It's like we're blogging the series in reverse! We've already seen #274 and #275, and today we're up to--or down to?--Conan the Barbarian #273, "The Lords of the Lotus" Written by Roy Thomas, pencils by Mike Docherty, inks by Ricardo Villagran.
"Conan the Punisher" promises the cover, but the barbarian's family isn't killed here and he doesn't paint a skull on his chest. Instead, Conan is revisiting Shadizar the Wicked, from way back in Conan #6: he'd ducked out from his mercenary band for a drink and information, but runs into some distractions. First is bar wench Jasmine, whom Conan notices is high as a Hyperborean kite: she denies it, but she's on the new grey lotus, a blend of the purple and black varieties that's even stronger. Conan politely declines her company, but then has to smack down another patron that's a little too grabby; and when the patron bumps into pudgy crime boss Yatha he's dispatched immediately after a profuse apology.
Conan had ordered a drink six pages ago--a fancy sounding "sultanapur sling," but I guess if you're in Shadizar you should take advantage--and is surprised to realize he recognizes the bartender: the blacksmith Maldiz, also from Conan #6: he had kind of assisted the girl Jenna in robbing Conan, but melting his stolen gold and recasting it into a heart. (Which we would see later in Death Covered in Gold #1.) After Conan had killed the cultists' bat-god, the cultists had sought revenge on any of his associates, and attacked Maldiz, injuring his hand and ending his blacksmithing career. That was over ten years ago, but felt like much longer to Conan. (This issue was from 1993, #6 was from 1971.)
Leaving the bar, Jasmine offers Conan some companionship again, needing coins for lotus. Conan is surprisingly charitable, tossing her a few, but she may have been bait as he's attacked from behind by another lotus-eater. Conan disarms his attacker, literally, but not before Jasmine is accidentally stabbed. The attacker mourns her more than the loss of his hand, though: Jasmine had been his wife. Again surprisingly: Conan patches him up, since Jasmine might've wanted him to, then decides to go see lotus vendor Yatha, and murder the hell out of him. First helping himself to some stock from a weapons warehouse, Conan blocks the exit to Yatha's, sets it on fire, and goes to town on him and his men. Conan does give Yatha two opportunities to save his life, if he can remember Jasmine's name: he can't, even after Conan had told him! But with a crossbow bolt sticking out of him and his drug stash on fire, Yatha may have been distracted.
It happens sometimes in Conan, in using Robert E. Howard's descriptions of Hyperborean countries: there's at least a bit of racism in calling the native Zamorians "dark-skinned and dark-eyed, with daggers on their hips and guile in their hearts." And now they've got a drug problem, peddled by a white guy; who does the traditional 'first hits free' then jacks up the price. There's also the question of sex work: was Jasmine a prostitute, or just serving as bait for her husband to bushwhack? Conan probably isn't what most would consider 'woke,' but he doesn't seem to attach any stigma to either sex work or drug addiction. Selling drugs, well...
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