Descrizione
CONAN e KA – ZAR
ALBO ORIGINALE DEL 1975
CONDIZIONI : OTTIME, L’ ALBO NON E’ DI BUSTA
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“The Temptress in the Tower of Flame!” / LA TENTAZIONE DELLA TORRE !
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Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Death
- Shamaash the Terrible (Death)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Synopsis
Conan, facing Death herself in the arena, tries to hold her back.
Unfortunately, when he grabs her hand he immediately begins aging. With
his last breaths, as he grows weak and frail, his hair greying, he asks
how one man may rule Wan Tengri, knowing that the answer would be enough
to topple the precarious government rules by the seven wizards. Death,
impressed with his refusal to simply give in, gives him back his life,
and whispers in his ear the key to defeating the wizards. Then Death
vanishes, leaving Conan holding the body of Kassar, the man who he had
come to rescue. The guards of the wizards leap forward to claim the
barbarian’s head, and Conan plays them against each other as even the
wizards begin attacking amongst themselves, hoping to gain the upper
hand. Conan manages to sneak away, led to freedom by Bourtai. The two of
them crawl through the underground catacombs and emerge underneath the
Flame Tower. Conan kills a lion and guard on his way through the tower,
and ultimately finds the princess that Death told him to search for. The
girl is chained to her throne, and Conan releases her. He, the
Princess, and Bourtai run through the tower, and Conan discovers the
machine that creates the flame winds that surround the sky of the city.
Whoever controls the flame, controls the city, and down below all out
war has broken out between the seven wizards and their soldiers, soon
joined by the city folk, desperate for any chance to topple the wizards.
Conan decides that the only way to truly end the threat of the wizards
is to destroy the flame winds, and he topples the coal that feeds the
wind. Their power truly destroyed, the wizards are set upon and killed
by the citizens. The Princess rewards Conan with a galley and boxes full
of treasure, which Conan is happy to accept. However, as he and
Bourtrai sail away, the Princess reignites the flames, and magically
transports her treasure back to her, leaving Conan and his companion
adrift on the lake.
Notes
- Freely adapted from the Flame Winds novel by Norvell W. Page, by permission of Conde Nast, copyright holders
Chien Su (Earth-616)
Chien Su
Chien Su was the Princess’ attendant, who revealed to Conan
that the seven wizards were keeping the people in check thanks to the
flame winds generated by the proto-furnace machinery on top of the tower.
Shamaash (Earth-616)
Shamaash the Terrible
Armed with a spiked mace, the brooding giant Shammash the Terrible confronted Conan as he tried to escape the tower, but he was killed with a single, decisive blow.
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
Other Characters:
- SHIELD agents
- Malgato’s ancestor
- Fall People (Only in flashback)
- Garokk (Only in flashback)
- Zaladane (Only in flashback)
- Damon (Only in flashback)
- Lizard-Men (Only in flashback)
- Man-Apes (Only in flashback)
Locations:
Synopsis
Ka-Zar and Zabu are parachuting out of a SHIELD plane into
the Savage Land. A small map of the Savage Land is provided. Further
establishing that this series will be a pure jungle adventure book as
opposed to Ka-Zar’s city adventures at the end of his Astonishing Tales
run, Ka-zar fights a giant snake and a shark before the plot even
starts.
The
goal seems to be to capitalize on the success of Marvel’s Conan
adaption by having Ka-Zar the Barbarian fight wizards and monsters in a
jungle setting.
The wizard in this case is Malgato (“Those who
speak spanish can dig, this cat is evil! Verdad? – Miguel”), and he’s
got a Man-Ape villain that Ka-Zar has previously fought named Maa-gor as
his henchmen.
Malgato
tells an origin of the Savage Land, tying it in to the Cataclysm that
sunk Atlantis – something that also comes from the Robert E. Howard
universe. Much later, in Ka-Zar’s 1980s series, the Savage Land will be
tied even more closely to Atlantis, with a portion of the Savage Land
called Pangea actually serving as an ancient resort area for Atlantis.
There’s no hint of that here. This origin is just saying that the
Savage Land is preserved by a ring of volcanoes that arose when Atlantis
sunk.
The origin then turns into a recap of the Astonishing Tales series, including appearances by Garokk and Zaladane.
Malgato then sends pterodactyls after Ka-Zar and Zabu.
They
bring him back to Malgato’s castle, where the wizard lays out a phony
story about the need for a male and female hero to have to sacrifice
themselves to appease the Garokk the Sun God. Not buying the myth,
Ka-Zar resists, but a powered-up Maa-Gor defeats him. Ka-Zar wakes up
to find himself tied up next to Shanna the She-Devil.
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“Where Nekra Walks, Death Must Follow” / DOVE NEKRA CAMMINA… LA MORTE LA SEGUE! (2a parte)
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Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Nekra (First appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Somewhere in Africa
Synopsis
Continued from last issue…
At the SHIELD base Shanna and Singh are put in contact with
Professor X and FBI Agent Duncan (Duncan’s first name is said to be
“Amos” this issue, which is how Duncan introduced himself in Uncanny X-Men #46,
instead of “Fred” like all of his earlier appearances), have detected
the presence of two mutants in Africa.
One is the Mandrill, and it’s confirmed that he doesn’t seem to have any powers except monkey face…
…and the other is as yet unknown.
Shanna returns home and ponders her life. In an interesting commentary on the series:
…what
am i doing here, prancing thru the jungle like some 1940’s B-movie
goddess? I came here to escape the city.. its violence… its plastic
landscape. So what do i do? Build a treehouse to rival the plaza…
foster a teen-age malt-shop relationship with Patrick…!
While she starts considering going off and really living in the jungle, the other mutant – Nekra – is powered by hate, making her strong and invulnerable.
Continued to next issue…
