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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 12, 2016 11:41:09 GMT -5
Death in a land unknownStory by Roy Thomas Art by John Buscema and Ernie Chan Last issue, Conan, Kuchum and Li-Zya were captured by Serpent Men who assumed their identity and took control of the Khitan ship Sea Pheasant, still bound for Australia. There the shape-shifting Set worshippers mean to reunite Thulsa Doom’s head with the rest of his body and thus restore the wizard’s full power, the first step in their intended conquest of mankind. As the ship nears its destination, a tropical storm is brewing. The Serpent man impersonating Conan goes to check on the prisoners and taunt them a little. Mocking the defiant words of the captives, the creature points out that their chains are too short for them to reach him. Conan jumps at the imposter nevertheless, having timed his move with the pendulum swings of a brazier hanging from the ceiling of the hold. The Serpent man jumps back and is hit by the heavy metal object, falling within reach of Conan’s arms. The Cimmerian snaps the Serpent man’s neck and breaks his and his friends’ chains before going on deck where he replaces his counterpart. The strong winds force the ship to finally beach itself on Australian soil. Carrying Thulsa Doom’s skull, the Serpent Men start their journey toward the spot where Doom’s body is to be found. Meanwhile, Li-Zya and Kuchum quietly leave the ship with the monkey-like Ee-Ch’ing, pushing into the forest and following a path parallel to that of their enemies. Conan plays the role of his counterpart for as long as he can, until his silence draws attention to him. Pushed to answer a question from the fake Kuchum, Conan does offer words : “Ka nama kaa lajerama”, which cause the Serpent men to return to their natural scaly selves. Reassured that all the “Kithans” present are actually Serpent men and not real humans unwittingly led to serve them, Conan proceeds to mow them down before making a break. Very soon he comes across Li-Zya and Kuchum and the trio runs further away, with Serpent men in hot pursuit. The three fugitives discover the strange fauna of this new land as they go, and suffer the attack of a giant, carnivorous kangaroo. Later their advance is blocked by a high and sheer cliff. There Conan decides to make a stand while his comrades flee, but unfortunately the men who finally reach him are real Khitans and Serpent men with their ears plugged by wax; the "words that unweave" can not reveal the true nature of the latter. The tense standoff is interrupted when the group is attacked by arboreal, tailed humans. The Khitans retreat but Conan is captured. The diminutive EE-Ch’ing jumps from the brush to his shoulder, intent on accompanying him, and the barbarian welcomes the beast by revealing that he knows it is secretly Thoth-Amon. One of the tailed men tries to bully Conan as he walks, to which the Cimmerian answers by breaking his neck with a single cross to the jaw. As Conan is led away, farther away in the tropical forest Li-Zya and Kuchum are captured once again by the Serpent men posing as them and by their Khitan soldiers. Due to the evil creatures' spells, the real Li-Zya and Kuchum are seen as monsters by their own men. The village to which the tailed men lead Conan looks a lot like that of the Tor-O-Don in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pal-Ul-Don. There the Cimmerian sees that the tailed creatures are not humans, but marsupial equivalents; these marsupials hold real humans in thrall. Seeing a human being abused by one of its masters, Conan takes the side of the victim and slays several of the tailed ones with his bare hands before being knocked down; his gesture does not go unnoticed and elicits great awe among the slaves. One day later, we see the Serpent men reach the great rock where the body of Thulsa Doom is kept : it is Uluru, the most famous geological formation in Australia. (Who knew there once was a temple of Set in Uluru?) There the real Khitans in the party finally learn what’s what as they are captured by a greater number of Serpent Men and learn that the leaders they had been following were imposters. The captured humans are kept alive for the nonce as they are meant to be sacrificed in the ceremony that will allow Thulsa Doom’s skull to be reattached to its body. In the marsupials’ village, Conan and Thoth-Amon agree to work together as long as their common interests can be served. Ee-Ch’ing brings a lance to Conan, and the Cimmerian uses it to escape his crude cage. Leaving the village in the night, he is stopped by a group of human slaves, among whom is the individual he saved earlier. They have brought him his sword, and a shaman among them makes it clear that he wants Conan to follow them. The true men take Conan to another great rock formation; this one isn’t as easily to identify, but it looks like Kata Tjuta. Thoth-Amon reveals that this is the resting place of a local god, the snake of many colours (which we know better as the Rainbow Serpent, a figure from the Australian mythology). The shaman points to a cave that Conan is apparently supposed to enter. As the Cimmerian obeys, he is met by a great wind that blows out of the cavern. Entering the dream time, Conan faces the snake of many colours who attacks him. Perhaps impressed by Conan’s courage, the goddess (for the snake is a female) refrains from killing him once he's caught in her coils. She asks what this puny mortal wants, and learning that Conan’s friends are about to be sacrificed elsewhere in this land she accept to help him; not because she cares about what foreign sorcerors do, but because her worshippers (the real humans) wish her to. Meanwhile, in the temple of Set within Uluru, several sailors have already been sacrificed and their blood is sufficient for the spell to be cast. Thulsa Doom’s head is reattached to its body. Doom’s first act as a resurrected high priest is to try to sacrifice Li-Zya to Set. Kuchum manages to break his bonds to try to intervene, but Doom stops him easily; only the timely arrival of the snake of many colours (riding a rainbow, naturallly!) saves father and daughter. However, the Serpent men had previously struck a deal with the rainbow serpent inhabiting Uluru, the male snake Yarralamundu. The two snakes attack each other, heralding general mayhem! Conan attacks the Serpent men, and Thoth-Amon abandons ee-Ch’ing to possess the body of one of Doom’s servants, who then assumes the Stygian’s form. The two wizards start blasting at each other with force bolts. The godly battle is won by the stronger female serpent, who is very wroth at the interlopers who brought evil to her land. She casts Thoth-Amon away, sending his spirit back to his own body in faraway Stygia; as for Thulsa Doom, she separates his skull from his body once more and casts them in different epochs. The Serpent men, meanwhile are all killed by Conan (they never were that proficient with weapons, usually relying on guile and subterfuge to reach their ends). Conan next means to free the human slaves he met earlier. The surviving Khitans follow him to the distant village where he was briefly imprisoned, but a surprise awaits them : the marsupial humans are all dead, slain by an epidemic. Apparently, like so many native populations in the history of colonization, they were ill-prepared to face foreign pathogens. The real humans are now free and praise Conan as their liberator; they believe that it is his magic that somehow slew their cruel masters wholesale. Among the possessions of the deceased marsupials, and quite worthless to the natives, are vast quantities of pearls worth a fortune in Khitai. There was treasure to be found in these lands after all! As Kuchum swims Scrooge McDuck-like in his new wealth, Conan and Li-Zya decide to go celebrate on their own away from prying eyes. Notes : - The problem with retroactive continuity is that it affects tales told earlier but placed later in the chronology. In the adaptation of “Conan of Aquilonia” ( King Conan #1-4, but mostly #4), it was a big deal that Serpent men were still around; they were supposed to be extinct since Kull’s days. This storyline changes that. Not impossibly so, but still. Also, by that time, Thoth-Amon seemed to have clearly reaffirmed his power over them - I like the idea of the epidemic; it is just odd that a human pathogen would strike a totally unrelated species (the marsupial people) before an actual human population. - The very idea of marsupial people living in Australia is biologically difficult to accept. I know that most readers won’t care, but as a biologist I couldn’t help thinking that such creatures would have left fossils, and their ancestors as well. There never was an ape-like line of marsupial creatures that could have led to the evolution of such a species. (The Ho-Don, Waz-Don and Tor-O-Don in Burroughs’s stories didn’t cause me as much of a problem, as Pal-Ul-Don was clearly defined as a remote place where evolution had gone its own way for sixty million years, independently of what happened in the rest of Africa; that isn’t the case here where we deal with the whole of Australia. - Thulsa Doom is seen here for the last time (and good riddance, if you ask me; the fewer references to the Conan movies, the better). - Uluru is pretty much as far from the sea as any place can be in Australia, yet the voyage there (on foot) doesn’t seem to have lasted that long. Perhaps the coastline was different during the Hyborian Age?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 12, 2016 11:43:16 GMT -5
Kull the Pict-killerStory by Roy Thomas Art by Tony DeZuniga Kull and his friend Am-ra have sailed to the Pictish isles, west of Atlantis, with the specific aim of killing Picts. As Kull says, “all sons of Atlantis hate all Picts from the day they first drew breath”. The first hut they come to is inhabited by a mother who is singing to her infant daughter while a toddler plays in the background… hardly the kind of Pictish warrior Kull was expecting. He resists Am-Ra’s plan to burn the hut down and take the woman as a slave, arguing that Atlanteans don’t make war on women and children. (Clearly Kull is speaking for himself here; Am-ra seems to see nothing wrong with the concept). The hut’s owner then comes home and attacks the intruders, slightly wounding Am-ra. Kull stops him, saying that they choose not to harm him and asking him to let them pass. The Pict refuses and tries to spear Kull, but is himself stabbed. The woman curses the Atlanteans for the murderers they are and promises ever-lasting hatred, and as the Atlanteans flee Kull finds the whole episode far less glorious that he had been led to believe it would be. Nevertheless, Am-ra cheerfully says that he will henceforth be known as Kull the Pict-killer.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2016 10:02:29 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #194, February 1992 Cover by Earl Norem. No relation to what happens in this issue. Table of contentsWitch-queen of Yamatai, in which Conan goes to japan. The road to Zamboula, in which Red Sonja and Zula encounter a character from one of Howard’s stories.
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Post by berkley on Jun 24, 2016 10:08:26 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #193, January 1992 Dynamic cover by Earl Norem. I like it when a cover is made especially for a particular issue and features several of its characters, as is the case here with Li-Zya, the serpent men and Thulsa Doom (in two pieces). Table of contentsDeath in a land unknown, the conclusion of the four-part “Skull of the seas” storyline. Kull the Pict killer, continuing the tale of Kull’s younger years in Atlantis. It is worth mentioning that the letters of comments are getting better and better, more scholarly and asking interesting questions. (No more "will Conan meet the Punisher" stuff, if you see what I mean). I like how the girl is cradling that skull like it's her favourite teddy bear or something.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2016 10:14:48 GMT -5
SSoC #194 ------------- Witch-queen of YamataiStory by Roy Thomas Art by John Buscema and Ernie Chan After leaving Australia last issue, the crew of the good ship Sea Pheasant finally reaches its homeland, fabled and faraway Khitai, the Hyborian age equivalent of imperial China. (“Khitai” takes its name from the Khitan people, who are also the basis for the medieval name “Cathay” given to China by European travellers). Kuchum, who has been exiled more than a decade ago, has returned home to try and buy back the emperor’s good graces with the pearls he collected in Australia. He knows that it is a risky move, for it would be perfectly legal for the emperor to have him executed as soon as he sets foot on Khitan soil. The old sailor is however tired of running from his fate and is resigned to whatever awaits him. The ship’s arrival does not go unnoticed, and Kuchum and company are met by no less than the emperor’s Dragon guard. Their leader recognizes the aged admiral and reminds him that there is no atonement for his crime, but Kuchum refuses to leave again. The soldier then calmly tries to execute him, but Conan stops him (over Kuchum's protests). Such a heated reception would doubtless escalate, but suddenly all guards are ordered to form ranks; the emperor himself is about to show himself! Everybody bows (even Conan, a little, when prompted to do so by his lover Li-Zya) when a palanquin approaches. The emperor is not the one who exiled Kuchum; that one died of old age, and has been replaced by his grandson Won Chu. Won Chu who is none other than Li-Zya’s childhood friend, from back when Kuchum held a position of honour at court! No more talks of beheadings as everybody retires to the emperor’s palace in this city, Cho-Yang. (We are not in Paikang, Khitai’s capital, which is located inland. That’s the kind of detail that Roy Thomas pays attention to, bless his well-read heart). Conan is thrown manu militari into a bath, but his anger at being manhandled subsides when servant girls show up to scrub his back. Kuchum, Li-Zya and Conan are next treated to a feast. Won Chu explains that Kuchum had been granted an imperial pardon years before, when it became clear that in his piratical forays he always avoided hitting Khitan ships. (This is a nice twist, but one wonders why the dragon guard from the beginning of the issue wasn’t aware of the fact). Kuchum’s return is fortuitous for the empire, for the state is in need of a good admiral. There have been problems with the people from Yamatai (Japan) and Won Chu wants to demonstrate his resolve should these foreigners mount new attacks on the mainland, as they have years before. While the emperor talks, Conan is struggling with the use of chopsticks. He is also teased by Li-Zya about frolicking with the girls in the bath, much to his embarrassment. Won Chu hopes that matters with Yamatai can be resolved peacefully. An emissary from the islands is currently in Cho-Yang, and the lion throne on which the emperor sits is even a recent diplomatic gift. The emissary shows up at the end of the feast, bringing yet another present : a small carved lion. Won Chu is pleased, until the toy turns out to be animated by magic! It jumps for the emperor’s throat, but is quickly caught and destroyed by Won Chu’s bodyguards. The emissary is naturally seized, warning the Khitans that they have just grasped the hurricane. With frightening ease, the old man uses eldritch powers to incinerate the guards holding him. He then drops his facade and reveals himself to be Nojingo, witch-queen of Yamatai! (She's also called Nojin jo elsewhere in this issue and the next). Nojingo causes the lions that decorate Won Chu’s throne to come to life, and the monsters turn out to be nearly indestructible! Everyone present grabs a weapon and tries to stop the rampaging beasts or to stab Nojingo, all to little effect. Eventually, Conan tricks the monsters to jump at him from two opposite directions, and when he drops out of their path the two unstoppable beasts collide in mid-air, causing their mutual destruction. But all is not over yet! The fragments of the creatures try to reassemble themselves and the Khitans must smash every pebble into dust before the fight is truly over. As the dust settles Li-Zya is the first to mark that Nijingo has fled, taking the emperor with her!!! The witch-queen makes her way to the seaport, where she boards a small craft that sails toward Yamatai at warp speed. The Khitans are stricken with grief and Kuchum even tries to commit suicide for having failed to protect his emperor, only stopped by Conan’s strong right hand. It is then decided to mount a rescue operation, and the Sea Pheasant sails toward Yamatai. Days later a storm erupts at sea, an unnatural storm summoned by Nojingo. Li-Zya is swept overboard by a giant wave, and soon therafter the Sea Pheasant, which went all the way around the world, knows an ignominious end. Conan manages to swim away from the sinking ship and to help a half-drowned Kuchum to make it to the nearby coast of Yamatai. The two men are immediately apprehended by women in armor, the “butterflies with swords”. The Cimmerian doesn’t intend to give up his sword, and when one of the ladies nicks his shoulder with her blade he trips her and sends her sprawling. Instead of impaling her there and then, though, he hesitates for a moment, ever loathe to hurt a woman. His reward is a strong kick to the groin. Conan and Kuchum are then taken to the side of a volcano where a compound has been built. That’s where Nojingo awaits them, holding Won Chu on a leash. Nojingo reveals her plan : to wed the Khitan emperor and lay claim not only to Yamatai, but also to all of the mainland empire! Considering that Nojingo lives in a wooden fort instead of a palace, one can wonder if she’s already the true ruler of Yamatai instead of a powerful pretender… but perhaps Yamatai is still far less developed than Khitai. Maybe it's still a warlike but barbarous nation, like Atlantis during Kull's days. That is not made clear in the story. We leave Conan and Kuchum to focus on Li-Zya, who didn’t drown when she was thrown in the water earlier. Reaching the coast, the courageous girl has to climb a sheer cliff of jagged rock before she can rest. She is soon found by a band of male warriors whose leader claim to be Nojingo’s greatest enemy, and also… her father. To be continued! Notes : - Won Chu is the first Khitan emperor we encounter in the Conan saga. We know that Conan’s old comrade, Kobe, lord of the Yagyu clan, would eventually become the effective master of the Khitan empire; he was never established as being its emperor, however (see Conan the king #52). - This is the first time Conan goes to Yamatai, further pushing the Larry Yakata stories about his going to Japan (see SSoC #184) - A note of realism that I really, really like : Conan speaks some Khitan, after having visited the country back in his days as a Turanian soldier and after spending months on a Khitan ship; however, he doesn’t speak Yamatan. No universal translator here! - Kuchum and Li-Zya have really grown into interesting characters over the months we’ve known them. That’s something that was sorely lacking in the 1980s : an interesting supporting cast in the Conan magazines. Jim Owsley had created one during his run on CtB, but that was soon scratched by ill-advised writers and editors. - John and Ernie take pain to give Khitai a Chinese look. It adds to the verisimilitude that is so important to the Conan stories.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 24, 2016 10:22:26 GMT -5
SSoC #194 ------------- The road to ZamboulaStory by Roy Thomas Art by Tony Dezuniga I’m a big fan of continuity (or rather “consistency”) in comic-books. However, I think that there is a very real danger of overdoing things and try to draw lines between every little item of a saga, leading to so many apparent coincidences and connections that everything strikes us as obviously made up and unbelievable. The Dune prequels written by Brain Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are like that : by linking characters who had no reason to be connected in the original work, they made the Dune universe smaller, more self-referential, and definitely less believable. Roy Thomas, as a big fan of history, likes to connect dots; most often this makes his stories tighter and more intriguing. In his second Conan run, however, it is my opinion that he pushed continuity too far on a few occasions. When the time came to re-adapt “Black colossus” in the pages of Conan the barbarian because the mag had reached that point in Conan’s life, Roy decided to focus on scenes that we hadn’t seen in the original adaptation in SSoC #2. A laudable idea, but to do so he shoe-horned Red Sonja and Zula in the tale. That’s just too much for my willing suspension of disbelief to accept without flinching; Sonja and Zula are such major characters that they would definitely have been mentioned back in SSoC #2 had they been present for that adventure. (Yes, I know, Zula hadn’t been created yet in those days; but that’s the way retroactive continuity should work. You can’t decide to show Doctor Doom fighting alongside the FF the first time Galactus came around and claim that nobody mentioned it at the time! Nobody would buy it. If Sonja and Zula weren't mentioned when Black colossus was adapted in SSoC#2, we should conclude that they weren't there). Here we have more of those unnecessary connections. Red Sonja and Zula, after parting with Conan at the end of the Black colossus storyline, have been making their way southeast toward the city of Zamboula. Zula is still the owner of the scroll of Chthon, a magical document he means to study. His intention is to some day become a wizard as well as a warrior (shades of Arak, son of thunder, but a decision in character for Zula who taught himself some magic when he served as a wizard’s servant. Besides, he was created before Arak!) The two comrades have to face a band of slavers they encounter at an oasis. Of course the slavers don’t stand a chance despite their numbers and are cut to pieces; their leader is left chained to a tree to die either from thirst or from the revenge of his freed slaves. Among these is a certain dancer who has always desired to dance for the satrap of Zamboula. Naturally we understand her to be Zabibi/Nafertari, the girl from “Shadows in Zamboula” (adapted in SSoC #14). Did we really need that connection? Nobody told me there would be so many coincidences. Why are there so many coincidences?
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Post by senatortombstone on Jun 25, 2016 7:46:48 GMT -5
I think SSoC 190-200, were some of the best issues of the series. I really liked the characters of Li-Zya and Kuchum. In order to work these stories into a probable timeline of Conan's career, Roy had to employ some interesting use of artistic license, as we shall see at the conclusion of Conan's adventure in Yamatai. It seemed to be a bit too convenient, but it all works for me.
Regarding Kobe, I wonder if Roy included his portrayal in CtB as part of Conan's ten year dream. I hope so, as I really thought the character went from being an honorable and iron-willed bad-ass to a rather insecure and pathetic person during the Heku Trilogy. I will have to check out the CtK issues with Kobe. I used to have that complete run, but sold it and bought all of the TPB reprints; which is something I plan on doing with my CtB issues, after the entire run is in reprint form
I am still in the process of reading all of the Conan Darkhorse reprints and am actually at the CtB variant of The Black Colossus. I agree, everything with in it is inconsistent with the SSoC adaption - all the same, I still like it. I kind of just consider it almost a sort of alternate reality. And considering that Conan's career was outlined by REH, it is understandable that it would be adapted out of order, resulting in many retro-conning inconsistencies. The is especially the case when non-REH elements, like Red Sonya and Zula, are inserted into a story.
Yeah, unfortunately, ret-conning is unavoidable in the "make it up as we go along" world of ongoing comic series.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 25, 2016 8:47:18 GMT -5
Regarding Kobe, I wonder if Roy included his portrayal in CtB as part of Conan's ten year dream. I hope so, as I really thought the character went from being an honorable and iron-willed bad-ass to a rather insecure and pathetic person during the Heku Trilogy. I will have to check out the CtK issues with Kobe. I used to have that complete run, but sold it and bought all of the TPB reprints; which is something I plan on doing with my CtB issues, after the entire run is in reprint form Roy acknowledges Kobe's existence (if not explicitely endorsing all that the character might have done) because Conan mentions him to Kuchum in issue #190. It's true that Kobe appeared a bit weak in the Heku trilogy and a bit thereafter; he felt inadequate compared to Conan, bith on the battlefield and regarding Anneka's affections. He was back to his confident self in Conan the king, though, even threatening Conan with a Hyborian age world war if things didn't go his way. (Calling Kobe "Genjis"and making him the leader of an eastern conquering horse was a bit lacjing in subtlety, though). I don't mind a few inconsistencies here and there myself, but sometimes it just gets too much... especially when it leads to outright impossibilities. In the case of Sonja and Zula being present for Black colossus, we can always imagine that the presence of such important characters was just ommitted during the first adaptation (highly unlikely, but not impossible). In other cases, such as the Malthom/Amalric debacle, we must rely on spectacular mental contorsions to make things fit! In Black colossus, Conan's commanding officer is called Amalric. Roy changed that to Malthom in ssoc#2, because there were too many characters called Amalric in thise days. That Malthom was seen again in ssoc#12 (the haunters of castle crimson), an issue in which he got married. Eventually we would learn that he was murdered and Conan would avenge him. When Black colossus was readapted in CtB, Malthom became Amalric once more. No biggie, as a man can bear one name and be called somethig else in day to day activities. But a year or so after that adventure, Conan meets Amalric again, still the leader of a mercenary band, and clearly unmarried. And Amalric dies in that adventure!!! So the man died twice, with a different marital status, and under different names. Oh, my head!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 27, 2016 16:31:32 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #195, March 1992 Cover by Ovi Table of contents Thunder beneath Yamatai, part II of Conan’s visit to Japan Swordless in Zamboula, an adventure with Red Sonja and Zula
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 27, 2016 16:48:04 GMT -5
SSoC#195 ------------ Thunder beneath YamataiStory by Roy Thomas Art by John Buscema and Ernie Chan Recap from last issue : the emperor of Khitai, Won Chu, has been abducted by Nojinjo, the witch-queen of Yamatai (Japan), who means to make him her consort and rule over the entire East. Rushing to the emperor’s rescue, the good ship Sea Pheasant was sunk with all aboard, with the exception of its captain Kuchum, his dauhter Li-Zya, and their friend Conan the Cimmerian. While Li-Zya managed to swim to Yamatai where she met a band of rebels opposing Nojinjo, a band led by the queen’s own father, Conan and Kuchum were captured by the sorceress. We open with Conan being stretched on a rack by Nojinjo’s female torturers. When the queen criticizes their being unable to elicit a cry of pain from the Cimmerian, one of the torturers makes the mistake of replying insolently; she is magically incinerated for her affront. Grimly amused by the proceedings. Conan notices that one of the queen’s guards, the woman with whom he had a brief fight the day before, seems interested in him. Meanwhile, Li-Zua is told the origin of the witch-queen by Tawara Sho, Nojinjo's father. Tawara Sho was a wizard, once (and, we’ll soon learn, a very powerful one)! Not many decades prior, the island of Yamatai was composed entirely of warring tribes who shared only one thing : their devotion for the world tortoise, on whose back the Earth sits. Tawara Sho had a daughter (from a she-demon, no less, we’ll learn later) to whom he started teaching some magics. The girl grew so good that she raised a demon to serve her on her 18th birthday. When Tawara banished the creature, his daughter turned on him. Learning more magic with other teachers and assembling an army of women warriors, she conquered tribe after tribe until she was the mistress of the land. Tawara Sho explains that he doesnt dare face his daughter in a magical duel, for to do so might awaken the world tortoise and lead to the destruction of the world. The hot headed Li-Zya, not accepting this passivity, steals a horse and rides towards Nojinjo’s camp on the flank of a local volcano. We return to the witch-queen’s torture chamber, in which Conan is still stretched on his rack. Hanging from the ceiling by the ankles, Kuchum is disconsolate to be unable to help his emperor. Just then a certain warrior woman enters the room : it is the butterfly with a sword whose eye had been drawn to Conan earlier. All hopes of her freeing Conan for the sake of a few minutes’ passion are quickly dashed, however, when she declares that she’s perfectly happy to have her wicked ways with him while leaving him trussed up like a goose! Climbing atop the Cimmerian’s bound form, the woman is suddenly skewered from behind by an unhappy but providential Li-Zya. She frees the two men, and the trio quickly has to face an onslaught of butterlies with swords. The odds are massively against our heroes, and only the timely arrival of Tawara Sho’s rebels saves the day. But Nojinjo complicates matters by summoning the mace-wielding demon Vuu-Jiin, who starts killing rebels left and right. Cutting their losses thanks to a hasty retreat, the surviving rebels manage to escape Vuu-Jiin by slipping into a rocky crevice too narrow for its massive bulk. Seeing no other option, Tawara Sho decides that if the world must fall, it will not go with a whimper. He awakens the world tortoise himself!!! (No mechanical crap as in SSoC#72, either; this is the real deal). Triggering earthquakes, the tortoise lays waste to Nojinjo’s camp and initiates a volcanic eruption. Never forgetting his duty, the courageous Kuchum runs to his emperor’s side to try and free the cowardly young ruler. Li-Zya joins her father and despite Conan’s disdain for the imperial milquetoast, it his his sword that finally severs the emperor’s fetters. There is no time to celebrate the deed; Nojinjo appears and strikes Kuchum dead with a sorcerous bolt. She then sends Vuu-Jiin after Tawara Sho, and Conan barely slows the monster down. The wizard has a few tricks up his sleeves, thankfully; a spell he casts causes a storm of chrysanthemums to overpower and kill the demon. Tawara Sho and Nojinjo then face off and disappear in a flash of magical light. As the dust settles, Nojinjo’s forces are routed and emperor Won Chu asks Li-Zya to become his empress. The next night around a campfire, Conan is disgusted that “ the sword-wielding daughter of Kuchum, commander and corsair, should find virtue in the pampered scion of a weak-blooded royal court”. As he goes to sleep, he is visited in his dreams by Tawara Sho. The wizard explains that although he is dead, he still retains powers because unlike his daughter he courted death rather than try to avoid it. He explains that Conan’s destiny lies not in Khitai but rather in the west, and just with that he sends him back to Tortage, the main port of the Barachan Islands, in the middle of its harbour. Conan swims to shore, wondering if he is still dreaming. Notes : - I don’t much care for instantaneous teleportation in Conan stories, but here they do save us from months and months of travel. (There were other such travels during J. M. DeMatteis’s run in CtB). - Conan does get around in fine society, doesn’t he? He was the lover of the empress of Khitai, the lover of the queen of Khoraja, will one day sleep with the queen of Vendhya, was the lover of the empress of Nemedia (albeit in an out-of-continuity story), the lover of the queen of Kush; he was military adviser to the king of Keshan, bodyguard to the king of Turan, captain of the guard of the queen of Khauran, saved not one but TWO queens of Ophir, was on first-name basis with the queen of Stygia… I guess he doesn’t have to write a résumé when looking for a new job!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 27, 2016 16:50:45 GMT -5
SSoC#195 ------------ Swordless in ZamboulaStory by Roy Thomas Art by Tony DeZuniga and Dave Simmons. This is a Shadows in Zamboula prequel starring Red Sonja and Zula. We get to meet Aram Baksh and his hotel of doom, the Darfari cannibals, Jungir Khan, the prest of Hanuman Totrasmek. Like the origin of Logan’s jacket in “X-Men origins : Wolverine”, this is a story that didn’t really need to be told, as far as I am concerned. Note that DeZuniga, who inked the pencils of Neal Adams for SSoC#14, reuses the statue of the god Hanuman seen in that issue. (Great design).
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Post by foxley on Jun 27, 2016 20:17:36 GMT -5
DeZuniga is really an artist whose work suffers anytime he is inked by someone else. When he does his own inking, he artwork becomes incredible.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 28, 2016 5:22:54 GMT -5
DeZuniga is really an artist whose work suffers anytime he is inked by someone else. When he does his own inking, he artwork becomes incredible. He's also an artist whose control of chiaroscuro makes me prefer his work when it is left uncolored. His Arak work would have looked better, I am sure, had it not been drowned in the garish pinks and yellows of the era. (It was still pretty good, but like Gene Colan's art would have looked better in B&W).
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 1, 2016 11:26:59 GMT -5
Savage sword of Conan #196, April 1992 Cover by Earl Norem. An old-style cover that brings us back to the mag’s heyday in the late ‘70s! A promise of high adventure, with the ubiquitous cover girl Miraaj in the foreground! There are also a few pin-ups scattered throughout the book, including this double page spread by Mike Docherty and Ernie Chan. This issue sees the welcome return of the Hyborian Age map; it had been taken out a few years before. That map always gives a little more weight to the Conan stories, I think; maps have always made me dream of faraway places. Table of contents :Devourer of the dead, Conan’s return to the Baracha Islands. Bride of the buccaneer, another tale of Kull’s youth in Atlantis.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 1, 2016 11:42:03 GMT -5
Devourer of the deadScript by Roy Thomas Art by John Buscema and Ernie Chan Ah, what a fine, fine issue! It doesn’t have anything oustanding, like say the death of a major character or artwork by Neal Adams and Barry Windsor-Smith… but it is just plain GOOD at everything it does! It’s a perfect introduction to Conan’s life as a Barachan pirate, with the establishment of several members of the supporting cast; it has references to older stories and the setting-up of future ones; it makes appropriate connections between different situations that were meant to be connected; it has things like a rambunctious tavern brawl, a high sea quest for a lost treasure, the smell of liquor and the briny sea; it has a Conan enjoying life, for once, and adventure that’s not mired in gloom and despair. (Not that Roy’s scripts tend to run in that direction, but when you consider the type of stories being published today, a high spirited adventure is like a breath of fresh air). The story begins with Conan swimming to Port Tortage after the conclusion of his adventures in the Far East and his magical transport back to the western sea. As you’ll recall, he has recently lost his ship, the Hawk, and is now a penniless pirate. Having to rebuild his life from the ground up he can’t even get credit at the local tavern, but chance smiles at him in the form of a helpful barmaid. Their discussion however leads to a big fight with her jealous would-be paramour, the pirate captain Red Ortho! Red Ortho was created by Robert E. Howard; he is mentioned in the story Red Nails. A few years down the line he will try to force himself on a certain crewmember of his, Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, as she relates it herself : Excellent bit of continuity, there. Naturally, Conan gets the upper hand and at the end of the brawl he is invited to the table of another captain who is interested in having him join his crew. That pirate is Strombanni, whom Conan meets here for the first time. Strombanni will be one of the major actors in the story The Treasure of Tranicos, adapted in SSoC #47-48. Poor Conan must however content himself with the rank of second mate, since Strom already has a first mate… the wily Galacus, also featured in The Treasure of Tranicos, in which he plays an important role. Another pirate present is the Zingaran buccaneer Black Zarono, the vilain from Conan the buccaneer (adapted in SSoC #40-43 ) and also an actor in The Treasure of Tranicos. This is also the first time he meets Conan. Zarono’s presence allows Roy to explain that the distinction between Barachan pirates (mostly Argosseans) and Zingaran buccaneers (mostly Zingarans) is “more guidelines than actual rules”, to quote Captain Barbossa from Pirates of The Caribbean; the two types of sea rovers are pirates first and foremost. Conan resumes his life as a sailor, and it is probably the first time we see him actually BE a Barachan pirate; in past stories set in that period of his life, we would most often see him lose a ship at the beginning and go to the mainland for some adventure of other. Here the Cimmerian works on the boat, drinks rhum and meets lots and lots of pretty ladies. Yo-ho-ho, a pirate’s life for him! Strombanni’s crew eventually sets sail, and Conan is told the story of the treasure of Tranicos. To quote Black Zarono in the original Treasure of Tranicos story by Howard (which was actually titled The Black Stranger): This is the basis for this issue. Strom tells the same story to Conan and explains that he and Zarono have been on the lookout for a map to Tranicos’s treasure for a good long while. He now intends to sail to the island where Tothmekri was slain, hoping to find some indication as to where the treasure might have been taken. The map to the island itself is one half of a big medallion showing the head of a crocodile. Before reaching Tothmekri’s island, Strombanni’s Red Hand has the opportunity to attack a Zingaran ship cruising farther away from the shore than it should have; aboard the ship the pirates capture another member of our cast, the Lady Morganis. Morganis is the wife of Lord Hambria of Kordava, owner of famous silver isles; Strombanni will therefore spare her and trade her for a ransom. In the meantime he’ll force her to become his mistress. The lady has a surprising defender : one of her sailors attacks Strom with a knife and manages to cut him before being knocked out by Conan. The sailor, who outwardly appears to be a boy, turns out to be a girl! We learn that this is a young Valeria, and appreciating her spunk Strom offers her a job on his ship. Naturally, Valeria agrees! Strom’s ship has been followed by Black Zarono’s Petrel, and rather than have both crew decimate each other the pirates agree to sail together to Tothmekri’s island. Life onboard allows us to establish where the different members of our cast stand regarding each other : Valeria makes it clear to Conan that she doesn’t care for the way his eyes look at her when they speak, and that she’ll be no man’s woman; Lady Morganis unsuccessfully tries to get Conan to turn on his captain; Strom and Zarono dislike each other but are willing to refrain from killing each other. The island of Tothmekri has a ruined castle on it, and in the rubble someone finds the other half of the medallion Strom is carrying; strangely, the rest of the animal whose image is stamped on it is not the body of a crocodile, but of a lion. When Strom reunites the two pieces, the actual animal (of monstrous size!) erupts from the ground! Tothmekri, well versed in the dark arts, had laid a curse on this spot, hoping to get some measure of posthumous revenge. The fight with the creature is naturally epic, and Conan has a chance to save Valeria’s life… their relation can’t be all bad, can it? As you’d expect, a way to dispatch the monster is eventually found and the two crews return to their ships to resume their search for the treasure of Tranicos. Notes : - Once again, this is an excellent issue. Adventure with a capital A. - Conan and Morganis have a very good exchange about how unfair life is to women in the Hyborian world. - The interplay between the characters is the high point of the issue; even the monster seems to be a distraction in comparison! - It is good to remind readers that Valeria is much younger than Conan, something that was ignored by writers other than Roy. Here she must be in her late teens, no more, while Conan is 35. This difference was established in the Red Sonja miniseries from 1983, in which the very young Valeria ( then called by her birth name, Merina) decided to sail away with her uncle, himself a pirate. - The devourer of the dead we see here is inspired by Ammit, the devourer of Egyptian lore. Appropriate, since Stygia would eventually give rise to Egypt. We had already seen a Stygian devourer of the dead in Conan the barbarian #86, but that one was your standard protean creature with tentacles and big fangs.
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