Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, your local spinner rack is once again showcasing another brand new issue of SSOC!
Sixty-four startling pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint paper!
Inside this magazine you will find the following:
Art pin-ups:
The Nemedian Chronicles by Gerardo Zaffino
Conan the Barbarian by Jesus Merino (Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King)
Conan the Barbarian by Luke Eidenschink
Conan the Barbarian by Leonardo Manco (Slaine: Dragontamer)
CONAN: MASSACRED MEMORIES by Jim Zub and Nicola Scott
Hydal aka Hydallan (Conan's childhood friend from Conan the Barbarian (2023) #3) gets an origin story.
Flaskback! A young Conan kills a wild boar with a small pocket knife.
Conan mentions Padrac (from Conan the Barbarian (2023) #2).
Lyolf (from Conan the Barbarian (2023) #13) trains Hydallan.
Conan disrespects Lyolf by mentioning that his teacher's best days are behind him.
Battle of Venarium. The Aquilonian fort is now in the hands of the Cimmerians.
Conan leaves his tribe behind (from Conan the Barbarian (2023) #0)
Erianne village. Hydallan marries Una, Una dies in childbirth as does her baby.
An army of the dead attacks Erianne.
The skull-clad priest of Thulsa Doom makes a Black Stone Citadel/Fortress rise from the earth.
The survivors are caged within the fortress.
Conan frees the prisoners (from Conan the Barbarian (2023) #3).
Mago and Tormey die.
Hydallan falls in the soul stealing pool of Emerald Water and drowns.
Hydallan is transformed into a Battle Axe swinging servant of Thulsa Doom.
STEVE CORCORAN: THE GHOSTS OF WAHPETON by Jim Zub and Chris Campana.
We get a recap of The Vultures of Wahpeton by Robert E. Howard.
Gunman Steve Corcoran has just killed John Middleton (sheriff of Wahpeton Gulch) and Glory Bland (his love interest) is dead. Steve sees The Woeful Eye in the firmament, a Spanish speaking guide (an homage to EC Comics' Vault-Keeper?) of Thulsa Doom appears out of nowhere and scares Steve's steed away.
In the middle of the desert, the guide makes Steve fall into a BLACK STONE fissure, dying of thirst, Steve drinks Emerald Water (last seen in the soul stealing lake in Conan the Barbarian (2023) #3) from a container, Steve refuses to serve evil... to be turned by the green liquid into a sacred guardian of Thulsa Doom... Steve puts his gun to his temple.
Steve is back in the cave behind John Middleton's cabin... where the ghosts of the people he killed are waiting for him.
ZULEIKA: THE WARRIOR WITHIN by Jim Zub and Sean Izaakse
Zuleika the Circassian from SKULL-FACE by Robert E. Howard gets an origin story.
In Stamboul, a young Zuleika meditates and discovers (just like James Allison from The Valley of the Worm) that she was a warrior (Zani. A Sax Rohmer homage?) in a previous life in the Hyborian Age of Conan.
Yun Shatu brings Zuleika to his Temple of Dreams where Zuleika meets The Scorpion/The Son of the Ocean/Kathulos of Egypt/The Tyrant-King of Atlantis/Thulsa Doom.
Thulsa Doom probes the mind of Zuleika, but Zuleika is able to hide Zani's existence from the Atlantean necromancer. In the Hyborian Age, Zuleika takes over Zani's body.
What I did like:
We get to see Brissa of the Gurian tribe.
The Vultures of Whapeton was adapted back in 1991 by David C. Smith, Steve Gan & Marcus Boas for CCP (Conquest Comics Press).
Covers by Nick Percival and Joe Jusko!
Joe Jusko draws Jody Samson's Atlantean Sword!
What I did not like:
Killing a delicious wild boar and not eating it.
The HEROIC PIN-UP CONTEST does not get you a paying gig!
No Whapeton vs Wahpeton as parallel worlds, the different endings of The Vultures of Wahpeton are not utilized for the sequel. Disappointing!
The editor is not doing his job.
Hydal gets retconned. As seen in Conan the Barbarian (2023) #4: Hydal aka Hydallan clearly flees with Conan, he does not drown in the Emerald Water!
How does retconned Hydal escape from the crumbling Citadel? Who cares?
Who is the skull-clad priest of Thulsa Doom? Who cares?
Gerardo Zaffino is not credited.
Corcoran uses the f-word. Completely classless.
Killing a character (Corcoran) created by Robert E. Howard should not be permitted!
Thulsa Doom was never known as "The Unblinking Eye". Shuma-Gorath is The Unblinking Eye.
Savage Sword issues should feature MULTIPLE WRITERS. Let other creators have a crack at Conan. This mag needs more NEW writers! The more the better!
Zuleika does not appear on any of the covers!
No letters page!
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?
I give it a 7/10. To be continued in Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King #1. Only three tales by one writer. I remember when the Annual Event issue of Savage Sword had eight pin-ups and stories by FIVE different authors.
