No Stranger to Howard
Andrew J. Offutt was no stranger to Robert E. Howard’s work in 1978 when he began his trilogy of Conan novels. From 1975 to 1982, he chronicled the adventures of Cormac Mac Art, another REH creation. In 1977, he edited the first of five volumes in The Swords Against Darkness anthologies, dedicated to fiction in the Sword & Sorcery mode. This included finishing Howard’s “Nekht Semerkeht” and a great dark tale called “Last Quest”. (Earlier in 1976, he published The Black Sorcerer of the Black Castle, a Sword & Sorcery parody. This may seem ironic for a man who would spend the next seven years writing not much else than heroic fantasy. His days as a writer of porn were well documented in his son’s book, My Father, the Pornographer by Chris Offutt, 2016.)
Conan and the Sorcerer (1978) was the first section of Offutt’s trilogy, receiving a lovely trade paperback edition with a cover by Sanjulian and interior art by Esteban Maroto. Two years later the book was adapted in Savage Sword of Conan #53-55 (June-August 1980) by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Rudy Nebres and Ricardo Villamonte.
The Eye of Erlik
Conan is a young thief in Arenjun. During a brawl in an inn, Conan is saved by a mysterious swordsman. Escaping the commotion, he overhears two Zamboulans, Karamek and Isparana, plotting to steal the Eye of Erlik.
The amulet has the power to control mind of the king of Arenjun. Conan goes to the house of Hisarr Zul ahead of the thieves. He sees three zombie guards. He then encounters the man who saved his life earlier, Ajhindar of Iranistan, who kills the zombies. After a few attempts to kill Conan, the two call a truce. Ajhindar tries to convince the Cimmerian to join forces with him. The thief dies when he springs a trap, releasing poisonous asps.
Conan stumbles on the Zamboulans. While fighting and killing Karamek, Isparana flees with The Eye of Erlik, which actually looks like a miniature sword on a chain. Conan goes on alone, falling into a floor trap. Stuck, he meets the master of the house, Hisarr Zul .
A Soul Is Stolen
The wizard blows black lotus powder into his face with a long pipe. When Conan wakes he discovers the sorcerer has placed his soul in a mirror. Conan has no choice but to do the wizard’s bidding. He is sent to retrieve the amulet from Isparana. Hissar Zul gives Conan a fake copy of The Eye of Erlik to carry. Before he leaves he speaks with one of the zombie guards. If Conan’s soul is destroyed, he will end up like this sad wretch.
The first third of novel borrows heavily from Robert E. Howard’s “Rogues in the House” (Weird Tales, January 1934), where Conan invades a sorcerer’s home filled with traps and the ape creature Thak. This idea of breaking into the home of a wizard (usually when he is away) has become a standard S&S trope. I called it “Sword & Sorcery Break&Enter” in a previous post. Offutt handles Conan well, making him brash but able. We have yet to get any really good monsters, but some sorcery. The separate groups all vying for The Eye of Erlik has been done before in “The People of the Black Circle” (Weird Tales, September October November 1934 ) and other stories. It is all a good start to a fun novel.
On the Trail
Conan rides hard, stopping at an oasis. Two men try to kill him but he easily dispatches the thieves.
Later he meets a squad of Turanians looking for the men and their stolen treasure. Conan bribes and befriends them. The captain of the squad tells him of a short-cut through the Dragon Hills, but says it is haunted. Conan wants to make up lost time so he takes that path. It is here he encounters the Sand-Lich:
The Sand-Lich
The sand had formed itself as a man, a dead-faced lich with a sinister dark gape of a mouth, dangling long arms — and no eyes. Though Conan’s eyes were slitted almost shut and he could hardly see, he whipped out the curved eastern sword he had of a dead man of Samara.
The sand-lich did not pounce. It swirled, a chaotically spinning greyness in which that gaping mouth remained turned ever towards him, open and black within. The Cimmerian cut at it without effect. The sand seemed undisturbed by the sword’s vicious slash through. There was nothing here to cut, nothing to hurt or kill; it was only a tall pile of sand! (Conan and the Sorcerer by Andrew J. Offutt)
Conan is powerless to stop the lich’s attack. The monster is surprised when it discovers Conan has no soul. The lich is bent on finding and killing Hissar Zul. Conan listens to the monster’s story, for he is the murdered brother of Hisarr Zul.
Betrayal Between Brothers
The two brothers, Hissar Zul the younger, were powerful wizards in Zamboula. When the king got wind they plotted against him, soldiers came for the pair.
Fleeing into the desert, Hissar Zul slew his brother out of jealousy and hatred, leaving his body for the jackals. The spirit of the slain wizard did not fade away, but dwelt in the sands, waiting… The spirit tells Conan different ways of killing his brother like poisoning him with the waters of the River Styx or strangling him with the hair of virgin killed in a most disgusting way. He also tells the Cimmerian to use Hissar Zul’s own methods against him.
The Sand-Lich sends Conan quickly on the trail of his quarry by transporting him by whirlwind. Conan makes up lost time and is now ready to finish his quest.
Nictzin Dyalhis
This section of the tale doesn’t remind me too much of any particular Conan story, but it does recall another Robert E. Howard character, Solomon Kane in “The Skulls in the Stars” (Weird Tales, January 1929). In that story Kane goes into a portion of the forest deemed haunted by the Torkington Ghost. There is, in fact, a terrible killing spirit there but Kane learns it is the slain brother of one of the villagers and exacts a revenge on him. Offutt has borrowed and expanded this idea though in a Hyborian setting.
The transportation by whirlwind can be found in Howard’s “The People of the Black Circle”. (Thanks for reminding me, Joshua.) The evil wizards known as Black Seers of Yimsha evade Conan in a spinning cloud. The lich and whirlwind also reminds me of another author, Nictzin Dyalhis. In “The Sapphire Goddess” (Weird Tales, February 1934), the hero faces off against an elemental that turns out to be his sidekick’s father. The crew travel by sandstorm just as Conan does. I don’t know if Offutt was familiar with the story but it is a great way to cross long distances and get on with the action.
Back to the Oasis
Conan finds himself magically transported to an oasis. The sandstorm trip is rough on him and he has to recover. A trio of riders approach and Conan learns from them that a large group of Turanian slavers is headed towards the oasis. Isparana shows up next and Conan watches her surreptitiously while she bathes. (There is a reason why this sub-genre is sometimes called “Tits & Daggers”.) While she sleeps, he switches the fake Eye of Erlik for the real one.
When she wakes Conan tries to take her camels. He is in a hurry to meet with Hissar Zul. They fight with swords and the camels get stampeded. The two are stranded and have to wait for the slavers to show up. Both Conan and Isparana fight valiantly but the numbers are against them. Conan gets knocked out when Isparana tries to kill him. Both are captured and put in chains. Fortunately, the same squad of Turanian soldiers come by and Conan calls to their captain. The soldier demands Conan and the girl be freed.
Conan gets a horse and rides for Hissar Zul’s. The wizard meets him and asks for the amulet. Conan tells him he doesn’t have Stygian death water or the hair of dead virgin. Hissar Zul now knows that Conan has met his brother. Hissar Zul wants to know that Conan has the real Eye of Erlik. The wizard places some gems in a bowl to create a verification spell. Conan wants his soul back, taking the mirror from the hands of a demon that holds it. Hissar Zul tries to cheat Conan with the black lotus pipe, but Conan remembers the Sand-Lich’s words: use his methods against him. He plugs the pipe then blows the powder into Hissar Zul’s face.
The wizard becomes a soul-less wretch. Before Conan leaves to do a ritual that will return his soul to his body, he finds the zombie guard he had spoken to and kills him out of mercy.
A good end to the adventure. Of course, Hissar Zul doesn’t play fair. Wizards never do. This is another classic trope, the person who send the hero on a dangerous quest reneging on the deal. You see it in Howard’s “Rogues in the House”, in Henry Kuttner’s “Spawn of Dagon” (Weird Tales, July 1938), in Gardner F. Fox’s “Crom the Barbarian” (Avon Comics, 1950), in the Brak the Barbarian stories of John Jakes, etc. Andrew J. Offutt certainly is entitled to use it, too.
A last note on the comic book adaptation: John Buscema’s work is always a treasure though the over-all effect really depends on who is inking him. I can’t say I care for when Buscema inks his own stuff as much as Alfred Alcala, Ernie Chan or Tony DeZuniga do. Rudy Nebres did a great job in Issue #53. Ricardo Villamonte less so in Issue #54-55. I am a Villamonte fan. His Beowulf is probably my favorite DC Sword & Sorcery comic. His inking of Buscema here seems too muddy most of the time. Too bad Esteban Maroto hadn’t drawn the comics (but hey, wait, there are two novel to go!)
I’m interested to see that I’m not the only one who prefers Buscema inked by someone other than himself. There’s no one better at penciling than Buscema but his inks are fairly loose. Oddly enough, I remember reading that Buscema wasn’t a fan of the Chan inking, which I thought was amazing.
Whole hardily agree about Chan, Joel. Also, Alfredo Alcala’s inks of Buscema’s art gave it so much depth and detail that it seemed to jump off the page!