The Chronicles Of Conan Volume 11: The Dance Of The Skull And Other Stories [Paperback]

If you are a hardcore fan of Conan - or are a newbie to him - then do yourself a favor and collect all of thse excellent classics reprinted beautifully and updated to give new and old fans collected editions to relive yesteryear in awesome classic fashion.

Dark Horse just sent me the next volume in this terrific series: The Chronicles of Conan Volume #12, The Beast Kinf og Abombi And Other Stories. A collection of one of the greatest drawn and told storylines by the illustrious Roy Thomas and artist extrodinaire, John Buscema, (RIP, Mr. Buscema, my all-time favorite Conan artist!), and also the ever-skillful illustrator, Ernie Chan.

I remember reading these back in the 70's, along with these and Joe Kubert's Tor and awesome classically done Tarzan series, I loved and preferred these type of comics over Superman and Spiderman and Batman, due to their more fantasy-based and savagery world-building that was a more heady and primal reading experience that superheros gave to me.

These collections are timeless, and still stand up to today's standards. Written and drawn back in the latter part of the 70's, Conan was reaching it's pinacle in both storylines and illustrations, right up until issue #100, the untimelt death of Conan's love, Belit. (I dug her much better than Red Sonja.)

Pirates, beautiful babes, savage monsters, and even more savage men, along with fantastic imagery in a bloody and action-packed fantasy series and hero that transcends time, The Chronicles of Conan collection will surely satisfy readers of both comics and paperbacks until the wee hours of the morn...

Conan ventures deeper into the most nasty part of his world to rescue his lover, making a powerful friend and an even more powerful enemy, in this superb collection of graphic stories that originally appeared as issues of Marvel's "Conan The Barbarian" comic book #82-86 and #88-90, published in 1977-78.

Though it's Conan's first time here, Stygia has already been a focus of the Conan series, a land of cruel wizards where snakes (Conan's least favorite reptile) slither freely through crowded market streets. So it's not an easy place for Conan to visit, and writer Roy Thomas leans heavily into the mythos of Conan creator Robert E. Howard to draw this out. In the process, he and the Marvel artists deliver a remarkably consistent series of interlocked adventures, full of sharp twists, told with both clever brio and subtlety.

The book begins with a two-part adaptation of one of Howard's best non-Conan adventures, "Black Canaan". Conan is riding to a city where his lover, the pirate queen Bêlit, is supposed to be, only to be waylaid by a juju cult that wants to turn him into a prize crocodile. "Black Canaan" in its original form is one of Howard's most uncomfortable stories, in large part because it so brilliantly plays up the racial conflict at work in the American South. Here Thomas sidesteps the race question by setting the story firmly in the swampy outskirts of Stygia, getting instead at the atavistic heart of Howard's story, of the beast that lies in the heart of man. With the art of Ernie Chan and Howard Chaykin providing menace in every shadow, you get a non-stop page-turner.

One reason "Black Canaan" is such a solid starter is the way its theme of evil spells and double deals sets up the rest of this book. Conan returns to the hawk city visited in Vol. 10 to discover Bêlit absent and himself a prisoner. He breaks free with the help of the fighter-mesmerist Zula, a slave he uneasily befriends. Then they're off to Luxur, the capital of Stygia, to find Bêlit.

These five issues for me represent a high point for the whole series. John Buscema is back as the artist, and the rest seemed to have invigorated him. One two-page splash of the entire city of Luxor as seen at night from overhead is a jaw-dropper, coldly ominous under the gaze of giant stone pythons. "There are places I'd rather meet my maker," Zula muses.

The rest of the story lives up to that scene. The high point of the whole series might be when Zula and Conan find themselves in water about to be fed to the amorphous "Devourer Of The Dead", a nasty critter even by Conan's high standards. Reaching for any kind of support, Conan grabs a floating sarcophagus...and I got the surprise of my comics-reading life!

Zula's presence leavens an element of the Conan stories I have difficulty with, the magic side. I prefer Conan hacking and thinking his way out of things than relying on the fellows with the wands and pointy hats, but Zula is a more grounded, likeable guy for whom magic is simply a means of leveraging tools the average man doesn't understand. He and Conan make a good team.

Then there's the other character who enters Conan's world directly here for the first time, evil mega-wizard Thoth-Amon. When he appears for the first time, the image is just of his feet treading a flagstoned hallway, setting up a sense of impending dread. Thoth-Amon is so powerful, he is kept away from Conan and company for the most part, sizing them up for future conquest. He takes his measure of Stygia with dreadfully fun bad-guy lines, like: "Avert your rheumy eyes to the floor, counselor, ere I turn you into a leprous toad, and thus improve your looks!" Greetings, evil sir, and welcome!

The final issue collected here, #90, is a one-off adventure that links to the Stygia story, about a giant skeleton found in a cave beside a jewel-crusted belt. It's a decent but totally predictable Conan adventure, yet after the rich feast of the prior seven issues, almost a welcome rest stop from the ride we are on. From here, we're off to Bêlit's final, legendary chapter in Conan's life. Vol. 12 may hold that prize, but Vol. 11 gets you on the journey in style.

The Chronicles of Cona Vol. 11 contains the conclusion of the Asgulan epic wherein Belit returns to her kingdom. These stories are some of the best action/adventure stories created by Thomas, Buscema and Chan for the Conan series. They're smart and fun, with pure storytelling dripping from every page. The coloring is excellent in this volume (IMHO). Pick up Vol. 10 first if you want to start the Asgulan story but you won't have much problem enjoying the stories contained in this volume. Great stuff.

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