Customer Reviews

The Chronicles of Conan, Vol. 3: The Monster of the Monoliths and Other Stories

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"The Monster of the Monoliths and Other Stories," Volume 3 in "The Chronicles of Conan" reprints issues #14-15 and 17-21 of Marvel's "Conan the Barbarian." Actually, the term "reprint" is not exactly accurate because beyond allowing us to enjoy these classic comic books without taking them out of the protective plastic in which they are sealed, these issues have been recolored using computers to make them even better (clouds and shadings are not big time fun). True, I thought they went a bit too far when they colored the epilogue of "The Black Hound of Vengeance" (#20), but overall the effects are quite impressive, especially since the paper stock in this Darkhorse publication is of vastly superior quality to what these stories were printed on back in the early 1970s.

Basically "The Monster of the Monoliths and Other Stories" can be divided into three sections. First, there is the two-part adventure involving Robert E. Howard's Conan of Cimmeria and Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone. Conan meets up again with Zephra and her father, the wizard Zukala from issue #5. The two sword and sorcery heroes from different words meet and after fighting each other in the first issue fight together against the Green Empress of Yagala in the second. Gil Kane's first pair of "Conan" stories is adapted by Thomas from Howard's story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth." At the start of issue #6 there had been a quick little homage to Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser when Conan interrupts a couple of thieves named Fafnir and Black Rat (the story was originally about Howard's hero Black Turlogh O'Brien and his pirate captor Wulfhere). Conan learns Fafnir is still alive and after their initial fights the two become brothers in arms for most of the rest of this volume. This first adventure has them helping the goddess Aala (a.k.a. the young girl Kyrie) regain her thrown and then dealing with the inevitable monsters and volcanic eruption.

The last trio of stories represents the beginning of Barry Windsor-Smith's final run on "Conan the Barbarian." "Hawks from the Sea" finds Conan and Fafnir involved in the siege of Makkalet by the armies of Tur1n, under the command of Prince Yezdigerd, son of King Yildiz. Conan gets to experience the Hyrkanian War from both sides, doing a mission to the Turanians in "The Black Hound of Vengeance" and then switching sides to encounter "The Monster of the Monoliths," which is inspired in part by REH's "The Black Stone." The prime interest, however, is how Windsor-Smith's artwork continued to evolve, and the marked differences we seen after a few months off of drawing "Conan," especially knowing what is yet to come in the Volume 4 is even better. Thomas' storytelling has improved as well and one of the chief joys of reading these volumes has been to see how well these stories have stood up over time.

Thomas writes a "Behind the Swords" essay that appears in the back of this volume and which talks about the history of each of these issues. He also points out the Kane's issues of "Conan the Barbarian" actually outsold what the celebrated Windsor-Smith issues had done to that point. More interesting are the recollections of how Windsor-Smith would draw things and then Thomas would have to make it work with the story and how the final pages of issue #19 were colored without being inked (which explains why they look so inferior). Thomas spends about as much time explaining the reasons why, for example, the last issue is inked by Dan Adkins, Craig Russell, Val Mayerik, and Sal Buscema, as where they got the ideas for various stories. The only serious complaint with these trade paperbacks is that the original covers are not included, which will be a particular shame when we get to the next volume and the conclusion of Barry Windsor-Smith's run on this landmark comic book.

"The Monster of the Monoliths and Other Stories (Chronicles of Conan, Book 3)" continues the amazing Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor-Smith (and now Gil Kane) run on Marvel's "Conan the Barbarian." This collection presents issues #14-15 and #17-21.

The most exciting aspect of this volume is the infamous Elric of Melnibone crossover, that arcs through issues 14 and 15. The originals are quite hard to find, and having them collected is a treat. Elric, a dark creature of magic and Conan, a straightforward earthbound barbarian, make strange bedfellows, but the story is one of the best, bringing back Zukala and his daughter from issue #5, although they are now much changed as Thomas and Windsor-Smith have matured far beyond the early Kirby-influenced style of storytelling.

When Gil Kane takes over the artwork with issue #17, it is a jarring change from Windsor-Smith's delicate pencils. While an excellent artist, his work is more suited to the superhero genre than Conan. Adapting a Turlogh Dubh O'Brien yarn, "The Gods of Bal-Soggoth," into a Conan story works very well, and the Irishman easily becomes a Cimmerian. The giant Vanir Fafnir, who is an occasional player in the Conan series across the years, makes his first appearance here, and the two tackle an ancient city ruled by falsehoods and old gods.

Windsor-Smith reappears in issue #20, taking Conan and Fafnir into a Hyrkanian war, where Conan shows that he is much more than brute strength and sword-skill. His intellect is allowed to come out to play, as he navigates a castle raid.

All three story arcs are top-notch comic book storytelling, with the writer and artist working together in seamless harmony. They really have the "feel" of Robert E. Howard's Conan, more so than any other adaptation or pastiche. Any fans of Conan or just good comics should have this volume in their collection.

As in my previous reviews of this series, my only complaint is that they did not reprint the original comic book covers. Other than that, the art and storys are great!

Give Roy Thomas ample credit for not just banging out Conan stories designed to justify lurid maiden-and-monster comic-book covers. His respect for the world of Robert E. Howard's most famous creation went much deeper. Here, Thomas began plumbing the deep political and thematic waters of Hyboria's Inland Sea.

"The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 3" presents more of the collected Marvel comic book series from 1972-73, a critical early period that helped make the series. While it starts off oddly, and feels only loosely tied together, Vol. 3 never lapses into formula. Better, it captures the established Conan team - Thomas and lead artist Barry Windsor-Smith - approaching full gallop.

As Lawrance Bernabo notes in his review, the seven comic books here comprise three storylines. The first finds Conan recruited to help out one Elric of Melnibone, a fighter with an enchanted sword who has entered Hyboria from an alternate universe to stop a power-crazed sorceress bent on controlling both worlds. It's overweighted with magic and mythic beasts, though also one nice callback - the return of a father and daughter Conan first met in issue #5.

Elric doesn't really fit in so well. He actually belonged to a series of fantasy stories by Michael Moorcock, and though Thomas doesn't say so in his afterword, it reads like a half-baked attempt at a Marvel spinoff. References to the Elric backstory, "Cymoril, the beauteous love of Elric...Cymoril, who sleeps beneath the dread spell of Yyrkoon, Elric's greatest rival...", only dilutes our fledgling connection with Conan's world. Magic spells are cast, while Conan watches from the sidelines, uttering "Crom's bones" to remind us he's still there.

The other two storylines, both using the Inland Sea as a setting, work much better. In the first of them, Conan and a pirate named Fafnir wash up on the island of Bal-Sagoth where they save a beautiful woman who thinks herself a god. Never mind the girl; it's Conan's budding relationship with the affably homicidal Fafnir that's the standout element of this satisfying tale.

"Bal-Sagoth" has a different look than the other Conan stories; with Windsor-Smith briefly replaced by Gil Kane. Kane's heavy lines and sharp-focus compositions have their moments, particularly in close-ups, but lack Windsor-Smith's more lyrical visuals.

The final and meatiest storyline, as with "Bal-Sagoth", finds Conan caught in the middle of political intrigue spiked by religious zealotry, with loyalties shifting on a copper piece. Conan and Fafnir are commandeered to serve in the Turanian Navy, just then launching an attack across the Inland Sea on rival Hyrkania, which has stolen Turan's living religious icon.

Does Conan care? Of course not, by Crom, and that irreligious attitude earns him some enmity. Still, he and Fafnir do their best to help their Turanian host, winding up in a seaport battle royale and one of the most heartbreaking moments in the Conan comic saga so far. Windsor-Smith's art throughout these last three issues is remarkably atmospheric and lucid, as Thomas contrasts Conan's straightforward character nicely against the arcane political schemes of various Turanian and Hyrkanian rulers. Much blood is enjoyably shed.

Conan remains a pretty basic character, but Thomas and company were finding increasingly sophisticated ways of using him, an approach which would bear greater fruit in Vol. 4.

"The Monster of the Monoliths and Other Stories," Volume 3 in "The Chronicles of Conan" reprints issues #14-15 and 17-21 of Marvel's "Conan the Barbarian." Actually, the term "reprint" is not exactly accurate because beyond allowing us to enjoy these classic comic books without taking them out of the protective plastic in which they are sealed, these issues have been recolored using computers to make them even better (clouds and shadings are not big time fun). True, I thought they went a bit too far when they colored the epilogue of "The Black Hound of Vengeance" (#20), but overall the effects are quite impressive, especially since the paper stock in this Darkhorse publication is of vastly superior quality to what these stories were printed on back in the early 1970s.

Basically "The Monster of the Monoliths and Other Stories" can be divided into three sections. First, there is the two-part adventure involving Robert E. Howard's Conan of Cimmeria and Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone. Conan meets up again with Zephra and her father, the wizard Zukala from issue #5. The two sword and sorcery heroes from different words meet and after fighting each other in the first issue fight together against the Green Empress of Yagala in the second. Gil Kane's first pair of "Conan" stories is adapted by Thomas from Howard's story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth." At the start of issue #6 there had been a quick little homage to Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser when Conan interrupts a couple of thieves named Fafnir and Black Rat (the story was originally about Howard's hero Black Turlogh O'Brien and his pirate captor Wulfhere). Conan learns Fafnir is still alive and after their initial fights the two become brothers in arms for most of the rest of this volume. This first adventure has them helping the goddess Aala (a.k.a. the young girl Kyrie) regain her thrown and then dealing with the inevitable monsters and volcanic eruption.

The last trio of stories represents the beginning of Barry Windsor-Smith's final run on "Conan the Barbarian." "Hawks from the Sea" finds Conan and Fafnir involved in the siege of Makkalet by the armies of Tur1n, under the command of Prince Yezdigerd, son of King Yildiz. Conan gets to experience the Hyrkanian War from both sides, doing a mission to the Turanians in "The Black Hound of Vengeance" and then switching sides to encounter "The Monster of the Monoliths," which is inspired in part by REH's "The Black Stone." The prime interest, however, is how Windsor-Smith's artwork continued to evolve, and the marked differences we seen after a few months off of drawing "Conan," especially knowing what is yet to come in the Volume 4 is even better. Thomas' storytelling has improved as well and one of the chief joys of reading these volumes has been to see how well these stories have stood up over time.

Thomas writes a "Behind the Swords" essay that appears in the back of this volume and which talks about the history of each of these issues. He also points out the Kane's issues of "Conan the Barbarian" actually outsold what the celebrated Windsor-Smith issues had done to that point. More interesting are the recollections of how Windsor-Smith would draw things and then Thomas would have to make it work with the story and how the final pages of issue #19 were colored without being inked (which explains why they look so inferior). Thomas spends about as much time explaining the reasons why, for example, the last issue is inked by Dan Adkins, Craig Russell, Val Mayerik, and Sal Buscema, as where they got the ideas for various stories. The only serious complaint with these trade paperbacks is that the original covers are not included, which will be a particular shame when we get to the next volume and the conclusion of Barry Windsor-Smith's run on this landmark comic book (plus the epic "Red Nails" from "Savage Tales").

While the coloring in this book is a little better than the last one it's still too heavy handed and still obscures the line work ruthlessly, exploiting the art to serve as backdrop for overrendering yet again.
My suggestion is to buy the Conan Saga magazines (these came out in the late 80s and are still available to those who know how to look) with beautiful black and white line reproduction over these volumes if you want to get a better feel for why this series was such a critical success when they first appeared. Even as they too suffer a bit from bad reproduction from time to time at least the art is there to admire making the stories easier to access. What's sad about these volumes is the fact that with printing this nice and production qualities so advanced the editors had the chance to really produce some serious, quality reproductions in these collections. Also, for Roy Thomas to comment on these stories as if these were the definitive showcase for the talent that was is depressing.
Maybe, MAYBE one day someone will give these stories the treatment they deserve.

Gil Kane becomes the second CONAN artist when he filled in for Barry Windsor-Smith for two issues collected within this volume...and Conan never looked better! Highly recommended for the two Kane issues alone but plenty to enjoy throughout the collection.

Not much more for me to say here except that these reprints are hugely entertaining and really worth re-reading, over and over again. I note that Gil Kane is thought of as one of the best layout action artist ever. His involvement here in Conan creates a jarring visual disconnect with the Hyborian world. Kanes work is instantly recognisable - line drawings of characters with knock knees, and every other close up includes looking up at their nostrils.

A crossover! Conan meets Elric, to fight Prince Gaynor the Damned, and the Green Sorceress. Not too bad either.

Thomas also throws in a homage to Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd, for one.

Gil Kane actually drew some of this, in the adaptation of a non-Conan story of Howard's.

As before, Thomas' afterwords are very interesting.