If you missed the last one…
The Monsters of the Hyborian Age has focused on original Robert E. Howard creatures for the most part. Like “The God in the Bowl”, last time, this one has been altered (a lot or very little?) by L. Sprague de Camp. The original version of the story, “The Trail of the Bloodstained God” was an action-adventure tale set in modern Afghanistan. The Conan-ized version first appeared in Gnome Press’s Tales of Conan (1955). (It was one of the stories de Camp chose to read aloud for the album, Robert E. Howard’s Conan (1976).
After a long and intrigue-filled journey, Conan and his treacherous pals find the legendary statue of the Bloodstained God:
They entered cautiously, blinking in the half-gloom. In the dimness, a blaze of crimson like the glow of a sunset smote their eyes. They saw the god, a thing of gold crusted with flaming gems.
The statue, a little bigger than life size, was in the form of a dwarfish man standing upright on great splay feet on a block of basalt.
The statue faced the entrance, and on each side of it stood a great carven chair of dense black wood, inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl in a style unlike that of any living nation.
A very important feature of this tale is the large crack in the earth that rests next to the idol:
To the left of the statue, a few feet from the base of the pedestal, the floor of the temple was cleft from wall to wall by a chasm some fifteen feet wide. At some time, probably before the temple had been built, an earthquake had split the rock. Into that black abyss, ages ago, screaming victims had doubtless been hurled by hideous priests as sacrifices to the god. The walls were lofty and fantastically carved, the roof dim and shadowy above.
Having found the gem-encrusted treasure the men turn on each other. As they are trying to kill each other, some blood falls on the idol, bringing it to terrible life:
…Conan had taken one step in a tigerish rush that would have thrown him upon the chief anyway when, without the slightest warning, the ruby-crusted god stepped down from its pedestal with a heavy metallic sound and took one long stride towards Keraspa.
With a frightful scream, the chief released his arrow at the animated statue. The arrow struck the god’s shoulder and bounced high, turning over and over, and the idol’s long arms shot out and caught the chief by an arm and a leg.
Scream after scream came from the foaming lips of Keraspa as the god turned and moved ponderously towards the chasm. The sight had frozen Conan with horror, and now the idol blocked his way to the exit; either to the right or the left his path would take him within reach of one of those ape-long arms. And the god, for all its mass, moved as quickly as a man.
The red god neared the chasm and raised Keraspa high over its head to hurl him into the depths. Conan saw Keraspa’s mouth open in the midst of his foam-dabbled beard, shrieking madly…
Conan, as he usually does with big enemies, grabs a big chunk of furniture, a throne, and knocks the idol into the chasm. He survives but fails to get rich.
Marvel adapted the story in a special color magazine, Marvel Super Special #9 (1978). The comic promised enhanced coloring by Marie Severin and better quality paper. Sadly, I found the art by John Buscema and Tony deZuniga too dark (image-wise, not subject-wise). The same could be said of John’s work on Marvel Super Special, Warriors of the Shadow Realm. The expensive process didn’t last long.
Buscema’s version of the Bloodstained God is good and creepy. I wish I knew how much of the original was Howard or de Camp. I am pretty sure de Camp made the critter come to life (though you never know). If Howard was writing this for Adventure (as he had with so many other tales) there would be no real supernatural element. Easy enough for de Camp to change that. The Bloodstained God fits nicely into the Hyborian Age though it is a lackluster beastie for the most part.
Next time, more statues….Yama, the Demon-King…
