SDCC San Diego Comic-Con 2020 Official Souvenir Book. Cover art by William Stout, layout by CCI/GarySassaman

Ladies Who Slay: 50 Years of Women and Conan in Comics



Before artists Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo populated the Hyborian Age with bewitching, Barbarian bodies, Conan-creator Robert E. Howard penned tales vibrant enough to conceive unequaled worlds of sensual sword-and-sorcery. Decades after The Phoenix on the Sword publication ("Weird Tales", December 1932), Howard's Barbarian still savages a path through pop-culture, pulp-fiction and, since 1970, comics.         
 
Like a sword thrust "through brass scales and bones and heart", Howard's wordsmithing leaves the reader breathless. Even sans the vivid Frazettas and Vallejos that would later, arguably, overshadow his work, Howard's storytelling stuns on its own.
2020 Official SDCC Souvenir Book: Conan the Barbarian original artwork by Ke Sneller, layout by CCI/GarySassaman.

"Her hair was like elfin-gold … Her full red lips smiled and from her slender feet to the blinding crown of her billowy hair, her ivory body was as perfect as the dream of a god. Conan's pulse hammered in his temples."

The Frost-Giant's Daughter, Robert E. Howard, "Weird Tales", 1933

Robert Ervin Howard (REH) was born a Texan, and died a Texan. In between, he traveled not only the vast Lone Star landscape, but the American South and Southwest. Occasional trips took him across the Mexican border, visiting Boys Town and sending picturesque postcards from destinations like Piedras Negra. Born in 1906, Howard's childhood was Western-nomadic, hauled from oil-boom towns to land-boom towns and back again by his manically-entrepreneurial father, Dr. Isaac Mordecai, and Robert's perpetually-ailing mother, Hester Jane.

REH, 1934, Cross Plains, TX. Photo, part of the Bancroft Library at UCBerkeley, provided by The Robert E. Howard Foundation.
REH, 1934, Cross Plains, TX. Photo, part of the Bancroft Library at UCBerkeley, provided by The Robert E. Howard Foundation.

“I’ll say one thing about an oil boom: it will teach a kid that life’s a pretty rotten thing … ”

Robert Ervin Howard (REH)
Cross Plains, TX eventually became home and, there, in central Texas, the Howards stayed. The tabula rasa of 1920s Texas bred an unmatched imagination. The parameters of a country school, real and psychological, proved a slog.

“I hated school … what I hated was the confinement, the clock-like regularity … most of all the idea that someone considered himself or herself in authority over me …”

- REH, letter to H.P. Lovecraft

Howard polished his art, devouring raconteurs like Twain, Poe and Lovecraft. A zeal for history, his grandmother's tales and the family cook's ghost stories, Howard developed early an appetite for sagas and the supernatural. Writing before the age of ten, Howard was first published at fifteen, via school newspapers and local rags. At eighteen, came his first professional sale: Spear and Fang ("Weird Tales", July 1925).

Life's trudge and burdensome fears of old age pummeled Howard. June 11th, 1936, day-three of his mother's coma, proved enough. That morning, Howard exited his mother's bedroom and went to his own. There, he typed a poem.

“All fled, all done
So lift me on the pyre.
The feast is over
And the lamps expire.”
                                           - REH


He then left the house, where his father kept vigil over Hester, walked a few short steps and climbed into his car: a 1935 Chevy he'd purchased for himself, with cash, from the rather good monies he'd earned writing. There, near the house, in the driver's seat, he shot himself in the head. He died eight hours later. Hester died the next day, having never regained consciousness. Mother and son were buried on June 14th at Greenleaf Cemetery in Brownwood, Texas, in a family plot Howard had recently purchased, "with perpetual care", on June 10th.

In a final frame of unimaginable pathos, Howard's father "paid someone to clean out the splattered brains" and drove his son's car, for years. Dr. Howard was reunited with his wife and only child on November 12, 1944.

Robert E. Howard's bedroom and writing space, incl. his typewriter. Cross Plains, TX. Photo provided by The Robert E. Howard Foundation

“Life is a hard thing for a woman. Your tall supple body will grow bent like mine, and broken with childbearing; your hands will become twisted, and your mind will grow strange and grey, with the toil and the weariness … ”

- Sword Woman, REH

What Howard left modern folklore was, not only Conan the Cimmerian, but a world of ladies who slay, literally. Pirates, witches and queens, Hyborian-age women battle as fiercely as Conan, and seduce as easily as they slay.

Decades after Howard's first Conan tale, the first Conan comic would be published, in Mexico: La Reina de la Costa Negra (1952), published by Corporacion Editorial Mexicana (CEM). Adapted from Howard's Queen of the Black Coast, the Hyborian pirate adventures ran in some fifty issues of CEM's Cuentos de Abuelito, yet presented Conan as a blond, rather than REH's raven-haired beast: an exotic switch for a Latin demo.

From the late-1950s into the mid-1960s, La Reina de la Costa Negra was published again by Ediciones Mexicanas Asocidas and, later, by Ediciones Joma giving the Mexican demographic another fifty-plus issues of Conan and his luscious pirate queen, Bêlit. 

If one was unaware of Hyborian citizenry, fantasy-artists Vallejo and Frazetta commanded awareness by the 1960s. Their savagely sexy visions unearthed scorching scenery. Before Conan comics, there were Conan book-covers to whet an upcoming generation's appetite.
Marvel Comics' Hyborian Ladies Who Slay, Red Sonja, Valeria, Belit, Zenobia. Permissions: CPI/Zetterberg

"I had purchased all the published 1960s Lancer paperback books starring Conan - mainly for their Frazetta covers …"

- Roy Thomas, Barbarian Life: Volume 1

Begat by writer/editor Roy Thomas, artist Barry Windsor-Smith and the celebrated Stan Lee, Red Sonja, likely the most recognizable scale-and-mail vixen, dauntlessly invaded Marvel in Shadow of the Vulture ("Conan the Barbarian" #23, Marvel, 1973).

Thomas' Red Sonja of Hyrkania was an eager adaptation of Howard's Red Sonya of Rogatine: heroine of his 1529 Viennese historical-yarn, The Shadow of the Vulture ("The Magic Carpet Magazine", January 1934).

If 1930s Sonya echoes a perkier, apple-cheeked Jean d'Arc, 1970s Sonja is a robust, yet suburbanesque warrior. Instead of a broadsword and katana, she could easily be clenching a tennis racket and workout towel: Farrah Fawcett in battle-whites.

Feathered, strawberry-ginger waves tumble between Sonja's 1973 shoulders; she is, naturally, fair of face. Battle-ready, she sports bell-sleeve, chainmail crop-tops, bold jewelry and, oddly, red granny-panties, which complement her red knee-boots nicely. However, throughout the remaing 1970s, she quickly becomes most recognizable in her trademark, chainmail bikini, thigh-holster with a nasty looking knife, and gladiator knee-sandals. The original Ginger Spice.

Sonja's origin-story waxes classic: family slaughtered, personally violated and home torched. Next, ancient magic unleashes to save her. Afterwards, there's copious soul-searching and perfection of mad MMA skillz, followed by a lifetime of revenge and palpable loneliness.

"I will find you, nameless one, and I will repay you for what you have done to my family, and to me!"

Red Sonja, "Kull and the Barbarians" #3: The Day of the Sword (Marvel, September 1975)
Conan the Barbarian: Marvel Treasury Edition #15: The Song of Red Sonja, Night of the Dark God, Three By Sonja (A Portfolio By Frank Thorne, Dick Giordano and Estaban Maroto), Black Colossus, January 1977. Permissions: CPI/Zetterberg

Through the Eighties, Sonja explores her feelings and sharpens her mad skillz, earning her place as warrior in a breadth of solo and crossover media. Yet, pop-culture's most defining image must be Brigitte Nielsen. The statuesque Dane of Richard Fleischer's 1985 feature Red Sonja cements her as a Marvel icon, initiating decades of hot, ginger cosplay.

Mid-Nineties, Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt (Marvel, December 1995) sets Sonja on a soul-quest. As a girl does, she got extra fit for said-quest, physically and mentally. Fierce swordplay, her mind-game en pointe, Sonja even lost a little weight. Thanks to illustrator Alex Jubran, she looks quite Giselle Bündchen, like she does way more Pilates than Crossfit.

Still, all that excellence couldn't save her: Red Sonja: Vol. 1 #34 (Dynamite Entertainment, 2005). Fortunately, comic characters never die, only move to a parallel universe. Sonja reincarnates as a version of her former self. New Sonja has elements of Old, but her origin-story changes: same family drama, but less magic and harder workouts.    
 
Mid-2010s, writer Gail Simone's in charge; Sonja's origin-story is again tweaked. The fam is still slaughtered, but Sonja slays all offenders. She is not raped and there's no ancient magic. Walter Geovani's illustrations are sultry and chill, giving Sonja a casual tenor: Lindsay Lohan languid and lean. She can hurt you, clearly, but could totally go to Starbucks instead.       
 
In 2020, writer/publisher Amy Chu dominates Sonja's narrative with new series Red Sonja: Worlds Away and, unexpectedly, Betty & Veronica Meet Vampirella & Red Sonja. Illustrators Carlos Gomez and Maria Sanapo present a fresh, youthful Sonja for a new decade: less Thundra, more Buffy.
 
Howard's first Conan-cohort, Bêlit the Pirate Queen, beguiles the reader as skillfully as she does Conan. At first blush, she seems to submit to the Norlander; but hers is a Beyoncé/Jay-Z vision. Together, they shall rule.
 

"Look at me, Conan! I am Bêlit, queen of the black coast. Oh, tiger of the north … Take me and crush me with your fierce love! … I am a queen by fire and steel and slaughter - be thou my king!"

Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast I, Robert E. Howard, "Weird Tales", May 1934
Conan the Brabarian #58: Queen of the Black Coast! Marvel Comics, January, 1976. Permissions: CPI/JZetterberg
Dude, it could not be easier.

Captaining the Tigress, Bêlit is a force of hurricane-strength, commanding a corsair crew wearing naught but a corset and sandals. As Howard penned one Bêlit exploit, it fell to Marvel to hoist again the Tigress' sails.

In 1975, Roy Thomas reacquaints Bêlit and Conan in Queen of the Black Coast. Artist John Buscema revamps her from 1930s Mata Hari to 1970s hippie-chick: think Cher, Half-Breed. Earthy, with ultra-long, stick-straight, blue-black hair, Bêlit makes swimwear a clever career choice, for pirate work: bikinis or plunging one-pieces, gold accessories and bucket-top boots. No cover-ups for this confident chick. Yet, even Cher-flair couldn't deflect Bêlit's demise. In 1979, Death comes a-knockin' for disco, the Seventies, and Bêlit in Death on the Black Coast: Conan the Barbarian, volume 1, #100 (Marvel, 1979).

Fortunately, death is theoretical in comics. In the Nineties, Bêlit got a Baywatch-era Yasmine Bleeth makeover, and recouped the Black Coast. No matter her strut, in harem pants, bikinis and belly chains, or in fur-and-leather Faire-garb, Bêlit's mission was simple: dominate the Hyborian seas.

Millennial Bêlit sailed Dark Horse waters, fierce as ever. Song of Bêlit (Dark Horse Comics, 2014) sparks a moonlit, gothic trend. Illustrator Paul Azaceta produces an Addamsesque, ghostly beauty. By 2020, savvy Bêlit channels a Max Black/2 Broke Girls aura: sharp tongue, sharper cheekbones and a quick wit. Writer Tini Howard (no relation) molds Bêlit as a "cautionary tale", rather than a heroine. Tini's Bêlit possesses a shrewd, gaming mentality, choosing chess-like moves over brute force. Illustrators Afu Chan and Kate Niemczyk manifest an extant Bêlit in fun, anime form, as well as forms reminiscent of 1980s Nagel-art and Riverdale's Veronica Lodge.

Holding the sad honour of Howard's final heroine, is Valeria of the Red Brotherhood. Finishing her tale weeks before his suicide, Howard described Red Nails as: … the grimmest, bloodiest and most merciless story of the series so far. Too much raw meat

“Once the sword was drawn there was no turning back; for blood called for blood, and vengeance followed swift on the heels of atrocity.”

Red Nails, Robert E. Howard ("Weird Tales" 1936)
Weird Tales cover features a pale, willowy blonde, resembling silent-era film siren Edwina Booth. Illustrated by Margaret Brundage, Valeria looks ill-equipped to fend off a feisty Pomeranian, let alone the ungodly creatures of Red Nails.   
 
Valeria's introduced fleeing justice, having slain an ungentlemanly officer. As they say in Texas, He needed killin'. Conan's been tracking her for days, but, necessarily, they double-up to defeat dragons, witches and poison apples, even saving a village in the process. By story's end, like a beefier Scully and Mulder, they set off to right what's wrong in a very weird landscape.      
 
In 1973, Roy Thomas revives Valeria; John Buscema and Barry Windsor-Smith design her sturdier than Brundage's elegant waif. In harem pants, metal halters and long blonde tresses, she maintains an I Dream of Jeannie flow; but it's a harder, tight-jawed Jeannie slaying Krakens and flying iguanas.
 
Film-buffs are forgiven, for mistaking John Milius' 1982 Conan the Barbarian poster for a Buns of Steel VHS-tape cover. Say what you like about the Eighties, but, ladiesbefit. If there's a lasting image of Valeria, it's Sandahl Bergman: IRL Vallejo girl. With the film's success, Marvel released a comic adaptation, written by Michael Fleischer with cover-art by John Buscema: Conan the Barbarian: Movie Special (October 1982). Of course, because she's just a girl, she must die. Yet, after death, her spirit returns to save Conan's life.
 
*Interestingly, in Death on the Black Coast: Conan the Barbarian, volume 1, #100 (Marvel, 1979) Bêlit's spirit also returns après-death, to save Conan. Who's the fairer sex now, Co-nan?
 
Dark Horse Comics Valeria (2003 - 2019) wears her independence comfortably. Conan's nice but not necessary. She can save herself and her horse is her bestie. Marvel's 2020 Valeria (Age of Conan series by Meredith Finch, illustrated by Aneke) recalls a yoga-strong Kaley Cuoco: sweet of face, kind of words, supakawaii in Faire garb and will run you through like old Camembert, then treat her horsie to some timothy hay, beside a tranquil, jungle pool.
 
Who run the world? H-town girls. Their numbers are great: Zenobia, Queen Gedren, Queen Taramis, Princess Jhenna, Marique and countless others battling alongside, and against, Conan. Enter the Hyborian Age at your own risk.
 
From 1970-2003, Marvel licensed the beast that is Conan, as well as all movies, games, and fathomable kind of Conan product; from 2003-2018, Dark Horse held taut those licensing reins. Now, Conan's back home. In 2019, flush with Disney Dollars, Marvel reacquired the license for Conan Properties International (CPI). Even with Mouse House caché, will devotées crave more Conan? Or will they fancy the worlds Stan Lee and Roy Thomas cultivated when they ushered Conan into comics, fifty years ago?

 

Age of Conan #4: Valeria, Marvel Comics, November 2019. Permissions: CPI/Zetterberg

Contributor bio: Jennifer Susannah Devore authors Savannah of Williamsburg, an 18thC. historical-fiction series; she's currently penning BookV in the series. She also authored The Darlings of Orange County, contempo-fiction mise-en-scène in SoCal. Jennifer's obsessed with British mysteries, Northern European paintings and Bob's Burgers. She's intensified her yoga, in case she visits Hyboria.  

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About Author

Jennifer Susannah Devore (a.k.a. JennyPop) authors the 18th C. historical-fiction series Savannah of Williamsburg. She is a regular contributor - 10 years running - to the Official San Diego Comic-Con Souvenir Book; as well, she writes and researches all content for JennyPop.com. Occasionally, JennyPop writes under the pseudonym Miss Hannah Hart, ghostdame of The Hotel del Coronado.

JennyPop has been cited by TIME magazine as a Peanuts and Charlie Brown expert. Her latest novel is The Darlings of Orange County, a sexy, posh and deadly romp through Hollywood, San Diego and Orange County. Book IV in the Savannah of Williamsburg Series is completed and awaits publication. She is currently researching Book V for the series. She resides at the beach with her husband, a tiny dog, a vast wardrobe and a closet that simply shan't do.