Conan the Barbarian #71: "The Secret of Ashtoreth!"

Download Conan the Barbarian v1 #71

In the fictional universe of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Bêlit is a pirate queen who has a romantic relationship with Conan. She is Conan's first serious lover. She appears in Howard's Conan novelette "Queen of the Black Coast," first published in Weird Tales 23 5 (May 1934). She was selected as the fourth greatest pirate by Wired magazine's Geekdad blog.

As a native of the Hyborian nation of Shem, Bêlit is Semitic. Her name may have been taken from Bel, god of thieves in her native land. Apart from jewellery, she wears only sandals and a red silk girdle. Despite her race and her lack of clothing in the tropical sun, her skin is "ivory white."

She is described in her first appearance:

“	She turned toward Conan, her bosom heaving, her eyes flashing. Fierce fingers of wonder caught at his heart. She was slender, yet formed like a goddess: at once lithe and voluptuous. Her only garment was a broad silken girdle. Her white ivory limbs and the ivory globes of her breasts drove a beat of fierce passion through the Cimmerian's pulse, even in the panting fury of battle. Her rich black hair, black as a Stygian night, fell in rippling burnished clusters down her supple back. Her dark eyes burned on the Cimmerian.	”
	— Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast

As a pirate Bêlit ranges across the coast of Kush (Hyborian Africa) and as far north as Zingara (Hyborian Spain) aboard her ship, the Tigress. She calls herself the "Queen of the Black Coast" and her crew appear to regard her with awe.

She is described as passionate and elemental woman. She and Conan fall in love at first sight. Bêlit is, however, strongly avaricious which is described as a racial trait: "The Shemite soul finds a bright drunkenness in riches and material splendor, and the sight of this treasure might have shaken the soul of a sated emperor of Shushan." It is this that leads to her death, killed by an ancient winged ape-like creature - hanged from the yard arm of her own ship by a ruby necklace stolen from a city of the "old ones".

She temporarily returns from death, as she had vowed, to protect her lover from the same creature's attack later in the story.

"The Secret of Ashtoreth!" freely adapted from the story "The Marchers of Valhalla" by Robert E. Howard. Click here to read part I in Conan the Barbarian v1 #70.
Credits:

Cover: Gil Kane and Ernie Chan
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: Ernie Chan

Reprinted:

• in Conan le Barbare (Artima, 1979 series) #11 (February 1982).
• in Conan Saga (Marvel, 1987 series) #87.

Conan the Barbarian #70: "The City in the Storm!"

Download Conan the Barbarian v1 #70






With nearly eighty years in the business, Conan is the most successful barbarian going. He first set up shop in the December 1932 issue of the pulp magazine Weird Tales. Conan was the invention of Robert E. Howard, a young Texan who'd begun turning out large quantities of pulp stories while still in his teens. When he wasn't writing for the pulpwoods, he was reading them. The swords-and-sorcery facet of his work was much influenced by such authors as Harold Lamb and Talbot Mundy. Howard borrowed from both of them, though he was never able to imitate their restraint.

"As nearly as such things can be calculated, Conan flourished about 12,000 years ago," explained L. Sprague deCamp, who revised and refurbished the Conan pulp material for book publication. "In this time," according to Howard, "the western parts of the main continent were occupied by Hyborean kingdoms... Conan, a gigantic adventurer from Cimmeria, arrived as a youth in the kingdom of Zamora. For two or three years he made his living as a thief in Zamora, Corinthia and Nemedia. Growing tired of this starveling existence, he enlisted as a mercenary in the armies of Turan. For the next two years he traveled widely and refined his knowledge of archery and horsemanship." Conan had several odd jobs thereafter. He was a super-muscular, skull-splitting fellow who was fond of spending his days with lovely princesses and slave girls, or in struggling against malignant magic and sorcery. The rest of the time, he got into fights.

"The City in the Storm!" freely adapted from the story "The Marchers of Valhalla" by Robert E. Howard.

Credits:

Cover: Gil Kane and Pablo Marcos
Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: Ernie Chan

Reprinted:

• in Conan le Barbare (Artima, 1979 series) #11 (February 1982).
• in Conan Saga (Marvel, 1987 series) #87.

On a quick note unrelated to our favorite barbarian, I have decided to change the name of this blog in order to end confusion, which was caused by the seemingly obscure tongue-in-cheek nature of the word "veeblefetzer." Besides, this moniker was my first choice anyway, but I'll retain the old URL so that saved bookmarks won't need to be changed or updated. My apologies for any inconvenience the change might cause.

Click here to read the conclusion in Conan the Barbarian v1 #71.

Tomb of Darkness #19: "It's Only Magic!"

Download Tomb of Darkness #19





I can still recall picking this comic book up off the racks in Rexal's Drug Store, just to reminisce out loud for a moment. Tomb of Darkness #19 contains this excellent short story written by Stan "The Man" Lee and beautifully illustrated by John Buscema, which is about a boy who's seeking wealth and power via supernatural means. In his haste for shortcuts to fame and fortune, the boy sneaks into an occult bookstore and pockets a book on ancient Druid spells in order to conjure a djinn to do his bidding. Of course, events don't go as the boy had planned and I thought the ending was pretty damn clever, which is why I heartily recommend this one. It's only too bad that I can't make the same recommendation for the rest of the stories contained inside this comic book, but this particular story is a great read.


Credits

Cover: Ron Wilson
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: John Verpoorten

Reprinted:

• from Chamber of Darkness (Marvel, 1969 series) #1 (October 1969).

Worlds Unknown #4: Fredric Brown's "Arena"

Download Worlds Unknown #4






Many of you good folks out there are familiar with Star Trek's take on Fredric Brown's Arena with the Gorn playing the role of the mysterious Outsiders, but I first became aware of this classic Science Fiction short story through Marvel Comics' Worlds Unknown #4. While I heartily recommend the original short story, this adaptation, which was written by Gerry Conway and drawn by John Buscema and Dick Giordano, is actually quite good. I recall enjoying this one tremendously as a kid and again as an adult, which means this one receives an enthusiastic recommendation.


Credits

Cover: Dick Giordano
Script: Frederic Brown (Original Story), Gerry Conway (Adaptation)
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: Dick Giordano

Reprinted:

• from Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction Giant Size Special #1 (Marvel, 1973 series)
  

Surprise download: Fredric Brown's Arena published in Starlog #4:

Download Starlog #4




The teleplay for the original Star Trek series was credited to an original story by Fredric Brown, also titled "Arena," that was first published in 1944 on the pages of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, though Robert Justman and Herb Solow wrote in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, that Gene L. Coon wrote his script as an original (over the course of a weekend), unaware of Brown's story, and only sought permission to "adapt" the story after the slight similarities were pointed out to him. Brown was more than happy to hear that Star Trek decided to use one of his stories, and probably never found out the real plot behind it.

In his final speech, the Metron informs Kirk that, because he demonstrated mercy, he will not be destroyed. Initially, they said they planned to destroy the loser, "in the interests of peace." In Coon's script, in dialog not aired, the Metron admits that they had, all along, planned to actually destroy the ship of the winner of the personal combat, because that race would represent the greater danger to them. James Blish preserves this disclosure in his novelization in Star Trek 2.

The Time Traveler Show podcast #3 is available now! The main content is an unabridged reading of Frederic Brown’s often adapted (though not always attributed) classic SF tale Arena. Originally published in the June 1944 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine this tale was first adapted as an episode of the original Outer Limits in 1964, then in 1967 for the original Star Trek television series (the infamous “Gorn” episode), and even as a comic in Marvel Comics magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction in 1976. You can read the complete show notes for podcast #3 HERE or download the show HERE.

And if you haven’t already be sure to subscribe using this feed:

http://www.timetravelershow.com/shows/feed.xml