Conan Reviews: Conan the Barbarian 193, Conan the Barbarian 194

Conan the Barbarian #193 – “Shedu” – James Owsley/Val Semeiks/Geof Isherwood

This one starts with Conan and Anneka taking a break from Irham’s campaign against Emperor Strabonus for a little skinny-dipping. They’re interrupted by some soldiers who remind Conan they have to keep checking Irham’s defenses and shoring them up against the inevitable invasion. Back at Irham’s castle, he’s watching Conan through his wizard’s crystal ball and wishing he could’ve killed Conan instead of hiring him. But the Devourer of Souls has plans for Conan and Irham isn’t brave (or stupid) enough to defy him, something he’s reminded of when the Devourer shows up. The wizard summons Xuthl, the Master of the Evil Dead (and becomes Xuthl’s snack), who the Devourer asks to provide him with the host of Shedu, promising a favour in return some day. In the town of Bhoraji, Kaleb arrives to check the readiness of a military outpost before Conan shows up. The soldiers are bored and rebellious since they’ve had nothing to do in years, so Kaleb has to pound some discipline into them. The Devourer shows up and unleashes the host of Shedu, but it isn’t for Kaleb … it flies off to find Conan. The host takes over a peasant to try to scare Conan, but he’s not one to back down from threats, even supernatural ones. The host takes over his men, who try to drag him off a cliff to his death. Conan gets free but can’t stop the host from taking over Anneka’s body and threatening to kill her. Meanwhile, Kaleb takes Solaise to the Temple of Mitra to shelter her from the Devourer, but he follows and kills the temple priest. The Devourer knows Solaise has some special power, as does her father Kaleb. The Devourer taunts Kaleb until he decides to fight back. Conan chases after the Shedu, finding them inhabiting the bodies of warthogs. They tell him they killed Anneka, so Conan slaughters most of the animals and follows the wraith-like Shedu as they fly away. He catches up to them by a hillock that now seems to be controlled by the Shedu. This is a pretty good issue, although nothing much really happens. It’s interesting that Anneka tells Conan she loves him and then ends up dead (although I think the Shedu could be lying about killing her). It seems like women have a very short life-span when they’re around Conan, so maybe that explains why he doesn’t want to get too involved. I’m not sure what’s up with Kaleb and Solaise and the Devourer, but I’m getting tired of that storyline, so I wish it would hurry up and end.

Conan the Barbarian #194 – “Victory” – James Owsley/Val Semeiks/Geof Isherwood

This one continues from last issue, with Conan riding the moving hill as it barrels through the forest and rolls down into a lake. At the Temple of Mitra in Bhoraji, Kaleb fights the Devourer and does pretty well for himself, suggesting that the Devourer is right when he says Kaleb is hiding his true identity. In the catacombs beneath the temple, Solaise is frightened by the sounds of battle and flees further underground, where she hears a voice calling for help. Conan swims free of the Shedu but instead of heading for the surface, he goes through an underwater tunnel into a cave network, where he meets a very strange man. At the temple, Kaleb is confronted by visions of his past when he was a priest of Namut in Aesir. We learn that Kaleb is actually older than he looks, maintaining the illusion of youth somehow. We also find out that Solaise’s mother was a woman who sought help from him when he was a priest and died giving birth to his child. He was driven out by the other priests when they found out. The weird guy Conan meets turns out to be the footslave of the Elder Gods, who claims they placed almost limitless power into a cat ages ago and charged him with guarding it, but now it’s missing. Conan doesn’t care about the cat, he just wants revenge on the Shedu for killing Anneka (even though the footslave points out that Conan doesn’t really love her). As Kaleb and the Devourer fight in the temple, Solaise finds the cat that contains the Elder Gods’ power, which unleashes a torrent of energy, destroying the temple. The Devourer realizes Solaise is more powerful than he thought, but Kaleb kills him by impaling him on the statue of Mitra. The Shedu spit out Anneka alive and well, but before Conan can get his vengeance, they’re destroyed by lightning that Conan figures came from Crom himself. Solaise and the cat (Sedrick) reunite with Kaleb and everything is fine apparently. This is a weird way to end the storyline, especially since it doesn’t really answer anything. We still don’t know exactly what’s up with Solaise except that she has some kind of connection to the Elder Gods, which is apparently reinforced by her finding the cat … but what’s the point of any of it? Is the Devourer really gone, or just banished temporarily? I prefer Conan stories that are more earthbound; I don’t mind a bit or sorcery with the sword, but this is way beyond anything Robert E. Howard ever wrote for Conan.