Conan Reviews: Conan the Barbarian 25, Conan the Barbarian 26

Conan the Barbarian #25 – “The Mirrors of Kharam-Akkad” – Roy Thomas/John Buscema/Sal Buscema, John Severin

This one starts in the besieged city of Makkalet, with the wizard Kharam-Akkad looking into his magic mirror again and freaking out over what he sees. We don’t get to share his vision but it must involve Conan, since Kharam-Akkad sends the guard captain (Chumballa Bey) to find the Cimmerian, knowing through his magical art that Conan is close by. Kharam-Akkad is ruminating on his fate when the Tarim enters his chamber. (The Tarim is the living god who was kidnapped by soldiers of Makkalet from his usual place in Turan, prompting the Turanians to besiege Makkalet to recover him.) Kharam-Akkad unburdens himself to the Tarim, telling him a story of how King Kull of ancient Valusia was almost killed by a treacherous sorcerer named Tuzun Thune, who showed Kull visions in his magic mirror. Kharam-Akkad eventually acquired the fabled mirror and used it to gain power. But now it’s showing him a vision that horrifies him … a vision of his own death. The vision (which the wizard shows Tarim) shows Conan standing over Kharam-Akkad’s bloody corpse, with a lion, eagle, and serpent in the background. Kharam-Akkad assumes the eagle represents the griffin symbol of Turan and the serpent his own city of Makkalet, but can’t figure out where Conan and the lion come in. He sends the Tarim away so he can think on it some more. Speaking of Conan, he returns to his barracks to find Chumballa Bey and some soldiers waiting for him. At first, Conan is inclined to go peacefully, but when he hears it’s Kharam-Akkad who sent them he starts fighting. Conan flees and ends up in the palace grounds, knocking over the king and contemplating killing Queen Melissandra (for giving him the armlet that almost led to his death a couple issues ago) before he’s knocked out by the guards. Melissandra is quite concerned over Conan’s welfare, but he’s taken away by the guards. Outside the besieged city, Prince Yezdigerd consults his oracles to see if the time is right for an all-out assault on Makkalet. Once again, we see that Yezdigerd isn’t quite as pious as his troops, caring less for the recovery of Tarim than for looting the city and eliminating a trade rival. The seers have been instructed to give positive interpretations of the signs (although they end up embellishing things a bit), so Yezdigerd orders his troops to prepare to assault Makkalet. In Kharam-Akkad’s chamber, he shows Conan the Mirror of Tuzun Thune, which shows Conan as a skeleton. The vision changes to a tentacled C’thulhu-esque monster, which manifests and reaches out of the mirror to grab Conan. Chumballa Bey hates the taint of dark magic in the Tarim’s proximity, so he tries to help Conan fight the monster, but is struck down from behind by Kharam-Akkad. Conan uses Bey’s sword to slice up the monster, so Kharam-Akkad arms himself and faces Conan blade to blade. As the Turanians rush into the city, eager for slaughter and to recover their lost god, the king and queen resign themselves to defeat and death. Meanwhile, Conan and Kharam-Akkad duel but the wizard is distracted by an eagle on Conan’s sword hilt and some snakeskin straps on his own shield. In desperation, Kharam-Akkad tries to use the mirror to defeat Conan but the barbarian stabs him, thus bringing about the vision we saw earlier in the mirror. A caption tells us that Kharam-Akkad was right about the griffin and serpent, but the lion represents Conan himself (he will one day be known as Amra, which means the Lion), something neither the wizard nor Conan himself could ever have guessed. The Turanian War is drawing to a close and this issue gives us the long-awaited confrontation between Conan and Kharam-Akkad. It’s nice to see that Chumballa Bey is willing to help Conan against the monster, and we get a glimpse of the mysterious Tarim, although we won’t learn his secret until next issue. The main thing to note about this issue is that it marks John Buscema’s debut as artist. The difference is definitely notable, as Buscema’s art isn’t as detailed as Smith’s (although that will change, depending on who’s inking him). Buscema will stay on Conan for years, defining the look of the character and becoming almost synonymous with him, even though some fans will prefer Smith’s art. Personally, I like Buscema’s art and I think it gets better as he grows into the character. This story was based on a Kull tale by Robert E. Howard called The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune, some of which is incorporated into Kharam-Akkad’s tale of how he got the mirror.

Conan the Barbarian #26 – “The Hour of the Griffin” – Roy Thomas/John Buscema/Ernie Chan

This issue continues immediately after the one above. While the Turanians assault the city and a lone ship finds the tunnel leading into the heart of the city, Queen Melissandra refuses to flee and is sent to shelter in the temple, the king not yet knowing that Kharam-Akkad is dead. Conan smashes the magic mirror before it can show him any more twisted visions and realizes that Chumballa Bey is still alive. Turanian soldiers crawl through the tunnels and emerge from a horse statue in the midst of the city, opening the gates for their fellow soldiers. More Turanians invade the palace, where Conan is forced to fight them. He ends up saving Melissandra from them, but he’s still pissed off that she tried to get him killed. More Turanians arrive and Conan draws them away, leading them down another tunnel to the mirrored chamber where he encountered the Tarim once before. The Tarim is there again and this time Conan sees his face and learns his secret … the Tarim is a mindless wreck, the result of centuries of close inbreeding. Conan finds the irony funny but soon sobers when the Turanians start hacking at the door. They send a hail of arrows into the room, killing the Tarim (of whom they take no notice) but giving Conan the chance to counterattack. In the city, the Turanians sweep all before them, cutting down Makkalet’s defenders, including King Eannatum. Conan rejoins Chumballa Bey and Melissandra and learns it was Kharam-Akkad who told the queen to give Conan the tainted armlet. He leads them through the tunnels towards the exit he used a while back, but they run into a giant rat. (Roy Thomas says it’s supposed to be a giant mole, but it looks more like a rat to me.) Whatever it is, Conan kills it and leads the other two outside, where they find a couple of Turanians with a chariot. After wasting them, Conan takes Melissandra and Chumballa Bey out of the burning city to safety. Conan asks Melissandra to forget her past and travel with him. She’s tempted but refuses because she’s pregnant with Eannatum’s child. Conan sends her and Bey off towards her father’s city, while he rides south. In Makkalet, Yezdigerd finds the burnt body of the Tarim, but doesn’t let that stop him from declaring victory, displaying the cloaked skeleton of the Tarim in a parade to celebrate the Turanians’ triumph. This is a great ending to the Turanian War storyline. Roy said he based it loosely on the Trojan War, with Makkalet representing the doomed city of Troy. Melissandra is an interesting character (and Conan obviously thinks so too), so it’s too bad she couldn’t have stuck around. We’ll be seeing Yezdigerd again, and the war will have something of a ripple effect on the surrounding lands. The Tarim’s secret is a shock, though not necessarily a surprise, as it does make sense. The most interesting part for me is that Turanian soldiers are the ones who kill the Tarim, not even recognizing him; if they’d realized who he was, they’d have been on their knees in awe, but they ended up killing the person they’d come to save.