Conan the Barbarian #1 – “The Coming of Conan” – Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor Smith/Dan Adkins
Welcome to my first review of Conan, a comic I’ve read only sporadically over the years, so a lot of the issues will be new to me. This issue was originally cover-dated October 1970 (a couple years before I was born), but I have read it before in the first Chronicles of Conan collection (which is what I’m using to do these reviews since I like reading Roy Thomas’s comments about the various issues). Roy freely admits that it took him and Barry a while to get into the groove and this first issue has some art and dialogue that’s a bit cringeworthy in
places. Roy tried to chronicle Conan’s adventures in chronological order, so Conan is quite young here, still a teenager, and his first battle (at Venarium) is said to have taken place only last winter. This story starts in Vanaheim with a fight between two Northern races, the Vanir and Aesir. Conan is fighting alongside the Aesir and does well, even saving the Aesir war leader (Olav) from three Vanir warriors. The remaining Vanir flee and Olav decides to ambush them in the mountains. The Vanir leader (Volff) is cunning, but doesn’t care too much about the fate of his men. He orders them to wait in the pass while he and his lieutenant (Hothar) go to look for a way to flank their enemies. But 
Volff and Hothar sneak away, leaving their comrades to their fate. They find a cave marked with strange symbols and meet an old man and a young woman inside, who seem to have been expecting them. The old man is a shaman named Sharkosh, who offers to conjure otherworldly warriors from his artifact … the Starstone, a jewelled meteorite. Sharkosh needs a strong young man for some ritual and Volff suggests Conan would fit the bill nicely. Back in the pass, Olav leads his men against the Vanir, wasting most of them easily. But three winged demons show up and everyone freaks. Olav attacks the demons, but is killed, pissing Conan off. He attacks as well, but is soon knocked out and dragged back to the cave. He wakes up in a cage with the young woman (Tara), who tells him he’s going to be part of some vile bargain with the forces of darkness. Sharkosh uses the Starstone to see into the past
(including King Kull ruling Valusia and the fall of Atlantis), and the future (where we see Conan’s destiny to be a king). Sharkosh goes too far, looking into modern times, which drives him mad. Conan busts out of the cage and shatters the Starstone, which banishes the demons and kills Sharkosh and Volff. Conan gets Tara out of the cave, but she’s not too happy and we soon see why. Tara turns out to be one of the “demons” from another dimension, brought here by Sharkosh’s sorcery. Conan was meant to take her place in the other dimension, but now that the Starstone is destroyed, Tara is banished back there.
Conan the Barbarian #2 – “Lair of the Beast-Men” – Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor Smith/Sal Buscema
The art and writing in this issue are definitely better than the first (although still not as good as they’d get later) and someone must’ve noticed, as this story was nominated for an ACBA award. The story starts in Aesgaard, with Conan having just killed some weird beast-man with white fur. He’s been wandering through the Northern wilds for a few days, weaponless except for a crappy sword he took from a wandering warrior. Conan sees a woman (a very attractive woman) who runs from him,
prompting him to chase her. The woman (Moira) turns out to be bait to lead Conan into a trap, where he’s knocked out by Zha-Gorr, leader of more beast-men (although these aren’t nearly as big as the one Conan killed). The unconscious warrior is taken underground, to the kingdom of Brutheim, in a vast cavern illuminated by a sickly green glow. Conan is tossed in the slave pen, which is full of other humans. But these people have grown up as slaves in Brutheim and their leader (Kiord) tells Conan their story. Generations ago, men came north to hunt the beast-men but ended up being captured. The beast-men 
soon kidnapped women and started breeding slaves to work on their war machines, with which they intend to attack the surface world. Conan doesn’t like being a slave and refuses to be pushed around, so the king (Gha-Kree) sentences him to fight in the gladiatorial games for the amusement of the beast-men. That night, Kiord gives Conan an obsidian dagger, telling him to kill himself to spare him a grisly death tomorrow. Conan gives Kiord shit for being a coward, but Kiord says the slaves would like to be free, just without bloodshed. The next day, Conan has to fight a lion in the arena and manages to kill it with the knife, but he’s jumped by beast-men. Seeing Conan’s bravery inspires Kiord to bust out of prison and lead the slaves against the beast-men. Kiord and
Conan use a giant battering ram to bring down the king and his guards, but Zha-Gorr kills Fiord. After avenging his death, Conan places a crown on the dead Kiord’s head, honouring him as first king of the freed slaves. This story was based on a mention of beast-men in Robert E. Howard’s essay The Hyborian Age. Roy admits it reads more like Edgar Rice Burroughs than Howard, with the beast-men and the fight against the lion.