Of Once And Future Kings!

Conan the Barbarian is firmly established and as such has prompted several spin-offs such as Kull the Conqueror (later Kull the Destroyer) and Red Sonja. These stalwarts are poised to play a big part in Conan's life which has itself gotten somewhat more complicated since he hooked up with the dazzling pirate-goddess Belit. Tarzan will also encounter another world-famous hero, if only by proxy. 

As I read the Conan stories this time, I consulted the recent book by Roy Thomas where he once again illuminates from his perspective how those stories came to be shaped and how they fitted into the larger Marvel publishing scheme. It was a hectic time for comics in the early 70's and the eventual success of Conan the Barbarian helped shape it to no small degree. 

Roy, John and Steve (Gan) begin the three-year odyssey with Belit by establishing just how things seem to work aboard the pirate ship The Tigress. Belit is the captain and Conan is at once her lover and her loyal second-in-command. This of course creates a bit of tension among the exclusively Kushite (black) crew. Conan must establish his authority and takes steps to do so by suggesting greater teamwork among the crew as well as some new weapons strategies. Belit is not amused but comes to see the wisdom in her well-traveled lover's opinions. The Tigress sails south to seek tribute from the black tribes along the river and it is here that Belit ends up getting kidnapped by Riders of the River Dragons and later attacked by a "Killer Moth".

Roy thought it would be a nifty idea for the famous Conan to meet the even-more-famous Tarzan of the Apes. But he couldn't do that for real and didn't want to. What he did want to do was dream up a solid explanation why the crew of The Tigress called Conan "Amra" which supposedly meant "Lion" or somethng like that. 

And so Belit is kidnapped by the original Amra, Lord of the Lions. This is pretty much Lord Greystoke, but cast in Hyborian terms. A young boy is raised by lions and comes to be their master. But Amra unlike Tarzan is a pretty nasty guy and is more than capable of keeping women against their will and has so created a harem for himself in a remote hidden city. The red-haired chap very much wants Belit to take over as head of the harem which makes the current holder of the title upset when she's summarily cast out into the jungle. She finds Conan who is looking for Belit and that sets the stage for a ferocious battle only one her will win. Throw in some truly creepy underground dwellers and this a hopping advetnure yarn. 

Underneath the new cover for the next issue is a classic Savage Tales reprint with art by Jim Starlin. This was prompted by Steve Gan who so loved the Buscema pencils for the story he was tracing them before inking, which was a much slower process. This is a really strange anecdote, and I cannot remember any similar tale. I rather like this story as I'm a Jim Starlin fan generally, though his Conan doesn't really gel with the overall look the title had established. The story was one which Roy wrote from a John Jakes plot and it's a dandy, pointing out some of Conan's more human characteristics. 

The belated Buscema pages were liberated and turn up in the next issue with "The Tribe" having replaced Steve Gan. Under an indifferent Gil Kane cover we get a story developed from a non-Conan REH tale which falls under the James Allison group about a guy who relives experiences form past lives when he was a lusty barbaric type. "The Valley of the Worm" was one such story. This one has Belit and Conan and the crew find a remote island on which they find a legendary dead pirate and a wizard who masters pygmies and a deadly feathered serpent. 

The Red Sonja stories I've pictured in this little section are not included in the Epic volume as Dynamite has the rights to this character, though I guess Marvel could use the Conan issues. It's weird. But I dug out my Red Sonja reprints and added these to my reading as I wandered through this barbarian team-up spectacular. It begins when Sonja is hired by Karanthes (a name from "The God in the Bowl") to find a page looted from the mysterious Book of Skelos. 

Conan and Belit are hired to get that same page of the Book of Skelos by a different party and that of course will lead to conflicts. 

A small in this issue is that Conan runs into his old allies Tara and Yusef and helps them out of a jam. The latter is in prison and Conan gets him out so that he and Tara can leave Messantia at long last to raise the child which is percolating in Tara's tummy. I'm not sure this sidebar story helped the overall saga but it was good to find out more about these two. 

Back in the pages of Marvel Feature, Red Sonja and Conan slash it out with but ultimately decided to work together when a weird priest turns into a bizarre bat-creature and flies away with the desired page. Frank Thorne's art is always a treat. 

The saga comes to a conclusion when Conan, Belit, Red Sonja join up to follow the flying priest and find themselves in a weird territory where they find a city which turns out to be the time-lost capitol of Valusia. They quickly encounter the royal court of King Kull and Kull and Conan face off in a legendary swordfight. It's great fun and especially so since John Buscema inks himself this time. I always loved when he did his inking, though I get the sense Roy was less enthused. This "Battle of the Barbarians" was a load of fun and not without precedent in the stories of REH since he had Kull meet Bran Mak Morn in "Kings of the Night". But it does make this feel more like a Marvel Universe comic than is probably wise. 

Val Mayerik steps in to illustrate a fill-in issue in which Conan tells Belit of an adventure he had long ago when he was just a youth in Cimmeria involving some Vanir who captured him and a strange escapade in which a dead body from the sea turns out to be something quite more dangerous. This is adapted from an obscure REH horror tale. Sadly, it's not all that good. 

Roy and Big John then adapt "Marchers from Vahalla", another Howard tale not about Conan. This one involves a remote island, a strange damsel in a tower who turns out to be a goddess and a repugnant and thoroughly decadent society which deserves the ignoble end it comes to by the conclusion of this two-parter. The bigger news is Ernie Chan returns as inker and to my eye is even better than before his departure. The art looks rock solid. 

That's less the case with the second Conan annual which is drawn adequately by Vincente Alcazar and  Yong Montano, but even then seems less potent than the full-blooded Buscema we've come to expect. The cover by Rich Buckler is one of his worst and I'm sure he was forced to produce it with little time. The story is an important as Roy finally adapts "The Phoenix on the Sword", the very first Conan story which was adapted from "By this Axe I Rule" featuring King Kull. (That story had recently been adapted by Roy and Mike Ploog in Kull's regular comic.) It's a decent tale and has allusions to its Valusian origins, but didn't wow me as I thought it ought. 

In the third annual we get two tales, though only one is in this collection. That's a Conan yarn set after the events of "The People of the Black Circle" and has Conan rescuing a captured prince and dealing with a very deceptive dame. The art by John Buscema and Pablo Marcos is uneven, sometimes fantastic, sometimes just average. 

The lead Conan story in this annual is a reprint of the black and white story from the third issue of The Savage Sword of Conan. A look at the original art in black and white and it works better there than in this second use in color.  

There is a second story in this annual starring King Kull, but it's not in the Epic volume. I had to dig out one of my Dark Horse Kull volumes to read the story "Beast from the Abyss" adapted by Steve Englehart and drawn by Howie Chaykin. Kull finds himself in a castle filled with bizarre libertines who worship a strange enormous slug. But that's not the end of giant slugs. 

Next up in this epic collection with a Neal Adams classic in which Conan must confront not one, but two giant slugs. This comic was produced for a very special reason -- the Power Record operation. These nifty old-time classics blended sound with comics in a most memorable fashion. To experience this particular "Book and Record Set" where the "The Action Comes Alive as you Read!!" just follow this YouTube link to read "The Crawler in the Mists!"

This was not the only recording from Power Records to feature REH's burly barbarian. This volume has all the dope in an essay about the curious cross-promotion and a lot more in the item below. 

And finally, we have a very special issue of Marvel's fan magazine FOOM. The fourteenth issue featured all things Conan. Under a very exotic, blue-colored John Buscema cover we get a summary of how the character came to comics and how that run had been to that time, as well as an insightful interview with Roy Thomas himself. 

Next stop is Asgalun! 

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