The Savage Sword of Conan #118 - Marvel

Since today's my birthday, I've been doing bday-themed posts on all my blogs(of I which have approximately fifty-seven of), so I thought I'd talk about the one other issue of SSOC that I bought on vacation with my family in the Poconos.

The small town not far from our cabin(the sprawling metropolis known as "Hawley") had a host of newsstands, gift shops, and tobacco shops, so I was exposed to a wider variety of comics than I was via my local 7-11s at home(Charlton Comics?), so I frequently would stray from my usual JLA/Brave and Bold/Batman buying habits and pick up something else.

This issue came out in August 1985, so I was fourteen by then. And while I had occasionally read more adult material than this, I generally didn't buy many comics with nubile bikini-clad wenches on the cover. Joe Jusko's exciting and sexy painting assured I would spend the necessary $1.50 to bring this home.

The story is "Valley of Howling Shadows" by Larry Yakata and Gary Kwapisz, and hits the ground running, with a pack of men chasing after Conan who has just stolen a golden chalice. He of course escapes by the skin of his teeth as the men plummet off a crumbling cliffside. That's our Conan!

Conan heads to the nearest village, and picks up a comely lass, but wakes up to find a second group of pursuers have found him. He gets the drop on most of them but the young girl proves she is good with a knife and helps the barbarian out of his jam. Conan and the girl(Shameel) ride off, all the while Conan has been having odd hallucinations.

One thing that is not a hallucination however is a nightmarish creature that has the body of a lion, wings, and the head of man that they encounter that warns them off from entering the valley. The gang of brigands Conan has "picked up" along the way are terrified, but Conan takes it all in stride. He's heard there's gold in thar hills, and no reject from a Ray Harryhausen film is gonna stop him! Of course, as they sleep, the brigands plot to kill Conan and take all the gold for themselves--good plan.

They make their way into the valley and discover a truly nightmarish scene--men being tortured, and women being, uh, taken advantage of by a horde of horrific demons. The big reveal happens over a two-page spread and I think its only because of Kwapisz's fairly clean art style that this got by in a Marvel comic. Sure, SSOC was always a little more adult, but what with the severed heads, poked-out eyeballs, and a naked woman being gang-attacked by horrible demons, this is image is way more out there than anything you'd image Marvel publishing. Still, it's laid out in such a way that a lot of the depravity pictured went right by me as a kid.

Just as Conan is trying to take all this in, a giant, ten-foot-high monster(as seen on the cover) attacks Shameel, and Conan attacks it, finally slicing open its belly(eww). The brigands discover jewels inside the creature, and they start to dig into its stomach searching for treasure!

They continue down the valley, and are warned by two faceless husks in cloaks, telling them to stay close to each other. Some of the brigands don't listen, and they abruptly vanish as they ride behind Conan and Shameel. When they enter an area shrouded in mist, we find two of the brigands' heads stuck on pikes.

They finally find the temple said to have the gold, and Conan finds some of his party have gotten there first and are picking the bones of the dead for the treasure. Conan wants no part of this and then he is attacked by someone named Gundar, is who Shameel's true love who she lost many years ago. She ditches Conan to be with him, and Conan decides this whole is wack so he drops all the treasure and heads out. Shameel decides to stay behind with Gundar, just as the temple collapses onto itself, trapping everyone inside. Serves 'em right, by Crom!

After a Conan pin-up there's a second story, "Alchemy" by Don Kraar and Tony Salmons, which is a great, terse tale of an alchemist thisclose to being able to create gold. The only problem is he double-crossed Conan to do it. A great little tale told with high style by Salmons.

All told, an excellent issue--both stories are fun and exciting, yet tonally and visually very different. I rarely--if ever--saw SSOC at home so I never got the chance really to keep up with it. Too bad, since this issue was certainly worth every penny!