Conan Reviews: Conan the Barbarian 177, Conan the Barbarian 178

Conan the Barbarian #177 – “Well of Souls” – Jim Owsley/John Buscema/Pablo Marcos

This one starts with Conan, Tetra, and Delmurio sailing through rough seas ten days out of Messantia. They’re looking for the island shown on their treasure map, but the captain is worried they might be sailing to their deaths. While he and the crew confront Conan, Delmurio and Tetra argue about her feelings for Conan. They’re interrupted when the green monster that used to be Keiv pulls Delmurio off the ship into the ocean and clambers aboard. Conan is about to kill the recalcitrant sailors when Keiv does it for him, wasting them to get to Conan. But it turns out Keiv is there not to kill Conan but to warn him about an impending attack. An image of the demon Nostume appears beside a conjured sea serpent that turns the ship into kindling. The survivors swim for a nearby island while Keiv tells Conan, Tetra, and Delmurio (who’s still alive but rather upset) that he owes Conan a debt for betraying him back in issue 173. The swimmers are attacked by sharks and Conan dives down to kill one, hoping its blood will attract the rest. The island turns out to be Nostume’s stronghold and he sends a horde of undead to kill the remaining sailors and capture Tetra, Delmurio, and Keiv. Conan follows them to a huge palace where Keiv explains to Delmurio that the “treasure” depicted on the map is the island itself. Nostume found a way to move through the time-stream (which is why he appears looking like a different age every time) and made the map so he wouldn’t forget where his stronghold was, spreading the rumour that it led to treasure to increase its value. Keiv is pissed off about being turned into a monster and tries to attack Nostume, but is overwhelmed by the undead and pulled into the Well of Souls. Supposedly if a person who is pure of heart went down the Well, they would enter another world and gain unspeakable power, which is why Nostume wanted it in the first place. But an unpure person thrown down the Well just dies, so Nostume has Delmurio tossed in. He offers Tetra her life in exchange for banging him, but she slices him with her dagger instead. She’s thrown down the Well too but instead of landing at the bottom (or in some other world), she lands on Keiv, who has braced himself across the shaft and caught both Tetra and Delmurio. Conan enters the throne room like a madman, wasting zombies left and right and giving Nostume a pretty good hit with his sword. The demon vanishes and the others climb out of the Well. Tetra declares her love for Conan but he’s not interested, which makes her so despondent she considers jumping into the Well. Nostume reappears as an old man, saying it has taken years for his wounds to heal. Before he can use his demonic powers they disappear and he turns mortal, giving Conan an easy victory. But the temple starts collapsing and as everyone runs for it, Conan wonders who stole Nostume’s power. We soon find out as Tetra rises from the rubble imbued with so much power that it’s almost killing her. This is a pretty good issue that has a definite Robert E. Howard feel to it. It was cool to see Keiv helping them and Nostume moving through the time-stream is an interesting idea. I’m curious to see what happens to Tetra; we know she’s pure physically-speaking (since she’s still a virgin), but is she pure at heart too?

Conan the Barbarian #178 – “Death Hunt” – Jim Owsley/John Buscema/Ernie Chan

This one starts in a village in Cimmeria, where a bunch of warriors have gone off to battle leaving the women and children at home. One child (who looks like a young version of Conan) sharpens a spear and dreams of battle, but he’s interrupted by a visitor seeking warmth. The visitor looks like Tetra but she can’t speak Cimmerian and the boy doesn’t understand her tongue. Nonetheless she proceeds to tell him a story, which starts right where last issue left off, with Tetra rising from the Well of Souls almost overcome by the sorcerous power now coursing through her. Her unbridled power rips the island apart until she suddenly seems to lose it and collapses into Conan’s arms. A demonic wolf appears and Keiv explains that it’s there to kill Tetra and take the innocent part of her, thus completing her transformation into an evil being like Nostume was. Conan is ready to fight the wolf but Keiv tells them Tetra was doomed as soon as she went down the Well and they should just abandon her to her fate. When Conan resists, Keiv knocks him out and leaves the island, swimming for Argos. Delmurio figures Keiv was right and brings Tetra to the wolf, hoping to deflect its attention from him and Conan. But the Wolf enjoys the hunt as much as any animal and ignores Tetra for the moment, killing Delmurio instead. Conan challenges the demon-beast and impales it on his sword after a tough fight. Tetra is in so much pain she begs Conan to end her suffering, but before he can comply the demon wolf rises and attacks him. He’s saved by Keiv, who felt guilty about abandoning Conan and came back to help. But he still knows there’s no help for Tetra and tells the demon wolf to take her, which it does. We return to the framing story and find out that Tetra did gain the evil power and is now condemned to wander the time-stream. She resents Conan for saving her from the wagon crash and has come back in time to kill his younger self, but in the end she can’t bring herself to do it and vanishes back into the mists of time. This is a pretty good ending to Tetra’s story, although I kinda wish she’d gotten a happier ending. It was cool to see her change her mind about killing the young Conan and it was great to see Conan sense her power and prepare to fight her even though he couldn’t understand her words.