Conan the Barbarian #69 – “The Demon Out of the Deep” – Roy Thomas/Val Mayerik/The Tribe
If you’re wondering what happened to issues 66-68, I skipped them because I’m using the Chronicles of Conan editions for these reviews and those issues are omitted. They feature Red Sonja and she’s owned by a different company, so Dark Horse was forced to leave those stories out. If I get my hands on some copies I might go back and review them someday, but for now I’m sticking with the Chronicles and moving on to issue 69. This one starts with Conan practicing archery on board the pirate ship Tigress. Bêlit turns out to be pretty good with a bow too, but when Conan
mentions coming within sight of the sea as a younger man, she asks for the tale and we get an extended flashback. The story is set just after issue 2, when Conan defeated the beast-men and wandered into the wild. He’s captured by Vanir raiders, who he’d been fighting as a mercenary for the Aesir. The Vanir leader (Lireigh) and his men march Conan towards the sea coast, where he’ll be sold into slavery. Conan’s first sight of the ocean awes him, but the Vanir are distracted by the body of a warrior (Fallon) who has washed ashore early in the 
morning. Fallon was to wed Marga, the chief’s daughter, but she claims the corpse is not that of her beloved, even though it looks just like him. One of Fallon’s rivals for Marga (Gowar) says the same thing when he comes to view the body later. Conan breaks free from his bonds and beats the shit out of Gowar, then offers to fight for the Vanir as a mercenary. Lireigh says he’ll put the idea before the village council, but Conan is tied up outside in the meantime. A scream from the death hut brings the villagers and Lireigh frees Conan when he swears not to flee. They find Marga dead in Gowar’s arms and Fallon’s body gone. Gowar
claims the corpse came to life and squeezed Marga to death, but the Vanir don’t believe him. Conan does since Marga looks like she died from drowning. They scatter to find Fallon (or the thing that looks like Fallon), but Lireigh and Gowar both end up dead too, again seeming to have drowned on dry land. The Vanir are too freaked out to continue the chase, but Conan heads down to shore, reasoning that the thing pretending to be Fallon is a sea-creature and will want to return to the waves before sunrise. He’s right and he ends up struggling with the Fallon doppelganger until the sun rises and it turns back 
into a weird-looking sea-creature straight out of Lovecraft. In the present, Conan concludes the story and Bêlit seems quite impressed. This is obviously filler, based on a non-Conan story by Robert E. Howard that drew on Lovecraftian horror elements. Roy changed the names but kept the basic plot, throwing in a little esoteric twist with Conan thinking he hears a voice from the ocean depths when he’s chained up. It was the voice that made him think the false Fallon was a sea-creature that would need to return home before the sun rose, which let him defeat the monstrosity by denying it that escape.
Conan the Barbarian #70 – “The City in the Storm” – Roy Thomas/John Buscema/Ernie Chan
This one starts with the Tigress caught in a huge storm and blown far off course. They ride the storm out, but end up hitting the rocks of an uncharted island, forcing them to land to make repairs. N’yaga is hurt in the crash, so Bêlit resolves to go ashore and find some healing herbs for him. There’s an ancient stone city near shore and Conan wonders if it’s abandoned, but the gates open and a horde of savage warriors pour forth. For once, Bêlit is ready to negotiate but the brutes don’t give her a chance.
She and Conan lead the landing party against the poorly-armed warriors and rout them back into the city quickly. Bêlit isn’t in such a diplomatic mood when the city’s emissary comes out … a beautiful blonde (Aluna) who tells them the city is called Kelka and that its masters wish to bargain. More beautiful women emerge with a feast fit for a king and the city’s priest (Akkheba) comes out too and offers gold if they’ll help fight the Barachan pirates who constantly raid Kelka. Bêlit and Conan aren’t the types to say no to some gold, but Bêlit does decree that none of the crew is allowed inside the city. She 
says it’s to keep them out of trouble with the women of Kelka, but it’s obvious she just wants to make sure Conan doesn’t get any ideas about straying. Aluna comes out to see Conan and gives him a finely-carved dagger, telling him her goddess (Ashtoreth, who Bêlit knows as a goddess worshipped in Shem) actually dwells within the city, although Aluna has never seen her. Bêlit’s jealousy is aroused again but her tantrum is interrupted when the Barachan pirates arrive. They’re led by Auro, a pirate so fearsome that even Bêlit respects him. But Bêlit and Conan take Auro’s buccaneers by surprise and, despite being outnumbered, manage to kill a lot of them. Auro and his remaining men realize they’re outclassed and flee back out to sea. To celebrate the victory,
Bêlit rescinds her order and allows her crew to enjoy the city’s pleasures. A great party is held, with wine and women aplenty, but the wine turns out to be drugged and everyone passes out. Just before he succumbs to the drug, Akkheba tells Conan that they’re all to be sacrificed to Ashtoreth along with Aluna. This is a pretty good issue, with a good fight between pirate crews and the treacherous people of Kelka planning to sacrifice their saviours. At first, I thought Aluna was part of the ruse but apparently she’s marked for sacrifice too, so I’m thinking the dagger she gave Conan might be the key to their escape. This story (and the conclusion next issue) is based on another 
unpublished tale by Robert E. Howard called “Marchers of Valhalla”. It’s one of those atavistic “race memory” stories about someone in the modern day recalling a past life. Roy changed a few details (the original had an Anabasis feel to it, with 500 men on an expedition who run across a mysterious city) and some of the names, but kept the basic feel of the story. There’s also a subplot with one of Bêlit’s crew (Kawaku) bearing a grudge against Conan and M’gora, but we’ll have to wait a while for that to pay off.