Conan the Barbarian #195 – “Blood of Ages” – James Owsley/Val Semeiks/Geof Isherwood
This one starts with the villagers of Shoraji looting the Temple of Mitra where Kaleb defeated the Devourer of Souls last issue. But when one villager gets too greedy and tries to steal the Devourer’s sword, he’s hit by lightning and the Devourer is reborn in his body, still craving revenge against Conan and Kaleb, but wary of whatever power Solaise is hiding. Speaking of Conan, he’s been acting weird since his encounter with the Shedu a couple issues ago and everyone has noticed, but nobody can get him to talk about it. When Shapur tells him the horses wandered off during the
night because Kobe wasn’t watching them, Conan says he’s moving on to the next destination and tells Shapur to sort things out and follow. Shapur sends Kobe to retrieve the horses but he gets ambushed by bandits. Shapur starts to worry when Kobe doesn’t return and despite his personal dislike for the arrogant Khitan, he goes to look for him. In Khorshemish, capital of Koth, Emperor Strabonus has hired Red Sonja to stop Conan from helping Irham’s rebellion, by whatever means are necessary. Conan is still acting weird, refusing to send anyone to look for Shapur or Kobe, who is being used as bait by the bandit chief (Bahkt) to draw Conan into a trap. A strange 
light flares through the sky, killing some of the bandits. Bahkt assumes it’s Conan, but it seems to be something sorcerous caused by either Solaise or her new cat, Sedrick. Conan does show up to confront Bahkt, who used to ride with him years ago but was thrown out of the army because of his addiction to black lotus extract. He and Conan fight as Shapur rescues Kobe, but the blinding light flares again, distracting Conan and allowing Bahkt to escape. Kaleb realizes Solaise and the cat probably have something to do with the light, but he can’t catch her in the act. When Conan gets back to camp, he immediately resumes his brooding ways. This issue is fine but I wish Owsley would hurry up and get on with the story. He’s dragging everything out too
much, especially the mystery of Solaise’s power. He even has Bahkt get away at the end, then tells us he’ll be back soon to get his revenge on Conan again. Why not finish up with him, since he seems to be a throwaway character anyway? And now we have another mystery, about why Conan’s acting so strange. I hope all this stuff is cleared up soon. Well, at least we’ve got Red Sonja to look forward to next issue.
Conan the Barbarian #196 – “The Beast” – James Owsley/Val Semeiks/Geof Isherwood
This one starts with a dinosaur heading for a town, most likely the town Conan is in (or will be in soon). Not far away, Keiv is manning a checkpoint but isn’t enjoying it much, especially since he’s out of wine. An old woman (who I’m assuming is Red Sonja in disguise) drives him crazy by apparently not understanding him. Simeon manages to communicate with her, which pisses Keiv off even more. When a horde of Hyrkanians zoom past, followed closely by
some other troops, Keiv is about ready to pack it in. Nearby, Conan is reviewing the army of a general named Freja, who isn’t happy about having to submit to the authority of a barbarian like Conan. Meanwhile, the Devourer of Souls finds Bahkt and makes him an offer. Conan and Shapur find Keiv in the village (still lacking his wine) and he tells them about the old hag, the Hyrkanians, and the fact that someone stole the Staff of the Footslave of the Elder Gods from Conan’s tent. The dinosaur shows up in the village and Conan recognizes it as an 
ancient beast, choosing to put it to sleep instead of killing it. He tracks the Hyrkanians who stole his staff and finds Red Sonja. She obviously took the staff just to get his attention, but he doesn’t really give a shit. She realizes he’s in a weird mood and offers to ride off with him to find some loot … a sentiment that appeals to him. In the village, Freja decides to attack the dinosaur even as it continues sleeping peacefully. Naturally, it freaks out and starts rampaging. Elsewhere, the Devourer has corrupted Bahkt’s soul enough to turn his into a monstrosity and send him after Conan. This issue is a bit better than the last one, although not much happens. Freja seems like an idiot and we still
don’t know what’s bugging Conan so much. It would’ve been nice to see Sonja in action, but I guess we’ll get that next issue. The Devourer subplot is getting tedious and now he has yet another minion to send after Conan … I hope Conan wastes Bahkt and the Devourer once and for all.