Conan Reviews: Conan the Barbarian 5, Conan the Barbarian 6

Conan the Barbarian #5 – “Zukala’s Daughter” – Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor Smith/Frank Giacoia

This one starts with Conan passing through a village in Zamora on his way to the debauched city known as Shadizar the Wicked. As Conan talks to a weaponsmith, the skies darken and the smith freaks out, telling Conan the local warlord (Zukala) has sent someone to collect a tribute in gold from the villagers. The “tax collector” turns out to be a tiger and Conan fights it to save a woman and her child. The tiger is too strong for him, but instead of killing him it lets him live and runs off, leaving Conan to think that he saw a glimmer of humanity in its eyes. The villagers are grateful, but know their troubles aren’t over. They tell Conan that the tiger is Zukala’s daughter (Zephra), who has been gifted (or cursed) with second sight, as well as the ability to transform into a tiger. We see Zephra return to her father’s castle and tell him about her failure to get the gold before fainting in his arms. The villagers hire Conan to get rid of Zukala and Zephra, promising him the forty gold pieces they were supposed to give the warlord. But after Conan leaves, we see that the villagers plan to kill him when he returns to get the reward. Conan sneaks into Zukala’s castle and spies on him as he summons a demon (Jaggta-Noga) to get the gold and terrorize the rebellious villagers. Zephra finds Conan and puts the moves on him, telling him she’s seen a vision of him standing over her body with an axe, but wants to bang him before that happens. Zukala interrupts their make-out session and Conan attacks him, shattering his mask which diminishes his powers. But Zukala still commands magic and uses it to turn Conan’s sword into a snake. Conan attacks again (using an axe that was hanging on the wall) and Zukala commands Zephra to become a tiger and kill Conan. She does transform but refuses to hurt Conan, her chosen mate. Jaggta-Noga returns from the village with the tribute money and Zukala orders the demon to kill Conan. Zephra attacks the demon and is pounded, making her father realize he really does love her. As Conan fights the demon, Zukala banishes it back to wherever he summoned it from. Zephra is alive, but Zukala is pissed off that she loves Conan enough to defy him, so he teleports away with her. Conan gathers the gold and heads for Shadizar, not bothering to stop at the village since he already has their money. This story was originally slated for the third issue, but ended up being swapped for “Twilight of the Grim Grey God”. The story was inspired by a Robert E. Howard poem called Zukala’s Hour, some of which is quoted when Conan is sneaking into the castle. Zukala and Zephra are said to be immortal (or very long-lived) and we’ll be seeing both of them again.

Conan the Barbarian #6 – “Devil Wings Over Shadizar” – Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor Smith/Sal Buscema

This one starts in Shadizar the Wicked, a Zamorian city with a reputation for debauchery and sleaze. Conan happens upon two thieves (Fafnir and Blackrat) arguing over some golden objects they’ve just stolen. Conan proposes they split the loot three ways and the twain attack him. He takes them both down and decides to keep all the loot for himself. He heads to a whorehouse, where he meets a working girl named Jenna. As they’re talking, they’re interrupted by a brawl between a prince of Zembabwei and another patron. Conan is ready to fight, but Jenna hustles him out, having seen the golden loot he carries. She takes him to her uncle (Maldiz, a smith), who she has melt down all Conan’s gold and shape it into a heart … supposedly to make it harder to identify and easier to carry. Conan and Jenna head out to the dunes for some banging, but some red-robed guys show up and knock Conan out, kidnapping Jenna but leaving the gold heart behind. When Conan wakes up, he goes to see Maldiz (who turns out not to be Jenna’s uncle) to tell him what happened. Maldiz says Jenna’s as good as dead, taken as a sacrifice for the evil night-god whose priests demand a tribute of one young woman every new moon. Conan heads for the minaret, taking out an acolyte so he can use his robes to get inside. He finds the night-god’s worshippers in the sacrificial chamber, where Jenna is tied to the altar. As the chamber is plunged into darkness, Conan fights his way to the altar, arriving just as Jenna is seized by the night-god … a giant bat. Conan grabs the high priestess (Hajji) and hitches a ride as the night-god takes off with its prize. Conan uses the brazier from the temple to attack the night-god, causing it to careen down towards the desert. Hajji pushes him off, but he grabs the bat and smashes the brazier into its face. The monster crashes, breaking its neck and slamming Conan into the ground. Before Hajji can finish him, Jenna kills her and urges Conan to rest from his trials. When he wakes up, Jenna is gone … and so is the golden heart he carried. Shadizar the wicked was mentioned in a couple of REH stories, but never actually depicted, so Roy and Barry just made it up as they went. Jenna is an interesting character and we will be seeing her again.

Noticeable Things:

• Fafnir (who will show up in a future issue) and Blackrat are obviously based on Fritz Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
• Maldiz the blacksmith mentions that he once forged a falcon, which is a Maltese Falcon reference. That’s appropriate, since Roy said he kinda based Jenna on the duplicitous Brigid O’Shaughnessy from the movie.
• Jenna mentions seeing King Numedides in Aquilonia, but subsequent Howard tales establish that Numedides didn’t become king until later. Jenna may have seen Numedides when he was still a Prince and mistook him for the King (or lied about it, since she loves to bullshit people).
• It’s never said outright that Jenna is a hooker, but the place where she worked was called the House of Suwong, an oblique reference to the World of Suzie Wong, a book/movie about a prostitute.