Short Story Sunday 23: The Frost-Giant’s Daughter (Reading Conan 08)

Robert E. Howard

Two weeks in a row of Conan? Yes! Somebody give me a medal and a cookie.

“Rogues in the House” by Robert E. Howard

Last Conan version of the story published in 1976.

We begin on a windy plain high up in the north. Two warrior are fighting. They are the last two standing after a fierce battle. One of them is Heimdul, the other is Conan.

After defeating his opponent, Conan is now exhausted with the exertion of battle. He is visited by a nearly nude woman of great beauty. She teases and taunts the tired warrior, causing him to lust and hurry after her.

She leads him on a chase and soon draws him into an ambush. Conan stands face-to-face with the woman’s giant twin brothers. Roused by his passion for Atali, the beautiful woman, he defeats the giants and the pursuit continues. While Atali grows tired, Conan continues to be stirred on by her alluring figure and provocative words.

Short Story Sunday 22: Rogues in the House (Reading Conan 07)

It has been a long time since I wrote about Robert E. Howard’s Conan. I’ve been meaning to write stuff for the blog more often this year. If you’re reading this in 2020 you know the kind of year we’ve had. If you’re reading this from sometime in the future, then I would like to apologize from bringing up the horrors we went through.

Suffice to say that it’s been too long since my last time hanging out with the Cimmerian. Long ago my goal was to read all of the Conan stories written by Howard and write something about each one as I go along. Unfortunately, since writing about each story requires time and effort, the project stalled a few years ago. Recently, I’ve been taken by the Conan bug again (lucky for me it wasn’t another altogether dangerous bug, yes more dangerous than Conan) and decided it was a good idea to give this another go.

Another reason to pick up this project again is that I’m looking forward to reading Conan in physical medium. The edition I’ve been reading so far is an ebook compendium of all of Howard’s Conan stories. I also have the three-volume set edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It found it randomly in my local used bookstore and, liking the covers and having always wanted to read these stories, I picked it up. I didn’t find out about how well-regarded they are by fans of Howard and Wagner until after I have purchased them. They do not collect all of the stories, mostly the later ones. I’ve got a three or four more to read as ebooks before I start reading the Wagner edited volumes. That’s extra enticement.

Short Story Sunday 11: The Pool of the Black One (Reading Conan 06)

It’s only been a few short weeks that I’ve been reading Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. There have been highs and lows, and after only six stories I’m feeling Conan fatigue. If I’m being honest I think it’s overall blogging fatigue as bumping up my posting schedule to two posts a week is starting to take its toll. Finally reading these stories has been an interesting experience. I find the stories vary in quality to such a degree that you never really know how much you’ll enjoy the next story. My thought is that these earlier stories might be the worst of the lot but I’ll only know for sure once I’ve read them all. For now though, I think I need a little break from Conan as this story proved once again that the quality of the stories fluctuates significantly.

“The Pool of the Black One” by Robert E. Howard, originally published in Weird Tales (Oct. 1933)

Off the west cost of Zingara and in sight of the Barachan Isle, a woman is sunbathing on a ship. Without warning Conan rises out of the water and climbs aboard. He’s accosted by the captain Zaporavo who is immediately threatened by Conan’s sheer physical size. He has a right to feel that way since Conan plans on taking command of his ship. He doesn’t act on it yet, instead he begins making friends with the crew so that even if their captain doesn’t care for the Cimmerian, the crew will.

Short Story Sunday 10: The Slithering Shadow (Reading Conan 05)

After last week’s disappointing story “The Black Colossus” I’m happy to say that the next Conan story by Robert E. Howard is much better. It has a simple plot, but because of its eerie and atmospheric execution along with its underlying mystery and near complete focus on Conan, it ends up being one of the most enjoyable of the first five Conan stories.

“The Slithering Shadow” by Robert E. Howard, originally published in Weird Tales (Sept. 1933)

Conan finds himself in the desert accompanied by his female companion, Natala. They’re the last survivors of Prince Almuric’s army. They’ve just run out of water and their situation looks bleak. It’s not long before Conan spots what appears to be a city in the middle of the sun scorched dunes. Naturally, they head towards it. Immediately upon arrival, things aren’t what they seem, and Natala starts to worry. Conan is more practical and after a bit of searching they find a room in which a feast is laid out. There are no diners in sight. Famished and thirsty, Conan eats his fill.

Short Story Sunday 09: Black Colossus (Reading Conan 04)

“Black Colossus” by Robert E. Howard, originally published in Weird Tales (Jun. 1933)

Out of the Conan stories I’ve read so far, this is easily my least favourite. It was painful to read it. The plot read like a draft version of “The Scarlet Citadel” and the descriptions of people and places are endless and quite distracting. Robert E. Howard has undeniable skill when it comes to the use of descriptive language to set the mood and create atmosphere. It just so happens that sometimes he misses the mark and ends up describing things needless for pages on end. Since I started this project I’ve always been slightly worried that some of these stories would be duds. I didn’t expect to encounter one so soon. “Black Colossus” is a bore with a few nice moments tucked into the story. Sadly, those nice moments just aren’t numerous enough or good enough to make this story worthwhile.

The story opens with a thief who breaks into the tomb of a long dead wizard named Thugra Khotan. Soon after entering the treasure room, the thief encounters the awakened wizard and dies at his hands. Miles away and what surely must be weeks later (though it’s never clarified in the story), Yasmela, princess of Khoraja, is having a nightmare. Natohk, the Veiled One, is threatening to destroy her kingdom and capture her for himself. He and his armies are near Khoraja and it won’t be long until he can act out his threats. In the hopes that he will aid her, Yasmela pleads to her god who tells her to go out in the city and request the aid of the first man she encounters. The first man she meets is Conan. He is already a member of Khoraja’s army and she asked him to take command of the kingdom’s forces. Conan agrees. He will fight for Yasmela and Khoraja as long as they continue to oppose Natohk and his hordes. Conan sets out to meet Natohk’s force and the story ends in a large scale battle.

Short Story Sunday 08: The Tower of the Elephant (Reading Conan 03)

“The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E. Howard, originally published in Weird Tales (Mar. 1933)

This is the earliest original Conan story that I recognized by the title alone. That’s because I’ve read one of the comic book adaptations, the one originally published in Conan the Barbarian #4 by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Sal Buscema. I’ve actually written about that particular issue in my review of Conan Saga #2 which collects issues #4-6 of Conan the Barbarian. Unlike the two previous stories, I was pretty familiar with this one and I was looking forward to see how the original telling by Robert E. Howard would differ from the comic book version. Overall, not a whole lot in terms of plot, but the execution was better.

A young Conan is in the City of Thieves in the country of Zamora. He’s spending his evening in a tavern where a man is talking of the riches and jewels tucked away in the Tower of the Elephant. Conan mentions that the tower looks unguarded and it must be an easy target for thieves. He questions why no one has tried to steal from the tower before. Soon the exchange of words becomes an exchange of fists and a brawl takes over the tavern.

Short Story Sunday 07: The Scarlet Citadel (Reading Conan 02)

“The Scarlet Citadel” by Robert E. Howard, originally published in Weird Tales (Jan. 1933)

This tale begins in the middle of a battle, set during the time where Conan is king of Aquilonia. He’s consolidated his military strength with the neighbouring kingdom of Ophir to defend their lands from the conquering king of Koth, Strabonus. Soon it’s revealed that the battle was a trap and that the kingdoms of Ophir and Koth are conspiring together, with the hopes of destroying Conan. They’re aided by the sorcery Tsotha-lanti and Conan ends up in chains. He’s tossed into Tsotha’s citadel, inside a dungeon filled with ancient and evil horrors.

In the dungeon, Conan manages to free himself from his chains. There, he encounters strange evils. They range from giant snakes to demon toads. Surprisingly, the giant snake is the least terrifying of all these creatures. After he frees another prisoner, a sorcerer called Pelias. Together they manage to escape from the dungeon. Now free, Conan moves his focus to recovering his kingdom from the tyranny of Tsotha’s evil. Pelias aids him, and Conan finds himself thrown about by the wills and desires of sorcerers and magics he doesn’t understand. He survives the final confrontation on the battlefield, but not solely because of his skill and might as a warrior.

Reading Conan 01: The Phoenix on the Sword review

Conan the Cimmerian is on the same level of recognition and popularity as other important figures of literature from the early 20^th Century such as Tarzan and Batman. Because of this, his original adventures and an immense amount of derivative works have permeated the pop culture landscape for several decades. Until earlier this week, I had never read any of the original Robert E. Howard Conan stories. Despite this fact, I’m pretty familiar with the character because I’ve seen both movies from the 80s starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and I’ve read about 30 or so issues of the Marvel comic Conan the Barbarian by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor Smith. I even reviewed a few of those issues in their Saga of Conan reprints. You can find them here and here.

Needless to say, I’ve always felt like a bit of phoney because I knew of the original Conan stories and I also knew how easily accessible they are, but I never took the time to read them. I say no more! No more of this foolery. I have a lovely eBook collecting all of Howard’s stories, novellas, and novel in a single edition. It was also dirt cheap ($4). I’ll be reviewing these at the rate of one or two stories per week for the next few weeks. I’m not sure if I’ll need a break or not at some point, but for now I’m enjoying myself immensely so I might be able to review them all in relatively quick succession. Here we go, with the first ever published Conan story.

“The Phoenix on the Sword” by Robert E. Howard, originally published in Weird Tales (Dec. 1932)

Conan Saga #2 review

Conan Saga #2 published in June 1987
Reprinting Conan the Barbarian issues #4-6 published in 1971


The first story, "The Tower of the Elephant" is based on one of the more well regarded Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. The cover of Conan Saga #2 is of Conan climbing the tower. It's pretty good but not as good as the first Conan Saga cover. The colours of the tower along with the jewel look don’t work for me. I like the idea, but it doesn’t really work visually. In this story Conan is in a city of thieves and he is surprised to know that nobody has ever succeeded in trying to steal the Elephant's Heart jewel from the famed Tower of the Elephant. The jewel and the tower belong to a powerful wizard named Yara and the jewel is rumoured to have granted him immortality. Obviously, Conan attempts to enter the tower and steal all that he can. He is aided by Taurus of Nemedia, the prince of thieves. 

This is a great story and what makes it so good is not the thieving, it’s the mystery of the tower and what Conan finds there. Sure, the thieving is good too. There are ferocious lions and a giant venom spewing giant spider various other death traps and it’s all very exiting but what Conan finds at the heart of the tower gives the story all its power. Barry Windsor-Smith’s art very dynamic here and he does a very good job capturing the strange aura of the Tower of the Elephant.

The second story, "Zukala's Daughter" is inspired by the poem "Zukala's Hour" written by Robert E. Howard. Conan is passing through a small village in Zamoria and encounters some trouble. Conan is hired by the village to free them of the tyranny of the wizard Zukala. Some good ol' sword and sorcery action happens. 

The third and final story is titled "Devil-Wings Over Shadizar". Conan arrives at the city of Shadizar. He joins a fight between two thieves and ends up with their stolen goods (this is a fun little cameo of Fritz Leiber’s sword and sorcery duo Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser). He goes to a nearby tavern and flirts with a barmaid and before he knows it he's mixed up with fanatics of the local cult: the cult of the Night-God. It’s a pretty good story even though there are no mysteries, no real twists and turns. You know where the story is going for the most part but Thomas's old styled dialogue and narration accompanied by Windsor-Smith and Sal Buscema's art makes it an entertaining ride. The Night-God is superbly drawn. It’s just a giant bat but Windsor-Smith knocks it out of the park. The simple black and white somehow makes it seem much more frightening than it should be. I’m not sure Conan the Barbarian was originally published in colour, but if it was I have a feeling the bat would have been coloured in brown muddy colours which I believe would have ruin the effect. Look at that image, it’s fantastic! Something so normal but increased innumerably in size ends up as a terrifying monster for Conan to defeat.

There was an interesting evolution to Conan the Barbarian from issues #1-6. The first two issues have a more cartoony style. The lines are thicker and the backgrounds aren't as detailed. There were also fewer panels in the first two issues; the panels averaging out to about five panels per page. Issues #3, 4 and 5 are adapted from specific stories by Howard and maybe because Thomas and Windsor-Smith were adapting they had to squeeze in more panels. Issue #6 seems to follow in the footsteps of the adapted stories and the artists use narrower lines to convey more realistic figures and backgrounds while Thomas fills the panels with words. It’s unfortunate that Thomas seems to want to adapt one Robert E. Howard story per issue. Some of these stories could benefit from having more room to breathe. It’s even more unfortunate because Thomas has a habit of being wordy and the caption boxes and speech bubbles occasionally overcrowd the art. While Thomas still seems to be adjusting to an authorial style on Conan the Barbarian, Barry Windsor-Smith and Sal Buscema (his most frequent inker) has settled into a nice artistic style that suit Conan and his world rather well. I look forward to reading more of these issues, if only to find more art by Windsor-Smith. 

Conan Saga #1 review

Conan Saga #1 (published in 1987) reprints material previously published as Conan the Barbarian issues #1-3 (published in 1979-1971). Included are various supplementary materials such as a rather detailed map of Hyboria and a short essay on the visual imagination of Robert E. Howard titled "Wind Chimes in Hyboria" written by Alan Zelenetz. More extras included comprise of the original covers of Conan the Barbarian in black and white and a black and white version of the cover of Conan Saga #1. Finally, there is a sketch on the inside back cover depicting a large winged beast from the first story flying towards Conan and a seemingly nude women in his arms. Each issue of Conan the Barbarian is written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith with Dan Adkins and Sal Buscema as inkers or "embellishers". The whole thing is lettered by Sam Rosen.

The most enjoyable thing in this first reprint issue is Barry Windsor-Smith's art. It’s well suited to Conan's world. His anatomy and musculature are top notch. Conan doesn't have the muscle build of the Hulk, it's all pretty realistic. Windsor-Smith gives him a very toned and muscled body comparable to real-world athletes and that suits the Cimmerian just fine. The stories in this collection all take place when Conan was still a young man and again, the artist demonstrates this in the way he draws Conan.

I'm not too well versed when it comes to talking about art and I haven't read piles and piles and comics that harken from the seventies and so it's difficult for me to talk about why I like Barry Windsor-Smith's art. I just finished looking at the pages for a few minutes and the only thing I can think of to say is that his art looks like a more realistic style of Jack Kirby minus the crackling cosmic energy elements. But writing that I don’t think that’s accurate. There is a lot of movement and action in these issue and Windsor-Smith makes you see the action and feel it, too. It's a visual feast of fantasy action! I'm going to have to work on this because Barry Windsor-Smith did much more art on Conan the Barbarian and I plan on reviewing more of these since I’ve got a decent sack of Conan Saga.

Roy Thomas is an author I'm not too familiar with. I've read a few Avengers issues of his and I enjoyed them but I can't really name anything he's written which is a bit of a shame since he's done a lot of work for Marvel for years and years. He’s also no stranger to Conan. He’s written dozens of issues of various Conan titles and he’s also co-written the script for Conan the Destroyer with Gerry Conway.

The first two stories in this reprint issue are not adaptations of specific stories by Robert E. Howard. In the first story, "The Coming of Conan", our hero is in Vanaheim and he's become a mercenary fighting for the Aesir in their war against the Vanir. Conan is captured by a shaman who wishes to use him in one of his magic rituals. It's not a really engaging or entertaining story but Barry Windsor-Smith draws it with verve and energy. 

In "Lair of the Beast-Men", Conan is in Aesgaard and, again, he gets captured except this time it's by large ape-like men. They take him to their hidden city below the ground where they want to make him a slave. Conan resists this and in doing so he inspires the "manlings" (descendents of enslaved men that have been born into slavery and have never seen the sun). Thomas tells a good story that sheds some light on the importance of freedom and how it relates to a man being "truly" alive. 

"The Grey God Passes" is the only story based on a story by Howard. Conan fights in a border war and witnesses the work of the Grey God. For some, he is Borri the god of war but for all, he is death. Aided by the Choosers of the Slain, twelve beautiful women riding winged horses, the Grey God collects the souls of mighty men and rings them through the mist. It's a pretty good story, with a god, vengeful kings, war, treachery, lost love and Conan fighting in battle with nothing more than a rusty chain, surviving the battle and witnesses the work of the Grey God. 

There’s more to this Marvel Magazine than the reprints. There are also the extras and I enjoyed them. It's nice that the original covers were includes and I particularly like the inclusion of a black and white version of the front cover. The cover of Conan Saga #1 is by a more mature and skilled Windsor-Smith than what can be found in the reprints. Part of me wishes it’s this older artist who would have drawn these issues. His cover is just excellent. I love the slightly strange colouring, the fearsome Conan, the wall behind him and the scattered armour and skulls. I also like that this scene obviously takes place somewhere cold or during the winter season because of the snow on the ground. Conan's got a heavy cloak but he doesn't even seem to feel the cold standing there with bare shoulders, torso and legs. If I ever saw such a thing in real life I'd be absolutely terrified and I'm certain I would remember it vividly until the end of my days.

It's a one page visual feast. I can't help but wonder what the scene depicts. Is the wall the wall of a village? Conan looks protective, is his protecting the inhabitants of the village? If so, against who? If he is protecting the village I can't imagine the skulls were there before he arrived. Maybe Conan's been at his post for several days already and he's started to use scare tactics against the ennemies trying to infiltrate the village. I bet you Conan stole a weapon and a shield from a fallen foe from the armour and weapons at his feet and that’s why he’s got a sword along with an axe. Look at his weapons, they're clean, there's no blood on them. The colouring suggests that the sun has just recently risen and Conan's gone out to meet his opponents. He, one man standing alone against a many, is ready before they are. His hands and his weapons are clean. He probably cleans his weapons at the end of every day of battle. His cloak is over his shoulders and out of his way in order not to impede his movements. It's undoubtedly cold but he's not there to stand around warm and cozy. He has a job to do. Conan's face is serene; he knows he will survive this. He knows he'll be the victor and that the village behind him will remain unmolested because he held his guard.

That's the freaking story I wanted to read in these reprinted issues! Instead I got some good run of the mill sword and sorcery tales. It's not all bad though, the art was pretty good throughout except for the occasional awkward pose of facial expression. Overall this is something any fans of Conan could enjoy. As a side note, it's weird that the essay included in this issue of Conan Saga focuses on a comic book adaptation of Howard’s story “Red Nails” since it doesn’t appear in any of these reprinted issues. Still, the way Zelenetz talks about, I really hope I find that comic adaptation someday and get a chance to read it.

Bigger is better when it comes to Barry Windsor-Smith drawing Conan.