This time we're somewhere... vaguely European? Conan is working as a mercenary when his band are attacked and his comrades killed; Conan takes a poisoned arrow to his left shoulder but escapes his enemies and reaches a vast farmland. A young woman named Kerin brings Conan home to tend to his wound, but a spy sees Conan's arrival and heads to the nearby castle of Lord Theobold to tell him about the Cimmerian. After days of rest Conan is able to rise from his bed but his body is still fighting off an infection.
Conan attends the wedding of Kerin's sister Jenne "under the eyes of Mitra", but Lord Theobold rides in to disrupt the ceremony, claiming that "as the lord of this land, I do have my... duties-- even if some are less burdensome than others... she is, after all, a fine wench!" Droit du seigneur, I suppose? Theobold rides off with Jenne, promising to return her the next day: "Unless, of course, I find her pleasing!" You can always count on Conan comics to make your flesh crawl. Kerin explains to Conan that her people settled in this area under Theobold's protection because he keeps their farms safe from raiders. For his part, Theobold wanted the land preserved so he could hunt. But the price of his protection is that each year on the night of the Hunter's Moon, one of the village's young men must agree to be hunted; if the man should survive, Theobold would grant the village independence. So far, none have survived.
Since Conan is still recuperating (this ain't no Michael Fleisher comic - Murray's Conan can feel pain), he spends time scouting the land to better understand Theobold. He's most interested to find that the supposedly wild forest where Theobold hunts is actually quite tame - basically a game farm. The deer in the woods are so accustomed to humans that they walk right up to Conan. Thus Conan realizes Theobold isn't the "great hunter" he claims to be. When the day of the Hunter's Moon arrives Conan steps forward to take Theobold's challenge, having now fully healed from his injuries. Theobold gives Conan a dagger but the Cimmerian discards it as he heads into the woods. Conan has had time to consider how he'll react to the hunt and quickly conceals himself in the treetops so he can spy on the hunting party. Stealthily, he attacks and kills two of Theobold's men and takes their weapons. Conan is about to fire an arrow at Theobold when Theobold reveals one of his men is holding Kerin as a hostage. Undeterred, Conan kills the man holding Kerin instead then begins massacring the rest of Theobold's men.
Stunned, Theobold decides to flee the carnage but Kerin hits him over the head (this ain't no Michael Fleisher comic - Murray's women have at least some agency). When Theobold comes to he finds he's been stripped of his clothes. Conan informs him he's lost the challenge so the villagers are now free of him. But the hunt isn't over: "Unlike you, I'm a fair man," Conan muses. Conan orders Theobold to enter the wild forest - not the game forest where he normally hunts. If Theobold can survive in there with nothing more than a dagger, then he'll live. Needless to say, he encounters a sabretooth tiger within minutes and ends up dead. Kerin wants Conan to stay with her and they have sex that night (this ain't no Michael Fleisher comic - no seduction or rape required), but a farmer's life could never suit our Cimmerian hero; he rides off into the sunset. "Men like him do not become farmers," Kerin's father muses. "Men like him become kings!"
My thoughts: I suppose it's obvious that I prefer this story over the previous one. Dave Hoover was no John Buscema so the art is not as pretty, but Hoover managed the material well.
The Hunter:
- A
RussianEuropean nobleman (3/4 points) - Who is a big game hunter (4/4 points)
- But is no longer challenged by big game [because he tamed the wilderness] (3/4 points)
- So he hunts men
on his secluded islandin his secluded forest (2/4 points) Justifying this through a eugenics/Darwinian philosophy(0/4 points)- He is aided by his servants
, including a disfigured mute(2/4 points) And his vicious hunting dogs(0/4 points)He obtains his prey by scuttling nearby ships(0/4 points)- His victims are given a time limit
of 3 daysone night; if they are alive at the deadline, they win the hunt (3/4 points) As a further example of his sense of "sportsmanship", he will deliberately prolong the hunt if he finds it interesting(0/4 points)His victims are placed on display in his trophy room(0/4 points)
The Hunted:
- A famous
big game hunterbarbarian (1/4 points) Who philosophizes about what (if anything) animals sense while being hunted(0/4 points)He is cast overboard and finds himself on the hunter's island, alone(0/4 points)- The hunter knows him because of his reputation (1/4 points)
When he learns the hunter's scheme he refuses to hunt alongside him(0/4 points)- Hunted by the hunter, he flees into the wilderness trying to avoid detection (4/4 points)
- His only tool is a knife which the hunter gave him (4/4 points)
- In time he constructs traps to kill the hunter or his servants (2/4 points)
He survives the ordeal by leaping over a cliff(0/4 points)- Although the hunt is over, he confronts the hunter and
duels him to the deathsends him to his death (3/4 points)
The Island:
Is a tropical island in the Caribbean(0/4 points)Surrounded by dangerous reefs which wreck ships(0/4 points)The island has a dangerous swamp(0/4 points)And high cliffs(0/4 points)
Total score: 32/100!
Tomorrow I'll have some other trophies to put on display.
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