Conan the Barbarian #204 - Video Review by 80s Comics

Is everyone ready for swords and sorcery and magic, mirth, mayhem and slaughter I hope so because it’s Conan the Barbarian issue number 204 from way back in March 1988. It’s a nice cover too. I like that Conan’s about to stab this rock monster thing in the face while Red Sonja watches.

You gotta love the Conan covers. In fact, you just gotta love everything about Conan, including this book, which is very good, though it’s not one of the best Conan the Barbarian adventures. If you like Conan and if you like Red Sonja in particular, in addition to Conan, you’ll love this one. Who doesn’t love Red Sonja She’s a great character, actually. She’s like Conan, but much smarter. And a little bit prettier.

So we start off here with Red Sonja killing a bunch of dogs. She’s infiltrating the estate of a noble or someone important who’s got this dungeon filled with gold and treasure. So she thinks. So this guy shows up like a diversion while Red Sonja, who plundered the key earlier, tries to open this dungeon. I hate this. This is like my least favorite 80s comic book ad. I hate that ad, it sucks. On the other hand, I love this ad. Sega video games that’ll blow you away. Except he’s using that awful Sega controller. That’s a terrible controller. You don’t see very many Sega Master System ads in these comics.

Anyway, Red Sonja opens the door to the dungeon filled with treasure, only to get a surprise. It’s not holding treasure, it’s holding this red rock monster thing. You can’t help but laugh at this one. It’s so ridiculous. I feel like they were running out of ideas by about Conan 204, but they were trying pretty hard. So this thing jumps out and attacks Red Sonja. She kicks it into the guards and it starts to eat them and grows inside. So this is immediately likable.

The rock monster’s eating guards and growing while Red Sonja runs away. And who does she encounter but Conan with one of his sillier expressions and just the worst haircut ever. Conan, you can do much better than that, really. Just wear a hat. The thing comes for me, Conan. I don’t know why, but it seems attracted to me. I seem to have a way of exciting misanthropic subhumans.

Conan’s got a big problem here because the thing eats his sword and pisses him off. So it’s a pretty good battle scene. There’s not a whole lot of plot or dialogue in this comic. It’s actually a really quick read. It’s just fun. And at the end here, Conan doesn’t actually beat this thing. It pretty much kicks his ass and there’s some magic and there’s this dude. But I think what’s important is that Red Sonja gives Conan a kiss and then vanishes.

Cliffhanger. I don’t even know what happens because I don’t have issue 205. I’m hoping I’ll find it in the dollar comics stack. But if you’re just diving in for some random comics, I like this one. It’s a good Conan adventure. Not as good as the earlier Conan adventures that stick closer to the actual characters, but it’s still a lot of fun and a good read. The art’s nice too.

What do you do when the rock monster tries to kiss you You turn the page and enjoy the Captain Power advertisement on the back. Don’t just stand there, fire back at the TV. With Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. That’s right kids, in the 80s we had spaceships that fired lasers at the TV. What do you have now TikTok. The 80s were better. We win.

Conan the Barbarian issue 204. You can find this and more coverage on 80scomics.com. I’ll see you there.