Lair of the Ice Worm

THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN — Issue no. 34, August 1978

/ Since I’ve started collecting Marvel books from 1978, I’ve picked up a few of Marvel’s magazines. As you might recall, these “magazines” differ from “comic books” (which, yes, are also technically magazines) as they are slightly larger, contain more pages, and are printed in black-and-white instead of color. I have picked up several SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN issues, along with a couple issues of MARVEL PREMIERE and an issue of HULK! (which was printed in color — I am pretty sure it got the color treatment because of the popular-at-the-time INCREDIBLE HULK TV show). These magazines are really fun to read. They’re not treasury-size, but just being a little bigger than the standard comics of the day really lets the art (and lettering!) shine.

Book: The Savage Sword of Conan

Issue No.: 34

Published: August 1, 1978

Titles: “Lair of the Ice Worm”

Cover Price: $1

Format: Original paper copy

Since I’ve started collecting Marvel books from 1978, I’ve picked up a few of Marvel’s magazines. As you might recall, these “magazines” differ from “comic books” (which, yes, are also technically magazines) as they are slightly larger, contain more pages, and are printed in black-and-white instead of color. I have picked up several Savage Sword of Conan issues, along with a couple issues of Marvel Premiere and an issue of Hulk! (which was printed in color — I am pretty sure it got the color treatment because of the popular-at-the-time Incredible Hulk TV show).

These magazines are really fun to read. They’re not treasury-size, but just being a little bigger than the standard comics of the day really lets the art (and lettering!) shine. And, bonus, looks like I only paid four bucks for this issue of Savage Sword. That’s basically the book’s one-dollar cover price adjusted for 2024 inflation.

The main story here, “Lair of the Ice Worm,” really takes full advantage of that extra page real estate, with pencils by the great Carmine Infantino. I’ve been seeing some of his other work from this era in the Spider-Woman book. But the inker here, Alfredo Alcala, really makes the most of Infantino’s layouts. I’d be curious to see what Alcala would have done with one of Infantino’s Spider-Woman stories.

Plot-wise, the tale is classic Conan. The barbarian rescues a woman from a group of vicious beast-men, only to have her lured to her demise by the titular ice worm. Conan, of course, vows revenge and sets off in search of the huge, furry serpent. The actual battle with the ice worm is brief, but Conan’s trek through the ice and snow to find the creature, with Conan’s dread growing each step of the way, is compelling.

The art for all three stories (this issue of Savage Sword also features a Solomon Kane story and a Kull story — both of those characters, like Conan, were created by Robert E. Howard) is good, and each showcases a different black-and-white art technique. Inker Alcala employs cross-hatching for the Conan story, and inker Bill Wray uses screentone for the Kane story. I’m no expert, but to my eye it looks like Mike Ploog rendered the Kull story using charcoals. Or maybe Ploog used some inking method I am unfamiliar with. Either way, Ploog’s approach is moody and strange, which perfectly suits the story about Kull (who is a warrior whose exploits are set in a pre-Conan era) and his encounters with a wizard and the wizard’s hall of magic mirrors.

Like I always say, these Marvel magazines provide a lot of bang for the one-buck cover price. This issue of Savage Sword of Conan is no exception. On top of the three adventure stories, Savage Sword no. 34 also includes an article about the then-new Conan the Barbarian syndicated newspaper strip and a couple of pages of fan-mail.

Next time — Dracula versus his daughter, Lilith!

Meta: Marvel Time Warp no. 295