It’s always a fun time when a new Howardverse story finds its way across my desk (especially when Jim Zub is involved). This month I got three for the price of one, as Jim Zub and Matthew John deliver two new tales of everyone’s favorite Cimmerian, Conan, while Joe Pruett closes things off with a fantastical tale of the pirate queen, Belit. It’s an adventurous journey through strange and terrible places in the Hyborian Age, sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Let’s dive in.
*Mild spoilers ahead for The Savage Sword of Conan #14*
Jim Zub and illustrator Ivan Gil open the issue with a familiar scene: a black-haired, sullen-eyed man charges into battle, followed by a fearsome host of warriors ready to cut down their foes without mercy. The battle is brief, though fierce, and the drinks enjoyed around their fires that night are well earned by all. Their revelry is cut short, however, when one of the watchmen suddenly calls out to Conan, claiming to have seen a caravan in the distance. There is nothing there now, and Conan doubts the man’s insistence that it was not just a trick of the dawn light or the result of too much drink. Nevertheless, their moment of revelry has passed, so the group sets off in the direction the man had pointed to see for themselves whether he spoke the truth.
After a time, they do indeed come across a caravan, seemingly abandoned in the desert. The only trace of those who accompanied it are footprints leading off into the desert. This arouses Conan’s curiosity. Why would they abandon the riches of the caravan to walk to their inevitable doom in the desert heat? Choosing three of his companions to accompany him, Conan sets off after the footprints, determined to uncover the mystery. They journey for a time, until they reach a point where the footsteps simply stop. A troubling discovery, but not as troubling as what happens next.
Without warning, the desert gives way beneath them, mercilessly swallowing them into its sandy depths so quickly they can do nothing to fight against it. After countless battles with all manner of foes, the Barbarian from Cimmeria has finally met his match in the cruel apathy of the desert sands.
Except….
They suddenly find themselves falling, coming to a stop in a cool body of water somewhere deep beneath the surface. There, they find themselves before a vast underground city of pristine marble, warmly greeted by beautiful women. Is this the afterlife? Conan isn’t so sure. As marvelous as the city appears on the surface, something about it troubles him deeply, and he sets out to uncover the horrific truth beneath its pristine exterior.
Being the longest of the three stories presented in this anthology, “Dwellers of the Oasis” is also easily the most fleshed out, with its longer narrative providing room for Zub to build slowly towards the climax so it feels earned rather than handed to us. This is particularly effective in setting up the primary foe Conan finds himself going up against. Even before the group finds themselves swallowed by the desert, there’s a sense that something is wrong. The caravan that disappears, the strange absence of its people and the trail of footprints leading ominously off into the desert…it sets up a feeling of eldritch horror that perfectly sets you on edge for the rest of the story.
For fans of the original Robert E. Howard stories, there’s also a fun connection to the deeper lore. While this story is an original work by Zub, it also serves as something of a sequel to the 1934 story “A Witch Shall Be Born.” Fret not if you haven’t read this story, though, because it is not required to understand what is happening here. It’s just a fun connection that some are sure to be excited by.
Following this extraordinary adventure, Matthew John presents us with a written tale from the Barbarian’s storied life. This too finds Conan underground, though rather than shining towers of marble and scantily clad women, Conan and his companion Nestor find themselves in a flooded sewer tunnel filled with the remains of the sacrifices made by the acolytes of the Spider-God. It is these sacrifices that have brought the pair here. Not because they hope to save the unfortunate virgins set to be butchered by the acolytes, however. No, they’ve come to steal the jewels adorning the corpses. A task that should be simple, given their skills. Of course, everything quickly goes wrong, as things often do in these types of stories, and the pair find themselves trapped in a flooded chamber with a terrible serpentine monster prepared to add them to the host of floating corpses littering the chamber.
This work of prose is particularly interesting as it is written not from Conan’s perspective, but rather that of his companion, Nestor’s. Because of this, it allows readers to place themselves into the story, watching Conan’s actions through his eyes similar to how we would while reading a comic or watching a movie (Schwarzenegger, of course). While it is the shortest of the three, it certainly isn’t lacking. It’s full of action and stakes, complemented by a lighthearted ending that ties neatly into its beginning, providing a nice sense of closure. I was honestly disappointed when it ended, not because it felt unsatisfying, but because I wanted to see where the story would go next.
Being the only one of the three to not feature artwork, the story relies on John’s prose to bring it to life, which he does fantastically. From the griminess of the flooded tunnel to the desperate battle with the monster, his words paint a picture. Whatever was happening, I could see it as clearly as I could the artwork of the other stories.
Finally, Joe Pruett and illustrator Goran Sudžuka bring us along on a journey to an uncharted island with the pirate queen Belit. The island is seemingly uninhabited, though the single scout that returns speaks of an unseen danger in a temple that claimed the lives of his companions. Undeterred, Belit takes a small party ashore to see this temple for herself. As the scout said, the bodies of the two fallen men lay lifeless upon the floor just inside the entrance. Fearless as ever, Belit strides boldly into the temple, ready to face whatever force slew her men. She does not meet her demise here, but the two men that immediately follow her do, causing her to instruct the others to remain outside as it appears only she can enter the temple unharmed. A fact confirmed to her when a woman suddenly appears through a side passage, revealing herself to be the goddess Althea. A goddess who has spared Belit not for altruistic purposes, but rather for a sinister reason that could be the end of the daring woman.
This was personally my least favorite of the three stories. Not because Belit is a lackluster character; she certainly isn’t, nor was the premise uninteresting. What ultimately made it fail to land with me was the shortness of the story. It made the events feel rushed, and while the conclusion isn’t completely unearned given Belit’s established character, it also doesn’t provide as satisfying a payoff as it could have had the story been dragged out a bit more.
Even so, it’s not a bad story. The concept of a pirate queen encountering a goddess on an uncharted island is a fascinating premise, and, given the limited space it had to play out, it did provide a full story. It just could have used a few more pages to really build up to the finale.
Overall, this was a fantastic issue that I had a ton of fun reading. Each story provides exactly what you would expect from this genre while also remaining distinct, as much because of the subject matter as the unique style and tone of each writer. There are similarities, of course, as is prone to be the case with tales of swords and sorcery, but these feel less like a matter of copy-and-paste and more of just staying true to the world they take place in. A world that only continues to excite as its tales grow.
The Savage Sword of Conan #14 is available now from Titan Comics.
