Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, your local spinner rack is once again showcasing another brand new issue of SSOC!
64 startling pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint!
Inside this stunning magazine you will find the following:
Terrific art pin-ups:
Conan the Barbarian by Thomas Nachlik
Conan the Barbarian by Fernando Dagnino Guerra
CONAN: TATTERED WINGS chapter 1: Mirrors of the Soul by Liam Sharp
Conan and his Hyrkanian mercenaries have been hired to rescue the "kidnaped" son of wizened warlord Marrik Ban Torr.
Shemu, Batu and the rest of Conan's comrades get taken out by unseen Wolven (wolf-men) slingers.
Conan gets tapped twice in the head and passes out. Conan wakes up the next day and builds a funeral pyre for his fallen friends.
The ancient Bel-Karun, Uruk-Tah and another guard escort Conan to "the aerie" to meet the Master of the forgotten Fortress of Ekur-Gal: King Anzu-Kur, the bird mage of the Black Pinions... who is a twin of Conan.
Refusing to be fettered, Conan knocks out his look-alike, Uruk-Tah and the other guard.
To hide in plain sight, Conan decides to don his doppelgänger's "swifting" feathered armour.
Lady Athalia (a young Zamorian) thinks that Conan is her lover Anzu-Kur.
Old Bel-Karun explains to Conan that his people are trapped between dimensions, that Conan crossed into a between-space, that Athalia is warlord Ban Torr's wife, that The Wikka is a female goat-mage and that the Wolven are interdimensional looters.
CONAN: TATTERED WINGS chapter 2: Masks of the Spirit by Liam Sharp
For an unknown reason King Anzu-Kur desires Ban Torr's mystical mirror of Nisroch (eagle's head), which was stolen from The Wikka.
The Wikka saves Conan from a Wolven. The Wikka wonders if Conan is the opposite of his mirror image.
The Wikka brings Conan to the Wolven's cache of stolen artifacts and valuables.
Decades ago, a younger Ban Torr had stolen from the Wolven the stolen mirror of Nisroch.
The mirror can reveal the future. Ban Torr saw his reflection being murdered by his wife Athalia and much later by his own son!
The Wikka thinks that the mirror of Nisroch can help everyone break free of the between-space.
In exchange for the mirror, Ban Torr asked Anzu-Kur to take his mariticidal wife.
In exchange for the mirror, Ban Torr asked The Wikka to take his patricidal son.
Once he saw his reflection being murdered by Anzu-Kur (or was it Conan?) and Anzu-Kur conquering all of Hyrkania, Ban Torr decided to keep the mirror for himself.
Did Ban Torr send the Wolven to kill his possible Cimmerian assassin and his men? The Wikka confesses that she used an enchantment to protect Conan during his first encounter with the Wolven.
CONAN: TATTERED WINGS chapter 3: The Shards of Time by Liam Sharp
Conan and Ban Torr's son arrive at Ban Torr's stronghold.
Ban Torr refuses to give the mirror of Nisroch to Conan as compensation.
Enhanced by his "swifting" armour, Conan swiftly dispatches 29 (He didn't think it too many) of Ban Torr's bodyguards.
Ban Torr hands over the mirror and pays Conan his money.
Conan removes his "swifting" armor (because it was slowing him down. LOL) and meets with his "brother" Anzu-Kur. Anzu-Kur swears to Conan that he had nothing to do with the killing of his associates. Regardless, Conan terminates Anzu-Kur and smashes the mirror of Nisroch to smithereens.
WAS IT ALL A DREAM? A concussed Conan regains consciousness. Nergüi, one of Conan's mercenaries informs the Cimmerian that thanks to him they were able to rescue Ban Torr's son.
Athalia reaches her husband's stronghold... unaware that she has become an elderly person like her husband. No, it was not all a dream.
CORMAC MAC ART: WOLVES & WITCHES by Ron Marz and Danny Earls
With their ship sunk and crew lost, Wulfhere Hausakliufr the Skull-Splitter (a giant red-bearded Dane) saves his friend (the Gael outlaw Cormac Mac Art aka The Wolf) from drowning. In a dream, Cormac fights a witch for the life of Wulfhere.
What I did like:
Green Lantern and Death's Head II Easter eggs appear on page 31.
Liam Sharp is already working on a follow-up to "Conan: The Wuthering" (Savage Sword of Conan (2024) #8).
Conan's shield is an homage to beloved British book illustrator and painter: Barry Windsor-Smith.
The Talakma Mountains from The City of Skulls by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter mentioned.
The Mountains of Night and the Wuhuan Desert from The Return of Conan by Björn Nyberg mentioned.
Hyrkanian City of Mounds (Kakaba) are ancestral burial grounds.
Mitra and Flame Lord Erlik mentioned.
Secunderam (city in Turan from The People of the Black Circle) mentioned.
A Lost Horizon (James Hilton) homage.
The humour and the badassery.
Cormac Mac Art (drawn by Rafael Kayanan) appeared way back in Conan the Barbarian FCBD 2023.
I remember the 1990 Cormac Mac Art mini-series by Roy and Dann Thomas.
A letters page!!!
Stories by other authors!!!
The cover by Alex Horley is an homage to Frank Frazetta and page 38.
Women appear in both stories.
The verb Cloy is used as a noun.
Ban Torr's son is playing "hoop and stick".
What I did not like:
Where's the Thulsa Doom Tribute issue of The Savage Sword of Conan to honour the memory of James Earl Jones?
Still no Miraaj in The Savage Sword of Conan, after all these years, she deserves an origin story.
Needed more pin-ups!
Women do not appear on any of the covers.
No removable poster in the middle of the magazine! When are we getting a pull-out poster of the Robert E. Howard Group Shot by Rafael Kayanan?
The editor is not doing his job.
It is hails not hales.
Words are missing in the Cormac speech bubbles and in the table of contents.
I give it an 11/10. Liam Sharp’s Cimmerian epic (48 pages + a painted cover!) is truly a mind-blowing tour de force and Ron Marz uses his Power Cosmic to bring back Pirate Cormac Mac Art out of comic book retirement. Support Liam, Ron, Danny, Thomas, Fernando and Alex and the Savage Sword! Buy! Buy! Buy!
