Roy Thomas's CONAN THE BARBARIAN: A "QUEEN OF THE BLACK COAST" Retrospective, Part Three of Three

Read Part One and Part Two of this series here!

From issue #84 through #100, Roy Thomas and John Buscema told the final stretch of their Conan & Bêlit saga. In some ways, it was the best run of those 43 issues of Conan the Barbarian, and in others, it was the worst.

It was a revelation when Roy began adapting "Queen of the Black Coast" because he could unlock another side of Conan. The Cimmerian now had someone more consistent to talk to, to save, to be saved by, to fall in love with, and just generally interact with. In the final third of his Conan & Bêlit saga, he would do it again by introducing Zula, the last of the Zamballahs. 

Zula, the last of his tribe, is a lot like Conan in a few ways. He's strong, shrewd, and, when the story calls for it, heroic. He's a little more suspicious and untrusting than the Cimmerian, but he's a match for the big guy in all the right ways. Interestingly, Zula's coloring in the book goes through one wild transition. In his first appearance in issue #84, Zula has extremely dark skin, as in it's pure black ink highlighted in blue, the exact same way Conan and Bêlit's hair is. They wanted to distinguish him from other Black characters in the book, who usually appeared with their skin colored brown. Apparently, there's an old, racist phrase I'd never heard before levied against Black men about being so dark-skinned they're "almost purple." Like a lot of phrases employed by dumbass racists, that doesn't even really make sense. But Roy wanted to turn that phrase on its head, I guess, by making the capable, likable Zula almost purple, which is not a decision I support. Outside of the ill-advised reasons, Zula just looks a little strange in that first issue, and kind of sinks into the page with the rest of the inking.

It's fixed in his following appearance, and Zula would appear dark-skinned (colored gray, essentially) but not literally black after that. It looks much better. Of course, this is mostly bunk since to the vast majority of people, Zula looks like Grace Jones.

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For how many of the next several issues are told in flashback, with characters catching one another up on their recent whereabouts, you might think these issues would suck, but they surprisingly don't.

Issues #84 - 86 would be a great time to jump on the title, had you dropped it somewhere prior, as Conan and Zula relate their general histories to one another and it's clear that they have unique, but compatible backgrounds. They later meet up with Bêlit, who recalls her own recent happenings and everyone's up to speed for the final race to #100.

"Southern California was definitely hazardous to my work ethic." - Roy Thomas

The unfortunate thing is that this stretch of comics begins to get bogged down by reprints and diversions, and it's generally writer Roy Thomas's fault. He says that when he moved to LA in 1976, Marvel Comics felt really far away and he began to see it as just a job rather than his passion. He was lured by the glitz of TV and movies and it became a little harder to pick up his comic book pen. You probably wouldn't notice unless you were paying close attention, but there was a reprint in issue #87 (the second time in less than a year, this time reprinting Savage Sword #3) and several flashback or adaptation issues that slow the roll of the title. When the book is focused on Bêlit's return to Asgalun's throne or putting Conan, Zula, and the Black Corsairs up against a Stygian threat, it's generally phenomenal. But it wasn't that every month. Like, I really like issue #92. It's a fun adaptation of "The Thing in the Crypt" that I dug so much I wrote an Unsung Sword of Conan column about it. But it appears in the issue immediately preceding Bêlit's taking of the throne of Asgalun, which feels so whack. In the moment where we should be winding up to a triumph, we're looking back to a completely unrelated story.

In the moment we'd all been waiting for, Bêlit claims the throne of Asgalun, finally avenging her deposed father. But in a twist you probably saw coming, she would never be happy leaving the pirate life behind, so she abdicates the throne a third of a second after receiving it. It makes sense; Roy says he based this on his own experiences. He was offered the Editor-In-Chief role at Marvel a second time and turned it down. He didn't actually want the job, he just wanted to be a offered it, he says.

Thoth-Amon continues to meddle in Conan's affairs from afar (with Roy being very careful that the two don't actually meet yet so as to not step on Robert E. Howard's toes). 

Zula parts ways with the rest of the cast in issue #93 before Roy begins his "Sack of Abombi" storyline, based on a throwaway line from "The Scarlet Citadel." It's fun to see the homages contained in here, like the cover of issue #97 reflecting Frank Frazetta's "Sacrifice (Conan the Avenger)" painting. The issues between #93 and #100 are all good times, but you get the point. Let's waste no more ink.​

Conan the Barbarian #100 is probably the last time the title was great under Roy's stewardship. Nearly fifty issues had been building up to the death of Bêlit on the River Zarkheba, and he handles it with aplomb. We finally see Conan and Bêlit's "I would not tread on their shadow" conversation from "Queen of the Black Coast," which hits much harder this time as we've seen the two grow together for the last three years in real-time. One of the most interesting and debatable things about "Queen of the Black Coast" is how long-term Conan and Bêlit would have been. How long do they travel together? To me, it doesn't seem like long. How long would they have traveled together for? Well, I think they were always doomed to tragedy by one method or another. Roy, who always saw his role as an "embellisher" for Howard, has embellished one of REH's best stories in the best way.

​For all my complaints about the general pacing of the title at this time, they dry up in this issue.

Roy Thomas and John Buscema unlock their best work here. From Bêlit's mournful hanging on the ship to the methodical killing spree Conan goes on in the immediate aftermath, to the final battle with the bat creature who "slew his mate," the king-sized issue is one of the best issues of Conan ever. Buscema goes hard in the final panels, particularly the splash page filled with Conan's stoic figure and George Roussos's blues, magentas, and greens.

The true Bronze Age greatness of Conan the Barbarian was pretty much over after that. Roy was here for another 15 issues, but none of them are really essential. Conan the Barbarian Annual #5 and 6 are both fantastic, retelling The Hour of the Dragon, but the regular title under Roy's stewardship went gently into that good night, where it was handed off to J.M. DeMatteis, and, unfortunately, a slightly less-promising future.