Monday, January 18, 2021

The Murderous Mirrors of Kharam-Akkad

I wrote in my earlier post on "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune" that Roy Thomas "clearly disagrees with me" regarding adapting the story to feature Conan. I wrote this because I was thinking of Issue #25 of Conan the Barbarian (April 1973). That issue contains a story entitled "The Murderous Mirrors of Kharam-Akkad" that draws heavily on the Kull tale but isn't precisely an adaptation, as I had thought. In it, a Hyrkanian high priest named Kharam-Akkad possesses Tuzun Thune's mirrors and sees in them a vision of Conan standing over his dead body. 

Kharam-Akkad becomes so obsessed with this vision of his demise that he attempts to thwart it by ordering Conan captured and brought to him. You only need to have read Sophocles or Shakespeare to see where this story is going: the Cimmerian's capture brings about the very death that Kharam-Akkad had hoped to avoid. 

It's frankly not a very interesting story in its own right and only really serves to advance the story of Conan's life, pointing toward his eventual adoption of the pseudonym Amra. That said, the story does feature a couple of panels that recapitulate the plot of "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune," marking the first ever appearance of Kull in the pages of a Marvel comic. 
Whatever else I could say about Thomas's Conan comics, one thing I will always praise is his willingness to use Howard's own words (or paraphrases of them) in his dialog and descriptions. That's evident in the panels above, which include snippets from "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thane" and this otherwise forgettable issue is the better for it.

10 comments:

  1. Kull's mother must have spent a lot of time telling him to sit up straight and not slouch in his seat, all to no avail.

    Say what you will about Marvel's Conan books, they did a great deal to keep the character alive in the public awareness over the years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely. I have a few issues (no pun intended) with the Marvel comics, but you are absolutely correct: they played a huge role in popularizing the character in the public mind.

      Delete
  2. Thomas has been the very best adapter of Conan works in the comic book/graphic novel medium. Pity no one else has had the skill in over 40 years. Gil Kane cover Conan and John Severin art on Kull -- those elements of art at least make the issue worth a look!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wasn’t familiar with any of these, but I wonder if the plot of the forgettable Conan sequel “Conan the Destroyer” was inspired in part by the Howard story and/or its Conan comic book adaptation?

    The relevant portion of the film’s plot:

    “From within the castle, the magician Thoth-Amon has been watching their journey to his castle using the magic gem. As the group comes near, the castle is mysteriously surrounded by a lake.

    ...

    When Conan enters a hall of mirrors, the door immediately closes, separating him from the rest of the group. While they're forced to watch, Conan fights a monster of the mirrors. Conan is badly outmatched by the monster, but is able to hurt the monster by destroying the mirrors. When Conan finally succeeds in doing so, the “the shadow of the mirrors” is defeated.”

    The castle “by the lake”, the magical mirrors in the wizard’s citadel... sounds familiar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am quite pleased by the thought that anyone involved with that movie knew enough about Conan or Kull to borrow the idea:)

      Delete
    2. LOL does seem unlikely.

      IMDB tells that the screenplay is by Stanley Mann -- it's practically the last thing he wrote, and most of his credits are for TV shows from the 50s through the 70s. But the story is credited to Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, who were both young guys with a bunch of comic-book superhero TV show writing credits under their belts. They co-wrote some Thundarr episodes and co-wrote Frazetta's Fire and Ice screenplay. That all sounds consistent with the aesthetic of the film. But the comic book background of the two story writers also sounds like they were probably familiar with this comic book adaptation from ten years previous.

      Delete
  4. This was a long way from being Kull's first appearance in a Marvel comic - apart from a cameo in the first issue of Conan the Barbarian, Kull had had stories in seven issues of his own title, one issue each of Monsters on the Prowl and Creatures on the Loose, and a back-up in a giant-size issue of Conan the Barbarian.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah, a sequel to 'Mirrors' with Conan makes much more sense than adapting the original to Conan. It sounds kinda fun too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The lovely John Buscema/John Severin art collaboration alone makes this issue very much worth checking out. It’s worth noting that this was an abrupt stylistic shift from the previous issues, which ended Barry Windsor-Smith’s increasingly impressive fun as artist in issues 1-24. Just lovely stuff with issue 25 and those before.

    ReplyDelete