Conan the Barbarian #139 – “In the Lair of the Damned” – Bruce Jones/Val Mayerik
Last issue, Conan and Pelija Lon were sent to a demi-plane to recover an amulet for the wizard Revelle. The amulet is around the neck of Pelija’s father (Eshe Lon) and Revelle claimed that removing it would turn him back to his old (non-evil) self, but when they found Eshe and Conan took the amulet from him, he turned into some kind of serpent demon. Conan is forced to kill the demon and tells Pelija that Revelle must’ve known there was no chance of getting her father back to normal. The other
prisoners turn into demons and attack, so Conan pushes Pelija to safety and fights back. Pelija realizes the amulet has magical power and uses it to bring the ceiling down on the demons. Pursued by serpent-men Conan and Pelija retrace their steps through the dungeon to the snake-filled pit. Pelija offers to use the amulet again, but Conan prefers to take care of the snake-men the old-fashioned way … with steel and sinew. They take off again still chased by the serpent-men, but their pursuers suddenly retreat at the entrance to the temple. They soon 
understand why, as they find the snake goddess Ishiti coiled around the temple and not too happy with either of them. Ishiti spews venom on Conan’s arm that makes him grow scales, so Pelija gives him the amulet as protection so he can fight back. The amulet doesn’t work and Conan becomes more reptilian as he fights the medusa-headed demon. He finally tries to stab her from above but ends up getting swallowed, which kinda works in his favour as he’s able to cut her up from within. He kills her and cuts his way free, his scaliness reversed upon Ishiti’s death. Conan and Pelija return the amulet to Revelle, who wants Pelija to join him in ruling the world. Conan says he’d rather send the amulet back to whatever dimension spawned it, so Revelle threatens to kill Pelija. Conan tells him to go ahead and he does, cutting her throat. Conan
uses the amulet to heal her and she uses it to summon a serpent to kill Revelle. The amulet teleports them back to where they started and Pelija gives it to Conan, telling him to destroy it. She says she’s going to explore her talent for sorcery by becoming a priestess of Mitra. This is a pretty good sword and sorcery story, although it has a bit too much sorcery and not enough sword at times. It’s a little weird to see Conan using the amulet, considering his distrust of magic and killing a goddess seems like a bit of a stretch, even for him.
Conan the Barbarian #140 – “Spider Isle” – Bruce Jones/John Buscema
This one starts with a drugged and unconscious Conan being hauled aboard a Zingaran pirate ship at the behest of its captain, Lupos Davalte. Apparently, Davalte has some kind of grudge against Conan and wants to personally dispatch him … after having some fun, of course. Conan awakens in the hold and pounds the man sent to soften him up with a whip. He emerges on deck where Davalte is pondering how best to kill him. Conan tries to strangle Davalte but ends up being overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers and lashed to the main mast. Davalte is about to torture him when his first mate (Fhrank) points out that
Conan could be a valuable oarsman before being killed. Davalte agrees and Conan is taken below and chained to an oar. We get a flashback showing why Davalte hates Conan so much: he stopped Davalte from hurting a light-fingered wench and humiliated him in the tavern. Conan bides his time at the oars but does end up strangling the brute who tries to push him around. As the ship makes its way up the Shikri River, we see Davalte treating his concubine (Theta) badly, something Fhrank doesn’t seem to like much. They have to stop to resupply in the 
forest and Conan and the other oarsmen are taken in chains to forage for provisions. Davalte brings Theta too and Conan notices that she’s terrified of Davalte. They find a skeleton encased in some gummy residue and a rusted sword and one of the crew goes into the woods to investigate. He’s hit by some kind of gummy stuff too and the man sent to fetch him freaks out and runs off, scared out of his mind. As they cross a log bridge, one of the prisoners falls and drags the rest down, leaving Conan to hold them all by their chains. Fhrank comes to help but it’s too late … the others are all dead. Conan is unchained from them but his hands are kept manacled. Conan tells Fhrank he owes him but Fhrank says
he won’t hesitate to kill Conan if Davalte orders it. As they advance through the forest, they find many masses of something wrapped like cocoons, which Davalte passes off as a strange form of moss. But of course we know what’s really going on (thanks to the title) and soon so do they, when they find themselves surrounded by giant spiders. This is a pretty good story, with a classic monster at the end. It seems like Fhrank actually hates Davalte but is willing to follow his orders, so I’m wondering if Theta will turn out to be Fhrank’s sister or something like that.