Michael Moorcock turned eighty-six yesterday. Knowing that put me in a nostalgic state of mind, which seems to be a thing this month. For, you see, I’ve been a fan of Moorcock’s creations almost as long as I have been a fan of Robert E. Howard and Conan. As with Conan and REH, I first learned of Moorcock and Elric by way of Roy Thomas and Marvel Comics.

As with The Warlord #2, I bought Giant-Size Conan #5 at the Cherryvale grocery store while my grandma was shopping. However, this was a few months prior to that Warlord purchase. August--or early September--of 1975, to be exact. It was fifty years ago, but it feels like yesterday. I had bought Conan the Barbarian #38 over a year earlier but hadn't followed up. Here was a 'giant-size' issue starring Conan with two reprinted stories and a back-up tale.

The dynamic Jack Kirby cover caught my eye. There was Conan, along with some guy in a green hat (a red hat inside) and a big sword, fighting a horde of subhuman foes. Flipping it open, I saw the art of Barry Smith (soon to be Barry Windsor-Smith) for the very first time. The art looked cool and the story looked cool. I had to buy it.

Little did I know, but Barry Windsor-Smith had left Marvel Comics a couple of years before, striking out on his own to establish Gorblimey Press. The art he was producing during that period--as I stood there looking at a reprint--would be the best of his entire career.

As it was, the two issues reprinted therein--Conan the Barbarian #14 and #15--marked when BWS truly began his transition from a Kirby acolyte to an artist with his own incredibly distinctive style.

That said, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Roy Thomas has described more than once how this team-up came about. Apparently, some fans of Conan the Barbarian had also been writing in requesting a Marvel comic devoted to Elric of Melniboné. Mr. Thomas looked into it and persuaded Michael Moorcock to write a story/plotline for a two-issue tale. It seems that Moorcok then got with his sometime-collaborator/BFF, James Cawthorn, and concocted a tale of Elric's inter-dimensional sojourn in the Hyborian Age.

It could've been a trainwreck. Instead, I consider it one of the best storylines in the whole Thomas/Smith run on CtB. While it was certainly a 'milestone' in the personal S&S journey of yours truly, I sincerely believe this tale deserves more recognition than it gets in the Sword-and-Sorcery community and for its wider impact within the Marvel Universe.

For one thing, it was the first true 'two-issue' storyline so far in the Conan the Barbarian run. Up to that point--in true pulp fashion--RT had been keeping things short n' sweet. As Henry Kuttner would say, "Kill a monster. Grab a tit." As Seinfeld would say, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." The Elric storyline expanded things out a bit and also added a shade more gravitas and nuance, in my opinion.

So, there I was, back at my grandparents' house, reading this two-issue mini-epic. It opens with Conan rescuing a fair maiden fleeing a band of faceless--possibly demonic--pursuers. The miscreants are scattered through sorcerous means and it is only then Conan learns that the girl is Zephra, daughter of the dying demi-god/mage, Zukala. At that point, I had zero idea who either were in relation to the CtB continuity. Roy made it plain that Conan had met both before on less-than-positive terms. That had all happened in Conan the Barbarian #5. Obviously, Zukala held a grudge against Conan and Zephra was still hot for the Cimmerian. This was my first exposure to such a dynamic. It would be far from the last.

The Marvel Fandom summary works well here:

“[Zukala] asks Conan to go to the city of Yagala, which had been transported thousands of years ago from another dimension, as a jail for the dead-but-not-so-dead body of an evil sorceress and empress. Zukala enchants Conan's sword and Zephra guides the barbarian to the city. The wizard then turns his attention to the chaos goddess Xiombarg, who is preparing to send her captain, Gaynor, after Conan. Xiombarg senses Zukala's spying and breaks the connection. Some time later, Conan and Zephra encounter a traveler from Yagala's dimension - Elric of Melnibone. Conan assumes the pale rider is his enemy and attacks.”

Conan and Elric--in classic heroic fashion--figure out they're on the same side in this instance. They agree to join forces and journey on, encountering the minions of Xiombarg, Prince Gaynor and his Chaos-Pack. Gaynor is an Eternal Champion who succumbed to Chaos--a truly formidable foe. The battle hangs in the balance until Zephra summons sorcerous aid. The three of them journey on to the Sighing Lake--the location of Yagala.

"The Green Empress of Melnibone" opens with Conan and Elric fighting their way through a demon-infested forest on the shores of the Sighing Lake. Winning through, they find a cool--though not very Howardian, in my opinion-- 'boat' to cross over to Yagala, which has now risen above the waters that previously submerged it.

Once again, Marvel Fandom:

"The three reach [Yagala, where the Stygian sorcerer] Kulan-Gath, who is attempting to summon the dread Terhali of Melnibone in order to gain supreme power. He believes the others were sent by Thoth-Amon, but before anything can be done, Prince Gaynor and his armies appear and all hell breaks loose. Kulan-Gath manages to complete his spell and Terhali rises from the dead. Elric defeats, but is unable to kill, Gaynor, and Kulan-Goth annoys Terhali to the point where she kills him. Elric and Conan attack the witch-queen but she knocks them both unconscious. Zephra becomes possessed by Arkyn, a Lord of Law and enemy of Terhali. The now-powerful Zephra destroys Terhali, but dies in the process."

For eight year-old Deuce, that was kinda mind-blowing. It was pretty obvious that Zephra had not only sacrificed herself for Conan--a man she sincerely loved--but also for all of humanity and the universe. Heavy stuff.

As Robert E. Howard once wrote of Conan meeting Zenobia:

"Conan did not at once reply; wild and passionate and untamed he was, yet any but the most brutish of men must be touched with a certain awe or wonder at the baring of a woman's naked soul."

The story closes with Elric continuing his quest across dimensions and with Conan bringing the body of Zephra back to Zukala. I still think it is one of the more poignant moments in the entire comics history of Conan the Cimmerian. Zephra wasn't some hate-filled, greedy bitch. She was just a girl who loved her man and died for that love.

Well, holiday obligations weigh heavy at this point. I originally intended this to be one-and-done. The deeper I dug into this, the more obvious it was that this Conan-Elric intersection was a rabbit-hole of multiversal dimensions. A 'Part Two' seems necessary.

So, a 'Happy Birthday' to Michael Moorcock. Raise a glass to one of the living legends of Sword-and-Sorcery, sword-brothers.