Conan the Barbarian #165 – “Temple of the Dragon” – Michael Fleisher/John Buscema/Armando Gil
This one starts with Conan and Fafnir sneaking into a temple to loot some precious objects. Apparently the temple priests worship some sort of dragon-god and have been extorting and terrorizing the local populace, making them fair game for looters … at least as far as Conan is concerned. (Conan grabbed a mirror that’s missing a jewel in the handle and when the priests find the temple looted, they’re very relieved that the gem—a big diamond—is still safe in its hiding place under a golden dragon idol.) Conan and Fafnir get a fair haul and take it back to their fence (Klauz), who
says he can get them a good price for the loot. Conan gives the mirror to Klauz’s daughter (Nadine) and she’s quite flattered. Across town, another bunch of thieves have heard about the raid on the temple and are pissed off that Conan and Fafnir got there first. Specifically, they’re after the gem from the mirror and not knowing that it’s still in the temple, they make plans to go after Conan to retrieve it. But even without the gem, the mirror has some power. Apparently a sorceress named Thazarra was banished into the mirror ages ago and she now takes over Nadine’s body. Thazarra’s freedom is only temporary, as she 
needs the gem to escape for good. She tarts Nadine up a bit and heads out to find whoever stole the gem. She kills on guy by draining his life force, literally leaving him an empty husk. She runs into Fafnir, who’s flattered by her attentions and admits he’s quite a thief, promising to meet her there the next night (since the magic that allows Thazarra to take over Nadine’s body only works at night). Meanwhile, Conan is out looking for Nadine and runs into the other band of thieves, kicking the crap out of them and letting them know he doesn’t have the gem. Nadine wakes up the next day with no memory of her outing and Fafnir doesn’t mention anything. Conan realizes the gem the
other thieves want must still be in the temple, so he prepares to head back there that night. The other thieves also head for the temple, as do Thazarra (in Nadine’s body again) and Fafnir once they meet up again. Conan runs into them inside the temple, but Nadine is disenchanted when a ray of dawn sunlight strikes her. Conan gets the gem from under the statue and Nadine warns him not to place it in the mirror, but he doesn’t listen. Thazarra is freed and takes over Nadine’s body, but when Conan threatens to kill her, Thazarra retreats back into the mirror. The other thieves bust in and use Nadine as a hostage to force Conan to hand over the mirror. The priests 
attack, so Conan and Fafnir escape with Nadine, leaving Marta (the leader of the other thieves) to be taken over by Thazarra. The priests slaughter most of the looters and Marta/Thazarra is killed by a blade trap while trying to escape. The mirror is broken and the thieves are wiped out by the priests as Conan, Fafnir, and Nadine get away. This is a pretty good issue that brings Conan back to his thieving roots, something that has a very Howardian feel to it. The soul possession thing has been done before, but I like the way Conan left the other two sides to kill each other while he and his friends took off.
Conan the Barbarian #166 – “Blood of the Titan” – Michael Fleisher/John Buscema/Geof Isherwood
This one starts with Conan and Fafnir arriving at a town in Nemedia. Naturally, they get involved in some local trouble, but for once it’s not Conan who jumps into the fire. Fafnir comes to the aid of a beautiful woman who’s being abducted by some soldiers. Conan comes to help, which Fafnir seems to resent for some reason. He’s so pissed off that he stays behind when Conan and the woman (Giselle) take off to find her uncle’s cottage
where she’ll be safe. Giselle tells Conan how the local barony is contested every year to keep the barons from wielding too much power. But the latest Baron (Alain Mort-Pointard) found a champion named Gargantax who has beaten every challenger, allowing Mort-Pointard to become a tyrant. Gargantax is actually quite simple-minded and fell for Giselle at first sight, so the Baron took her to keep Gargantax happy. But Giselle had no feelings for the gentle giant and took off, causing Gargantax to become so despondent he won’t fight any more. That’s why the Baron is desperate to get her back. In the village, 
Fafnir is still pissed off at Conan interfering in his fight, so when some villagers tell him he can help them by defeating the Baron’s champion (and thereby become Baron himself), he agrees immediately. At Giselle’s uncle’s cottage, the Baron’s men are waiting and Conan is forced to surrender when they threaten Giselle. At the Baron’s stronghold, Alain accepts Fafnir as a challenger against Gargantax, but it turns out the villagers were paid to find someone stupid enough to go up against the unstoppable giant. Now that Giselle is back, Gargantax is ready to fight and he frees her from her chains. But she
still doesn’t love him, so he figures he’ll impress her by killing Fafnir. Conan is taken from the dungeon to be executed but asks for a last drink of wine. He spits it out and gets pounded for his insolence, but I assume it’s all part of a cunning escape plan. Fafnir overhears the peasants laughing about his stupidity and pounds them before going to the arena to fight Gargantax. Conan uses a broken pottery shard to cut his ropes and waste his would-be executioners, then heads to the arena to help Fafnir. He gets knocked around until Giselle distracts Gargantax by claiming to love him. Conan kills the giant, which 
pisses Fafnir off some more, since he would rather have died fighting than have Conan save him again. This was a pretty good issue, although I’m not sure if the faux-medieval French stuff really fits with the Hyperborean Age. It was cool to see Conan kill Gargantax, but I was kinda hoping Fafnir would do it so he could become the next Baron (and maybe get together with Giselle). I assume Conan will have no interest in being a Baron, so maybe he’ll leave Fafnir to do it anyway. Giselle is an interesting character, as she’s honest about not loving Gargantax but does trick him at the end, something the giant realizes (and something Giselle feels bad about afterwards).