Conan the Barbarian #5
Conan the Barbarian #5 introduces two of Roy Thomas's most enduring original creations for the Hyborian world — the sorcerer Zukala and his shapeshifting daughter Zephra — who would return in later chapters of the saga and help establish the series's tradition of recurrent supporting characters. The issue also represents a key moment in the Thomas–Windsor-Smith collaboration's approach to adaptation: rather than retelling a Howard prose story, Thomas built a full comics narrative from a single Howard poem ('Zukala's Hour'), demonstrating that the series could responsibly expand Howard's Hyborian universe beyond its prose source material. This willingness to weave verse, recurring characters, and sorcery-driven melodrama into the sword-and-sorcery genre helped define what Marvel's Conan would be — something more than faithful adaptation and something richer than pure pastiche. The series as a whole, with issues like this one building its world issue by issue, went on to launch a sword-and-sorcery vogue across 1970s American comics.
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The story's production order adds an unusual wrinkle to the issue's biography: though published fifth in the series, it was actually the third story drawn by Windsor-Smith, completed before the art for issues #3 and #4 was produced. Windsor-Smith had been brought onto the Conan title at a lower page rate than Thomas's first choice, John Buscema, because Marvel's ownership was reluctant to invest heavily in an untested non-superhero property — a frugal decision that serendipitously placed a developing young British artist at the center of Marvel's most important early-1970s experiment. By the time this issue reached stands in early 1971, Windsor-Smith had already relocated to the United States, and his style was visibly evolving from a Kirby-influenced dynamism toward the more Romantic, painterly approach that would define his later work on the title.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: May 1971; on-sale date: February 23, 1971; published by Marvel Comics.
- Story title: 'Zukala's Daughter'; written by Roy Thomas, penciled by Barry Windsor-Smith (credited as 'Barry Smith'), inked by Frank Giacoia, colored by Mimi Gold, lettered by Sam Rosen, edited by Stan Lee.
- First appearance of Zephra (Zukala's shapeshifting daughter), Zukala (the masked sorcerer), and the demon Jaggta-Noga — all original Marvel characters who returned in later issues of the series.
- The story is adapted/inspired by Robert E. Howard's poem 'Zukala's Hour,' not a Conan prose story — one of the earliest examples of Thomas building a full comics narrative from a Howard poem rather than a short story.
- Though published as issue #5, this was the third story actually drawn by Windsor-Smith in the run (after issues #1 and #2, but before #3 and #4) — meaning its art reflects an earlier stage of Windsor-Smith's rapidly evolving style.
- The letters page reprints the Hyborian Age map originally published in Conan the Barbarian #1.
- The story was reprinted in Giant-Size Conan #2 (Marvel) and collected in Dark Horse's Chronicles of Conan Volume 1: Tower of the Elephant and Other Stories (2003), which digitally recolored issues #1–8.
- Zephra and Zukala reappear in Conan the Barbarian #14–15, where they interact with Elric of Melniboné in a landmark crossover arc written by Thomas and Windsor-Smith.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Marvel Annual #1973 (1972), Giant-Size Conan #2 (1974), Eclipso #51 (1975), Savage Sword of Conan #5 (1975), Mundo de Aventuras #179 (1977), Conan #2 (11693) (1978), Conan #1 (1979), Conan de barbaar #1 (1979), Conan Pocket Book #2 (1980), Conan el Bárbaro #42 (1980), Conan de barbaar #3 (1981), Conan el Bárbaro #69 (1985), Conan el Bárbaro #78 (1985), Conan Saga #2 (1987), Magnum Spesial #2/1990 (1990), Conan Le Barbare #29 (1992), Conan Saga #1 (1993), Conan Classic #5 (1994), Conan el bárbaro #5 (1998), Essential Conan #1 (2000), The Chronicles of Conan #1 (2003), The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives #1 (2010), Conan el Bárbaro. Edición 35 Aniversario #[nn] (2017), Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus #1 (2018) + 10 more
Key issues in Conan the Barbarian
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