Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, your local spinner rack is sporting another brand new issue of SSOC!
62 mind-rendering pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint!
Inside this pulpy magazine you will find the following treasures:
A Pin-Up of Conan by Gerardo Zaffino
KING CONAN: THE ENSORCELLED, PART III: The Woods of the Witchbreaker by Jason Aaron and Geof Isherwood
The Witchfinders aka The Brethren of the Briar find a caroling Conan leaving the Graaskal Mountains (splitting Hyperborea and Brythunia).
The leader of these Witchfinders/monks introduces himself as Father Flail.
Flail is looking for Xyleena. Conan lies that he has already iced the witch.
Conan notices on the back of one of the monks... the sword of one of his Black Dragons of Aquilonia. The monk confirms that they killed his Dragon. Conan breaks the monk's back against a tree.
The Witchfinders grab Conan and remark that he has been marked/burned by Xyleena.
Conan is perplexed by these seemingly immortal monks and Flail's tremendous might.
To educate the King, Flail puts Conan in a trance.
Flashback: Unlike his filicidal father, Flail genuinely succeeds at learning magic. To avenge his siblings, Flail burns his father to a crisp. Flail decides to rid the world of sorcery by becoming the greatest of all sorcerers.
Back to reality, Flail "smells" some of Conan's previous encounters with magic:
Natohk (The "Veiled One") from Black Colossus
Xaltotun, High Priest of Set from The Hour of the Dragon
Thoth-amon from The Phoenix on the Sword
The Black Seers of Yimsha from The People of the Black Circle
The Crimson Witch of Razazel from Conan the Barbarian #1-12 (2019)
Salome from A Witch Shall be Born
Conan grabs the sword of his fallen Black Dragon and cleaves Flail in two. The mad sorcerer heals himself instantly and melts the Dragon sword.
The Witchfinders let Conan escape on a horse.
KING CONAN: THE ENSORCELLED, PART IV: The Grey King and the Green Witch by Jason Aaron and Geof Isherwood
Conan rides back up the mountains to Xyleena to warn her that the Witchfinders are after her... and that Flail is a sorcerer himself.
Conan is positive that Flail is using the same magic as Xyleena. Conan had a vision, he saw Flail drain a multitude of witches of their life force to increase his own power.
Xyleena suspects that Conan may have a soupçon of magic in his own blood.
Xyleena and Conan try to destroy one of the monks, they cannot... only the Green Goddess can.
The Green Goddess finally answers Conan's profanities/prayers and grows him a sword capable of wasting Witchfinders.
KING CONAN: THE ENSORCELLED, PART V: A War of Witches by Jason Aaron and Geof Isherwood
The rest of the monks arrive at Xyleena's den of magic.
Birds and white grizzlies attack the Brethren of the Briar. Flail incinerates the bears. Xyleena comes out of hiding and tries to kill Flail. Flail reminds Xyleena that vegetation, like flesh can easily be set alight.
Conan, decorated with magical spells, severs one of Flail's hands with his Green sword. Xyleena and Conan kill a couple of Witchfinders.
Conan splits Flail in two once more. Flail decides to burn the whole mountain down. Flail shatters the Cimmerian's magic sword. Xyleena reminds Conan THAT HE IS THE WEAPON, that magic runs through his veins.
Conan transforms his arm into a stake. The King punctures the heart of Flail. The baddie blows up. The explosion releases the souls of the drained witches. The witches want to offer Conan wisdom from beyond the veil, he turns them down. Xyleena and Conan make love.
Conan eventually leaves Xyleena and returns to his son Conn and kingdom. Xyleena keeps her pregnancy secret.
KING CONAN: THE ENSORCELLED, EPILOGUE: Legacy of the Witch by Jason Aaron and Geof Isherwood
Many years later. Conan's son, KING Conn aka King Conan II mentions to grizzled Black Dragon bodyguard Tarquin that he doesn't want to be late for the execution of Fabiano of Brythunia.
Local villagers are claiming that witches have returned to the mountains of Graaskal, that they are now lead by a massive, fearsome young wizard.
Remembering the words of his now vanished (in the unknown lands beyond the Western Ocean) father, Conn decides to bypass the mountains, to leave the witches be.
Conn doesn't put two and two together that the mountainous man in the distance is actually his younger half-brother.
CONAN: MADNESS ON THE MOUND a short story by Matthew John with an illustration by Tom Raney
A sequel to The Frost-Giant's Daughter aka The Gods of the North.
Conan is still with his Aesir buddies: Niord, old Gorm and heavy Horsa.
Conan takes them south to find the village of Fafnir (Niord's cousin).
They reach the Aesir settlement, but only elderly villagers greet them. All the young hunters have gone.
Frode, a crazed 9 year old boy, appears, he mentions Vanir chief Thorfinn Red Beard, trees, light and sending help.
Niord has to find these lost Aesir fighters, he needs more men, he's lost too many in the ambush that occurred in Frost-Giant's Daughter.
Conan spots blood on the trail. An unnatural pink light paints the sky. They stumble upon a fallen meteorite.
All rooted to the fallen star, Aesir and Vanir are now dead tree-things of flesh and wood, they mindlessly attack our heroes.
Horsa and Gorm die.
Conan and Niord burn the transformed Thorfinn and others.
The rock from another world tries to assimilate the Cimmerian by getting one of its snaky roots into one of his wounds.
Conan and Niord run back to the village.
The boy, Frode, now fully infected, has killed all the remaining villagers. Niord torches Frode.
A storm is getting under way, Conan and Niord burn what they can. In the one shelter they left standing, nervous to see what will happen next, they decide to cool their heels for a little while.
DARK AGNES: THE HEAD OF SAINT DENIS by Michael Downs and Piotr Kowalski
Another ally of Agnès de Chastillon gets taken out. In a virgin swamp, Agnès dispatches her pursuers. With the deed done she finally rests, but cannot sleep, she starts having macabre visions. She remembers her brutish father and tales of haunted forests.
The moon is stuck in the firmament.
Agnès believes that the Captain of her pursuers: Renault de Valence (henchman of the Duke d'Alençon) is hiding from her. Agnès fails time and time again to catch up to the fiend.
Agnès calls to Saint Denis of Paris, a holy helper.
The cephalophore appears to Agnès and commands her to Repent.
Agnès stands up to the apparition and tells the patron saint that she repents nothing.
The moon gets unstuck and Étienne Villiers arrives on a stolen horse to pick up Agnès.
What I did like:
The Ballad of Dark Agnès poem by Robert E. Howard.
A devil from the Outer Dark from The Vale of Lost Women mentioned.
Nameless Old Ones from The Phoenix on the Sword mentioned.
Conan of the Isles referenced.
Beyond the Black River mentioned.
The Mountains of Night from the Return of Conan mentioned.
Skull Gate from The City of Skulls mentioned.
Yezud the City of the Spider God in Zamora from Conan the Barbarian #13 (1971) mentioned.
Yanyoga from Shadows in the Skull mentioned.
Mitra, Atali and Ymir are mentioned.
Geof Isherwood is at the top of his game.
Jason Shawn Alexander's cover is clearly an homage to Sláine.
H. P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space homage.
Scott Smith's The Ruins homage.
The Thing (1982 film) homage.
Women appear in all 3 stories!
Next issue, for the very first time, legendary writer Roy Thomas will team up with artist Roberto de la Torre!
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?
The cover by Alex Horley looks amazing, but where is Xyleena?!
Women do not appear on any of the variant covers! Disrespectful!
Marshes have almost no trees.
No removable poster in the middle of the magazine!
No variant cover by Cédric Poulat.
No variant cover by Rodolfo Pérez García.
No variant cover by KyuYong Eom!
No variant cover by Derrick Chew.
Needed more art pin-ups! More!
No pin-up by Matteo Scalera.
No pin-up by Benjamin Marra!
No pin-up by Fran Galán.
Still No essay by Fred Blosser!
No advert for Tim Waggoner's upcoming novel: Conan: Spawn of the Serpent God!
No advert for Tim Lebbon's upcoming novel: Conan: Songs of the Slain!
No advert for Shaun Hamill's upcoming novel: Solomon Kane: Suffer The Witch!
No advert for the upcoming Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone special edition action figure based on the art of Rob De La Torre!
Still NO letters page!
I give it a 9/10. Another fantastic issue! The Savage Sword? More like The Savage SORCERY of Conan. Am I right or am I right? This is how you chronicle days of high adventure! Again, I encourage all of you to support your favourite barbarian by purchasing this phenomenal mag! Go buy it! You're looking for the prefect holiday gift for your significant other? This is it.
It would be nice if we could see an exclusive Subotai story written by Mr. Pipeline Gerry Lopez in an upcoming issue of SSOC!
