Restin Dane has come to get Vampirella so he can defeat the Chaoschild in another realm. The Danse Macabre had some issue with Dane. Yet they are soon having to join forces because armed dinosaurs have invaded. They manage to defeat them. Then Dane with Vampirella go to the Chaos realm and start a general rebellion.
This was an OK issue. It hits you with a lot of stuff but does have a story that you can follow. Oh yeah and Dracula is revealed at the end as a prisoner.
Conan has gone to Khitai to hunt for the liver of the grizzly bear. He finds it and has to fight off some rival tribesmen. Along the way he meets an old swordmaster Sennan. Sennan has sold his soul to the dark god because he couldn’t defeat a Zembabwean and this wounded his pride. Now he wants to be free and needs Conan to kill him. Conan does but he disappears before he can carry it out. Along the way he fights the dark god Akema and a vengeful nobleman that Conan scarred.
“The Sea King”
Writer Charles Dixon
Artists: Val Semeiks and Mark Schultz
In and underwater city a wizard that Kull tossed into the sea has found worshippers. His severed head extols them to attack Kull as he visits the coast. These fish-men attack but are driven off. The fish-men decide to toss the severed head to an octopus.
This was bit of a mixed bag. The story was all over the place. Yet I found it interesting, and it had some beautiful artwork. As for the Kull story it was another excellent Dixon backup.
Conan and Fafnir rob the local dragon temple. They make off with a bunch of gold and a mirror. The priests are relieved that the gem for the mirror is still hidden under the statue. At the fence they sell the stuff and Conan gives the mirror to the shy daughter Nadine. Later at night she is looking at the mirror and the soul of the evil sorceress Thazarra takes over. Thazarra dresses up sexy and looks for thieves to steal the gem. She also drains men of their life force.
Conan goes out to look for her and is attacked by some thieves. They want the gem that they think he stole. This just gives Conan the idea to go back and steal it. The next night Conan with Fafnir and Nadine go to the temple and steal the gem. Conan puts it in the mirror, and this releases Thazarra for good. Only Conan threatens to kill Nadine’s body and forces Thazarra back in the mirror. Soon after the other thieves lead by a woman named Marta come. They threaten Nadine’s life, so Conan gives her the mirror. Thazarra takes over Marta just as the priests come. A fight ensues and Thazarra runs into a trap that cuts off her head and kills her. Conan, Fafnir and Nadine escape as the priest kill the thieves.
Well, this was a fun story. Conan and Fafnir doing some thievery and getting a cursed mirror. Goes back and forth with the sweet Nadine being possessed by the evil Thazarra. Ends with the thieves and Thazarra getting killed. A fun exciting story with some beautiful artwork. A good solid issue.
Mark has to leave Comic-Con so he can rescue Sergio from Chula Vista. Sergio meanwhile is trapped in the snake house. To escape he jumps out the window and into a dumpster. He is forced to get out of his soiled clothes and wear an old racoon pelt. Back in Pal-Ul-Don, Tarzan and Groo face off with the slavers. The two enter a fray that easily defeats them. Tarzan tells Groo that they need an army and Groo goes off to get one. Tarzan thinks he decided to leave and takes his prisoners to the nearest village. There he warns the inhabitants to leave while he goes to the slavers camp. He captures the leader. Sergio has trouble getting anyone to stop when the park opens and help him. He does get his picture taken and posted on social media. This is how Mark knows what happened to Sergio. An activist looking to close down the park approaches Mark about using the plight of Sergio to accomplish this. Mark has to go back to Comic-Con to host more important panels. Groo and Rufferto make it back to the village of Ungara to recruit an army. The village is not happy about Groo returning.
“Rufferto”
Rufferto imitates a leopard to scare some monkeys. Only a real leopard is right behind him.
This issue has Tarzan and Groo meet. Both think the other is strange and Groo is mystified by the mysterious thundersticks of the slavers. Interesting that Tarzan knows Groo’s language. Anyway, a real fun issue with plenty of humor including at the expense of Sergio. Absolutely love this series.
The evil fascist saurions of the Varanid empire are taking prisoners to Terminal Market. Inside the wagon is Turok who let himself get caught. He smuggled weapons and a key so he can escape. He uses two other prisoners to cause a distraction. When he gets to the prison he breaks out and starts to free the other prisoners. This is a distraction but doesn’t work. The guards shoot a dart into his neck and knocks him out. Fortunately, the two he teamed up with managed to grab his pistol. They shoot the guards but now they have to deal with the prison overseer. He comes in riding a T-Rex named Karkaro.
“Doctor Spector Part 2”
Spektor needs rent money and gets a job from someone. A rich kid unleased the Demon Paimon. Spector has no trouble banishing this demon and collecting his money.
The first of this Turok and I have to say it is somewhat of a disappointment. This whole world doesn’t look at all like the lost land I know. The dinosaur-men look ridiculous, and the Nazi symbolism is a bit heavy handed. Turok was also changed from a Native American to a black guy. I suppose he might have 1/16th Cherokee but a strange race swap for a character. A simple story that so far fails to intrigue me.
As for the backup feature it sucks just like all the other Spektor stories suck. This dumb loser millennial has zero likability. Not a really good start to this series.
Reston Dane is traveling in his time ship when they come on an alternate reality that has strong necromantic energy. While this happens, Vampirella and a team from the Danse Macabre attack an abandoned factory in Massachusetts. A sacrifice is going on to a dark god. Back to the Earth that Dane finds, and it is one nasty place. He finds some demons in a dump truck hauling dead human bodies. They are attacked by the resistance and Dane finds out about this world. That the Chaoschild used Vampirella to give birth to his form. Now he controls the planet and is assembling an army of dinosaurs to conquer other realities. Back in time, Vampirella and company interrogate a captured demon from the raid and find out that Chaoschild will rule all. Suddenly Dane appears looking for Vampirella.
Harris had acquired the characters from the old Warren comics. This series is meant to introduce the Rook. This Rook is very different. He wears some advanced suit and flies around in a tear dropped shape ship called Slough. No leisure suit or castle shaped craft. It involves this nasty evil that is the personification of chaos. It manages to enter the world through Vampirella. So far, I find this an interesting story. A story filled with colorful characters and an intriguing premise. Looking forward to this interpretation of the classic Rook character.
Conan is leader of the Kozaki and raids a caravan taking a princess of Iranistan to be a concubine to King Yezdigerd. Conan’s hetmen want the girl for themselves but Conan is going to ransom her. The girl Serena doesn’t want to be a concubine but stay with Conan. The three hetmen plot among themselves to get rid of Conan. Meanwhile at Fort Ghori the satrap is being pressured by the king to get the Kozaki or be replaced by Shah Amurath. The satrap goes to a priest of Tarim who is secretly a worshipper of the Black Circle. He offers some black magic to help, and he gets a hawk.
Well, the hetmen plot and one dies in a duel with Conan. The other is convinced by the weasel guy to kidnap the princess. Conan goes after him and rescues her after killing the kidnapper. Only he gets captured by the Turanians. The princess manages to free Conan and they escape through a swamp. The satrap sets his magic falcon which turns into a demon. Conan defeats it and comes to his camp to warn of an impending attack. The weasel guy is now in charge and Conan challenges him. With daggers dipped in snake venom they fight and naturally Conan wins. He defeats the Turanians and the satrap gets executed for his failure. Conan keeps the princess as his own woman.
“The Prince of Thieves”
Writer: Charles Dixon
Artists: Val Semeiks and Walter Brogan
A group of assassins infiltrate Kull’s palace. At the same time a thief also enters. The thief runs into the assassins and runs into Kull in his bath. A fight ensues with the thief helping out. Kull in gratitude allows the thief to leave with all he can carry.
This was an interesting story. One from Conan’s Kozaki days. The writer drops some Howard stuff like the Black Circle, and it is sort of an introduction on how Shah Amurath gets his position. The Kull story was another excellent backup feature. A good read on this snowy Sunday.
Conan is camping out in the Zamoran hills when a young boy that has been following him decides to make his move. Conan easily disarms him and finds out the boy is out for revenge. Conan killed his three brothers in battle. Conan tells the boy to leave and learn some skills. The boy wants Conan to teach him. In return he will help Conan recover the Jeweled Sword of Tem. He takes Conan to a sorcerer that is imprisoned in a castle and needs the sword to escape. Conan can have the jewels. He gives Conan directions to the Dark Angels tomb located far in the north.
Conan and the boy strike out. They battle wolves and snow apes. They reach the tomb and find it has two beautiful women, one blonde the other brunette trapped in ice. The boy gets the sword and turns on Conan. Yet the sword being active also frees the two women. They fry the boy and Conan manages to grab the fallen sword. It protects him and he defeats the women. He decides that the sword is too dangerous to leave, and it incinerates the bodies of the two women. The boy is dying and begging Conan to kill him, but Conan decides not to.
This was a fun change of pace. Having Yakata give us on of his stories. It had a cool quest for a sword and some beautiful but deadly women at the end. A bit uncharacteristic for Conan to kill women but his survival was at stake. Also, a fun idea to have this brat kid turn on Conan. I wasn’t getting good vibes from him in the beginning and his end was justified. A good solid story.
Sergio is chased by a lion as Mark goes for help. The sole employee is leaving because it’s his time to quit. Mark can’t get the police because they are at Comic-Con dressed as zombies. Mark also has to get to Comic-Con because he is on many many panels. Fortunately for Sergio the lion chasing him is friendly. Sergio decides to emulate his hero Tarzan and sleep in the tree for the night. There he has dreams of Tarzan.
Tarzan has tracked the slavers to Pal-Ul-Don. They take a shot at him but miss and Tarzan escapes into the trees. He tracks them to their camp and manages to steal many of their rifles during the night. He wonder thought how he will stop the slavers without an army.
In Ungara, the people are trying to hide all their food including the rancid stuff. They are too late as Groo and Rufferto come and start to eat everything. The village gets their two greatest warriors to try and chase off Groo. Naturally Groo easily best them and this little fray gets him in the mood for more. He attacks all the warriors and decides to follow the World’s Greatest Cheese Dip sign into the mountains. The villagers are ecstatic since no one has ever returned from these mountains.
Groo follows the path to a cave that leads to a strange land. He manages to hunt a gazelle and eat it. The smell of the food brings Tarzan. Tarzan has never seen such a strange creature. The smell has also brought the slavers. While back in Chula Vista, Sergio loses his cell in the stomach of a hippopotamus. An unfriendly lion chases him into the reptile house. Only all the cages are broken and he is now trapped with snakes.
“Ruffferto”
A one-page strip that has Rufferto lost in tall grass. He sees a giraffe and climbs up its neck to find Groo.
The second issue is another brilliant one. Sergio is lost in Chula Vista and has his own goofy adventures. Mark decides that Comic-Con is more important than rescuing his friend. Tarzan finds the slavers and also finds Groo. Ends with a big fray between all three coming up. I love how Yeates and Sergio can combine their artwork so seamlessly. A real fun series that pays homage to both Tarzan and Groo.
Magnus travels back 50,000 years to the place where the Lost Valley exists. Using his machine, he manages to bring all the times together at the same time. He meets Samson and Andar in the future with the bone keys. Using them they manage to save time from the black blob creature. Only stuff is altered like Magnus is now a woman and the other Sovereigns are also different. Samson retains the memory but is now in an altered future world.
“Doctor Spektor Part 5”
Writer: Aubrey Sitterson
Artist: Dylan Burnett
Dr. Spektor is attacked by some demons that he owes money to. Luckily a Frankenstein monster that is his roommate comes to help him out.
Well, this series comes to an end. Apparently, its purpose was to show why these classic Gold Key characters changed into the new woke versions. A bit of lazy writing to have Magnus just travel in time and use his machine to set everything alright. I was expecting something different and am a bit disappointed in the series. Got it for the upcoming Turok and I have a feeling that that won’t be very good. Oh well you got to try new stuff now and then. Knowing what I know now I think I wouldn’t have bothered with this series. Don’t really recommend it.
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