy days). Here Kull's youth would be explored in more depth, and because Roy was at the tiller you could bet that all the published references to Kull's younger days would be considered! Illustrating this series would be the excellent Filipino artist E.R.Cruz, who always adds a classic touch to his stories. This would mean, however, that the sub-plots introduced by Chuck Dixon and John Arcudi in their Kull stories would never be resolved. RR, I have been waiting for your commentary on SSoC#190-235, for over a year now. Coincidentally, I discovered this website and your exegeses of this wonderful magazine at the same time I was reading the four-part tale told in SSoC#190-193 - this might be my favorite Thomas story, although the subsequent tales of when he becomes Strom's second-mate were nearly as good. I cannot wait read more from you. Regarding Alter Ego #139, I was at comic convention two weeks ago and someone told me about how "Back Issue" magazine had run a story on Marvel's Black and White magazines. Althoguh, I am assuming he was referring to Alter Ego #139. I do not subscribe to Alter Ego, but I might pick up #139, to read Roy's commentary. Is it worth the $9.95 cover price, in your opinion?
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