Some zombie Germans are enjoying beer at a bar and get into a fight. Outside Rock and Easy Company know they are getting close to their objective. A factory with zombies guarding it. They ambush a truck but find it filled with zombies. Yet they manage to take them out. While observing the factory they see that Hitler’s doctor arrives so they know that Hitler can’t be far away. A zombie patrol finds them, and another fight ensue before they get away in the captured truck.
This was another fun issue. Didn’t know zombies could drink beer. Anyway, there was plenty of zombie killing action. They find the factory where they are created. They also find Hitler’s doctor and figure that the big guy himself is somewhere around. A short comic but enjoyable.
Sing and Ju-Long have a discussion on how Ju-Long came to the island. Seems that the German scientist Vogel was working with Von Horn to steal Professor Maxon’s research. He doesn’t know how Arkwright got involved but managed to get a job as his right-hand man. They fight off some of Vogel’s creations and continue on to find Virginia. Virginia meanwhile gets rescued from her Dayak captor by Number Thirteen. Virginia gets reunited with Bulan and a British lieutenant. They also find Sing and Ju-Long. Together they find out that their ship was set on fire by the pirate Muda Saffir. Saffir also has captured Professor Vogel and his notes.
This was an enjoyable issue. We find out some backstory on Professor Vogel and Arkwright. It is tied in from the villain Von Horn from the original novel. They manage to get everyone together only to find the evil pirate has Vogel and his notes. Now they are trapped on the island and Vogel’s experiments may continue somewhere else.
They set it up for another mini-series. I do hope that one gets written. American Mythology has seemed to stop putting out ERB stories. That would be a shame as I really love Wolfer’s writing. Hopefully we will get continuing stories in the ERB universe.
A probe sent by NASA to explore Venus gets hit with a mysterious radioactive anomaly. The probe goes down off the coast of Florida. Oscar Goldmans sends Steve Austin and Rudy Wells to lead the recovery effort. Everything goes fine until a diver gets injured. Luckily Steve jumps in and uses his bionics to get the probe and save the divers from great white sharks. Meanwhile the OSI has decided to scrape funding for the bionics program. They plan to instead go with robot agents. The prototype is given the face of Steve and called Number One.
This is a hypothetical season six for the classic TV show. Like the Bionic Woman they did, I find it so far to be very compelling. It goes back to the Deathprobe the Soviets used to set up the main plot. A subplot also deals with the threat to the bionics program as someone develops a new robot. It has the feel of the TV series and we get stuff like a battle with sharks which could never for budgetary reasons ever have appeared. A fun little blast from the past of my childhood.
“Conan and the City of Magicians Part IV Kheshatta!”
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artists: John Buscema and Ernie Chan
Conan arrives at Kheshatta. He manages to steal some camels from a caravan to gain entry. Only he gets knocked out by someone and finds himself on the slave block. He is surprised when his old comrade Zula manages to buy him. Zula is now a wizard and has taken over his old master’s title and estates. After a bit of playful fun fighting the two comrades make peace. Only a vengeful female wizard decides to send a demon to attack Zula. The two have to fight it to win. Zula will help Conan find Imhotep and rescue him. Meanwhile the army of Kush is approaching the city to make sure it never threatens Kush again with a demon horde.
“The Haunter of the Ring”
Writer: Roy Thomas adapted from story by Robert E. Howard
Artists: Jerry Decaire and George Freeman
King Conan comes to visit his friend Count Trocero. Trocero has married a new girl but there are problems. Trocero believes he is the reincarnated soul of a former evil ancestor who killed his wife. His wife was that woman in the past and is now trying to murder him. Conan figures out that the problem is from an old, rejected suitor who gave the wife a cursed Stygian ring. This ring will compel the wearer to kill the one they love. Now he summoned a demon to get the wearer of the ring. Only Conan managed to slip the ring on the guys finger and the demon comes and takes him.
In this issue Conan finally gets to Kheshatta. He has to sneak in and gets captured and sold into slavery. A surprise to find that Zula has become a lord of the city. There is a fight between him and Conan because Conan doesn’t trust the wizard Zula. Yet they make up and he will help Conan. Ends with the Kushite army approaching. Promises a big action-packed final with all the actors coming together. I really am enjoying this storyline and it builds on past stories that Roy wrote.
The backup is another non-Conan Howard story he adapted to Conan. Once again it is a very entertaining story. It feels like something that Howard would write which of course he did. All his stories I am sure can translate very well into Conan stories. A fun and enjoyable read.
Conan confronts his friend Jorrma after he goes through fire unscathed. Jorrma doesn’t fight Conan but will submit to his judgement. Conan can’t kill his friend and they reconcile. They go to a bar and Conan hooks up with a woman. Jorrma finds out that Hyberboreans are going to raid Conan’s village. They go to fight them, but the Hyberboreans are captured and sacrificed by the evil sorceress. She uses their blood on her monster men to turn them into the Hyberboreans. Conan arrives in time to join the battle with the fake Hyberboreans. His father is killed by the evil sorceress that takes over one of the Hyperboreans. She then turns into a werewolf and leads an attack with other wolves on the village. She kills Conan’s mother. She plans to kill Conan but a magical amulet that Jorrma gave him prevents it.
The story has a bit of a convolution to it. Jorrma retrieved the box from his dead parents burning hut only to find it filled with jewels. Including an amulet with magical powers he gives to Conan. How did he know? Don’t know but maybe will be revealed in future issues. Not really sure why the evil sorceress needed to turn her beast men into Hyperboreans instead of just using beast men. Yet Conan loses both his parents in this issue so we get an origin on what happened to them. It was always hinted at even by Howard that his parents were dead when he left Cimmeria. I suppose this is as good an origin as any. A decent story that keeps you interested in finding out why this sorceress is out to get Conan.
It is 1944 and Hitler listens to his general tell him the grim situation. This angers him and he tears the general’s head off. He demands that a doctor accelerate a Regeneration Plan. Later an American listening post is attacked by German soldiers who are already dead. Sgt. Rock and Easy Company are doing traffic direction when they get a message to report to HQ. There they learn that the Germans are reanimating their dead. They have to find the location where this is happening and take it out. They visit a lab that has captured one of the dead soldiers. This soldier breaks free and only by shooting its head off do they defeat it.
When I heard about them bringing back Sgt. Rock and combining it with zombies, I was intrigued. When I heard that the actor Bruce Campbell was writing, I was very intrigued. From the opening of Hitler tearing off a head with his bare hands I knew this was going to be a wild ride. A real over the top adventure with zombies and Nazis galore. The first issue does a great job of introducing us to the story. What they are planning, and that Rock and Easy Co. are the ones assigned to stop this. I have a deep affinity to Sgt. Rock. He was the first comic that got me hooked on comics all those years ago. The new version stays faithful to the character while updating it to the modern zombie craze. Looking forward to future issues.
Townsend, Virginia, Sing and a Lascar are confronted by the creations of Professor Vogel. They run away to their ship which they find now in the hands of the pirate Muda Saffir. They escape back and run into the British soldiers of Arkwright. Meanwhile Vogel finds Number 13 and tells him that Arkwright is evil and they should find Virginia. Virginia gets kidnaped by one of the Dyak pirates as the monster men attack the British. Townsend goes after the kidnapped Virginia with a surviving British soldier. Sing confronts Arkwright’s assistant who we find out is Sing’s grandson.
This was a fast-paced story. It had plenty of action with the Monstermen, pirates and British soldiers. Vogel is concerned about his creations while his creations are struggling with their new freedom. A big reveal is Ju-Long the guy working for Arkwright is Sing’s grandson. A fun story that keeps the spirit of Burrough’s creation and expanding on it in a realistic way.
The savages have boarded the cruise ship. They start killing the passengers. Wynn goes to look for Rah Rah as Scully gets in a fight with Reynold who overheard that he had an affair with his wife. The first mate decides to start up the just fixed engines which break up the ice. It also tears a hole in the hull and the ship starts to sink. Wynn manages to jump overboard but gets captured by armed men with Coronado patches on. Scully and Trina manage to also escape and with Rah Rah’s help find the trail to Wynn. Only they arrive as a submarine is submerging.
The final issue to this mini-series delivers. It has plenty of action with the savages invading the ship. Plenty of mayhem and also a fight with Reynold and Scully. Reynold gets left behind. The big ending has the reveal of the mysterious sub introduced in the first issue returning. The crew kidnap Wynn and leaves us with this cliffhanger. Sadly, the series was cancelled, and we never did find out the mystery of the submarine and Wynn’s kidnapping. I do hope that sometime in the future Chuck can continue the story. I think IDW is hanging by a tread so it will have to be another venue.
I am glad that the series was revived after twenty years. A really fun and enjoyable post-apocalyptic take on an ice age. I loved the main characters and hope that I don’t have to wait another twenty years to see the continuing adventures.
“Conan in the City of Magicians Part III Drums and Death Out of Tombalku”
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artists: John Buscema and Ernie Chan
Conan and Imhotep are trying to escape from Meroe when Imhotep’s demon horde arrives. Hak-Heru has send them to bring back Imhotep. The demon horde drives off the Meroen soldiers and take Imhotep. Conan now has to escape which he does and continue on to Khesatta. He arrives at the city of Gazal which he knows from a past adventure. A comrade named Almuric told him of his adventures in this old city founded by Kothian exiles. He finds the people completely passive to life. He gets some water and fruit for his journey.
The next day a troop from Tombalku arrives at the old city. They find Conan who is now also passive from eating the food and drinking the water. The commander has a score to settle with Conan for taking a command position from him. He locks up Conan and his men start to loot and pillage from the meek people of Gazal. A guard assigned to Conan takes pity on him and gives him food from his rations. After the commander gets done raping and killing, he decides to get Conan. Only Conan is now himself and they face a lion. Still numbers will win out but an old scholar they burned alive comes back and kills the commander. The magic he unleashed causes an explosion that destroys the invading Tombalku troops. The meek citizens take up arms for vengeance and Conan continues on to Khesetta.
“Murderer’s Grog”
Writer: Roy Thomas adapted from short story by Robert E. Howard
Artist: Ovi Hondru
In a small city state in Vendhya, Conan needs a seal of safe conduct from a hill chieftain to travel safely. A Nemedian woman betrays him, and Conan goes off to drink. The woman has some Silver Lotus put in his wine. This powder makes the drinker want to kill those he has old grudges against. The woman thought that Conan would go and kill the leader of the city. Only Conan has a bigger grudge against her. He kills her lover but the potion wears off. He gets his safe conduct among the hillmen.
Roy decided to explore an old Howard story that was partially written, and he adapted on his first run of Savage Sword. Conan never visited Gazal but gets to in this story. He also has a run in with a character from his adventure in Tombalku. This was an interesting story with Conan being under the drug that saps the will. It had some evil opponents and weird supernatural events. This also separated him from Imhotep and he has to continue his journey alone. Should arrive in Khesatta next issue which should be really exciting.
The backup was another Howard non-Conan story adapted to Conan. Roy was a master at this and I really enjoyed it. It feels like something that Howard would write. Another fun and exciting issue.
It is time for the ritual that all babies of the tribe must endure. Baby Conan is to be left out in the cold for the night. If he survives then he is worthy of life. The men leave him in the woods and have to kill a wolf prowling around. Baby Conan gets this wolf’s blood on him and slides down a hill to the wolf’s cubs. The blood lets the cubs accept Conan and he survives the cold. He grows to a boy and meets an Aesir boy his age while hunting. The Aesir named Jormma and Conan become blood brothers. They go to a city and steal from a tower. They overhear that a group is raiding the Aesir and to protect Jomma’s family the two join the group. Conan manages to spread a rumor that Hyperboreans are raiding and gets the party to abandon attacking Jormma’s family. Only when the two get to Jormma’s hut, the evil sorceress sets the hut on fire. Jormma runs in and rescues a box. Conan thinks that Jormma is a monster for surviving the flames.
I like the idea of exploring Conan’s childhood. We get to see his parents and his life growing up. Cimmerians have a brutal ritual to go through. Amazing that they manage to survive. Conan gets his first friend and the evil sorceress out to get Conan intrigues me. Higgins has done a good job of reinvigorating the series.
Comic book cave of awesome 