3000 years ago, the Hybori armies sacked the city of Kuthchemes. The wizard Thugra Khotan went into a slumber to await the day he would arise and wreak vengeance on the descendants of the Hybori. In the present, Conan is tasked with finding a rebel Stygian prince named Natohk. He takes Red Sonja and Zula along. They reach a small Shemite city state called Yamman. Only the rebel prince has taken over and manage to capture Conan and his men. Natohk has Zula’s former wizard master Shu Onoru on his side. Conan fails to convince the prince to join his side and tries to escape. Shu Onoru conjures the demon Halgor. Natohk also has the Sword that Conquers All. A powerful weapon that melts other swords. Conan is disarmed and about to be killed.
This issue we get a brief but enjoyable recap of the origin of Thugra Khotan. Conan also has a run in with the rebel Stygian prince for the Howard story. Plus, we get to meet Zula’s former master. Roy does a great job of filling in some stuff before the Black Colossus storyline. I am looking forward to his integration into that story. I love his writing and glad that he is back.
Sonja continues her journey to defeat the evil demon king. She crosses a bridge, and a huge blue demon appears. Sonja has a big fight with it. All the while there are quotes from a philosopher who wrote Life and the Sword. Sonja eventually overcomes the demon and destroys him.
This was a much better issue than the last. We get some action, and the story is told with a very minimum of dialogue. It lets the art tell the story. It gets supplemented by quotes from a Japanese philosopher. I can find anything on this philosopher so he must be made up. Still an interesting story and I hope it continues to improve.
Heines and Charlie the two Earth soldiers are now on Barsoom. Dejah Thoris tells them that the Therns now have a hand of ninth material and are conquering both Barsoom and Earth. She teaches the two how to jump on Barsoom. They jump really high and get caught in a net. The net was thrown by other Earthmen and women that have found themselves on Barsoom. Heines also finds his wife. On Earth John Carter is captured by the Thern who transforms himself into a giant ape. Carter manages to escape his cage but now has to fight the green men that follow the Thern.
Wow is this series a big mess. Apparently, the Therns can shape shift. There is a lot of talk about the ninth element hand and a ninth blade. Clearly the guy writing this is not very familiar with what Burrough’s created. The Therns never shape shifted and it is kind of funny to see all these green men on Earth just walking around like they belong there. I will say I am interested to see where this story goes.
Logan is exploring the computer core and finds the possibility of an unknown dome. Meanwhile the cubs have attacked the city looking for food. They don’t find any but take Jessica as hostage. The sandman leader gets a message from the computer that it can help him, but he must destroy Logan. Logan finds out about Jessica and goes to Cathedral. There he challenges the leader and wins. They leave just as the sandmen attack the cubs.
This is the last of Marvel’s Logan’s Run. It was abruptly cancelled as it advertised a next issue, and nothing was mentioned in the letters page. I suppose the studio was doing a TV series and didn’t want the comic distracting from it. Or maybe the sales were low. Either way it is a shame they never continued. The writer was on the right track. So, we will never get to find out the mysterious computer or the possible new dome.
Writer: Roy Thomas adapted from book Conan the Mercenary by Andrew Offutt
Artist: Esteban Maroto
A Kothian noble makes a deal with a Khitain sorcerer to get his youth back. After this he goes off to marry the Queen of Khauran. Conan in Shadizar manages to rescue a noblewoman from brigands. He gets a reward and agrees to be her bodyguard for the trip back. He also hears that her cousin is the queen, and he needs a crowned leader. Only such a person can break the mirror that imprisons his soul. They reach Khauran and Conan gets her to break the mirror. Only it unleashes a demon made from the glass. Fortunately, Conan destroys it.
“When Walks the Living Wind”
Writer: Roy Thomas adapted from Conan and the Gods of the Mountain by Roland Green
Artist: Rafael Kayanan
Conan manages to defeat the golden serpent by setting it on fire. He leads the Ichibaru against the Kwanyi and they seem to be winning. Only the Kwanyi have released the Living Wind. The Living Wind has a mind of its own and attacks both sides. The Ichibaru shaman manages to stop the wind and they win the war. Conan and Valeria plan to make their way to the Hyborean lands.
This issue had adaptations from two books. The first is the middle of a trilogy by Andrew Offutt. Roy did the first and last way back in the old days. For some reason he skipped the middle one and we never found out how Conan got his soul back. Now we know.
The second finishes a novel by Green that has been ongoing for some time. It had a satisfactory ending. Both of these books I would like to read sometime in the future.
Conan, Red Sonja and Zula arrive as part of Almaric’s mercenaries. They get ambushed by followers of Natohk. Sonja spares a young boy who invites her to a meeting in the catacombs. Later Sonja with Zula go to the catacombs and get captured by the rebels. A talking ape appears to the rebels and offers them figurines filled with poison gas. Conan comes with the mercenaries and rescues Sonja and Zula. He stops their plan to poison the mercenaries. Sonja has to kill the boy that she spared earlier.
This was an enjoyable issue. We get introduced to Khoraja and its divided population. A noble upper-class descendant from Kothian adventurers. The lower class a duskier skinned people that resent their rulers and have more sympathy for Natohk. Will be interesting to see how Roy integrates this with the adaptation of Black Colossus, the Howard story he already adapted.
Sonja is on her way to defeat the demon king. She finds a body chopped in two and gets harassed by a talking ape. The ape really gets on her nerves and Sonja tries to kill it. She ends up accidentally killing a deer nearby. Finally, Sonja manages to control herself and hide in ambush. She chops the ape’s head off and continues on her way.
Well, this was a deep issue. Not much happening but I guess there was some sort of moral about patience in this story. Not something I read comics for. I do hope the action picks up or this will really be a long slog. Nice artwork to look at which is a bonus.
People from Earth are getting transported to Barsoom and vice versa. John Carter with his two Earth friends manage to fight off the attack by the green Martians under Eite. Carter jumps on their ship and fights the crew. While his two friends get transported to Barsoom and meet Dejah. Meanwhile the Thern that is responsible for this reveals himself to both Earth and Martian leaders.
This second issue was a bit mediocre. I can’t really say that anything exciting happens in this issue. The idea has some possibilities, but it is not really all that well written. Sort of feels just thrown together on the fly. We will see where this goes.
The city has fallen and now the survivors are panicking. They turn on the sandmen and lock them in the ruins of carousel. Logan is not popular with his fellow sandmen. A rainstorm comes and causes flooding in the city. Jessica convinces the people to release Logan and the sandmen to help them. They organize the survivors into a safe place. Logan looks to find the central computer core and it is under carousel. He goes there and finds something shocking. Meanwhile the cubs from cathedral are coming to attack the survivors.
“The Final Flower!”
Writer: Scott Edelman
Artist: Mike Zeck
On an alien planet Thanos has attacked a holy temple. He plans to destroy a sacred flower to destroy the world’s moral. The Destroyer comes to stop him but has to rescue a woman pilgrim and her child after Thanos throws them off a cliff. Thanos then destroys the flower and escapes.
This is the first story after the movie adaptation. I always wondered what happened after the movie. I mean a whole city full of people that lived a hedonistic lifestyle now finds themselves tossed out into the world to survive. They do a good job of showing the panic of the people. They blame Logan and the sandmen. The sandmen blame Logan. Yet they have to work together to survive. The possibilities to this series are endless. The history of the world. The possibility of other civilizations. The background of the old man. A really cool idea that didn’t get the chance it deserved.
The backup story to fill space was OK. I have no idea who the Destroyer is and thanks to the MCU I do at least know of Thanos. A decent story but I lack the knowledge of the characters to fully enjoy it.
Writer: Roy Thomas based on story by Thomas Lanier (Tennessee) Williams
Artists: Alfredo Alcala and E.R. Cruz
Hundreds of years ago the Stygian king was mad a Set for destroying his bridge across the Styx. So, he extinguished the flame in his temple and made offerings of dead Ibis which Set abhors. The people were scared of Set’s vengeance and the priests and nobles rallied them against the king. The mob killed the king, and his sister Nitocris ascended the throne. She planned revenge and built a huge temple. She invited the priests and nobles that lead the mob for a feast. After they feasted, she sealed them in and flooded the chamber drowning them. Then committed suicide to avoid the wrath of the people.
In the present Conan is in Shem and rescues a young girl. He takes her to a rundown home where the mother is tried to marry her off to a noble. She has two treasures the diamond tear of Nitocris and crystal figures called the Crystal Concave. Conan is later hired by the noble to steal these. While doing it some creatures come and take them and the young daughter. Conan goes after the two Stygians a brother and sister who led the cult of Nitocris.
Conan tracks them to the temple where they plan to use the figures and diamond to revive Ctesphon III the king of Stygia. The king is actually the girl Nefta who Conan and Belit had adventures with. The sister plans to take over the king’s body and rule Stygia. Only Ctesphon goes into the sister’s body and the mother who is a witch arrives. They turn the Crystal Concave who represent the nobles drowned into giant crystal figures. Nitocris also returns as a crystal figure, and they destroy each other. The crystals are shattered, and the three women have to share one body. The daughter is a bit simpleminded and wants to put back together the crystal figures.
“The Universal Appeal of Conan”
By Bill Baker
An interview with two Conan actors of the Univeral Studios Conan show.
Leave it to Roy Thomas to dig up an obscure story by a famous writer and turn it into a Conan story. The story was written by Tennessee Williams as a teenage and sold to Weird Tales the same publication that Howard wrote Conan for. This was before he was famous and adopted the name Tennessee. The story was the first part about the vengeance of the queen in ancient Egypt. A very Poeesque story with revenge and people getting entombed and drowned. Thomas did an excellent job of giving us a fun Conan story to go along with this. Plus, the interview with the Conan actors. Wish I could have seen the show back then. I’m sure it was fun. A really great issue.
Comic book cave of awesome 