War Correspondence: Solomon Kane and the Priests of Bast

Today I went to the Central Lending Library in Durban to look at a book that is a collection of Robert E. Howard stories about Solomon Kane. You will recognise Howard as the creator of Conan, which led to stuff like Red Sonja and chainmail bikinis. I wanted to see what Howard had to say about the Staff of Solomon, as the Wikipedia article is…strange, and the rest of the internet appears to be silent on the matter. Yes, I did not think that was possible either, but it is.


When Solomon Kane was in Africa, he was given a cat-headed staff by the juju man N'Longa. A juju man is a highly racist version of a witchdoctor, but I won't blame Howard for that. Even H. Rider Haggard was guilty of that sort of thing. It’s a product of the times they lived in. Kane, being a Puritan, suspects that the staff is an Object of Dark Magic, but for some reason, he finds himself unwilling to get rid of it. This is fortunate, as it helps him fight of evil sorcerers and monsters. This reinforces Kane's suspicion that its is an Object of Dark Magic. But then he is captured by Arab slave traders, and is told by an elderly Arab named Yussef that it is the Staff of Solmon. King Solomon of Israel.


The staff has an incredible history - being first wielded by people who's kingdoms now lie under the sea, then by the Priests of Bast in Egypt, then by Moses, and the by King David and Solomon. In all cases it was used to fight of evil creatures and perform miraculous wonders. Then they run across some ancient ruins with a sealed door. Yussef warns his leader not to open the door, as this is likely a prison built by King Solomon to house an evil creature. (Because, of course, all ancient ruins in Africa were built by the Egyptians, Atlanteans or King Solomon.) But the Arab leader thinks that there is a great treasue behind the door. He orders his men to open it, and they do. Out rushes a demonic creature, who attacks and kills the Arab leader, and the rest of them flee, leaving behind Kane and the staff. Kane breaks his bonds, grabs the staff, and uses it to kill the creature. Looking at the staff, he realises that it is not a Object of Dark Magic, but an Object of Light.


I thought Howard invented the staff, but apparently does actually exist in legends. Unless the writer of the Wikipedia article on the Staff of Solomon is making things up. That is possible, as the article lists only one source, which is a description of the adaze(s) of Wepwawet being used in the opening of the mouth ceremony, part of the burial of a Pharaoh. The article claims that the staff is one of these objects. Wepwawet is a wolf-headed god often confused with Anubis - both were said to lead the dead into the underworld. Try as I might, I cannot find a link between Wepwawet and Bast. But apparently the makers of Age of Mythology could, as if you choose to follow Bast, you gain a technology called Adaze of Wepwawet which allows you to cut down trees faster.


Bast is, unfortunately, a very misunderstood goddess. The same can be said about Horus, Osiris, Isis, Set… well, just about any of the Egyptian gods. This problem stems partly from the fact that Ancient Egypt spanned a period of about 3000 years, and over time their beliefs about various gods changed drastically. They also had a habit of combining two gods into one. A further complication is added by the Greeks, who had an annoying habit of taking the gods of other cultures and identifying them with their own gods, and then projecting aspects of their own gods back onto the other gods, and then telling us about those attributes, despite the fact that the other gods never had them to begin with. Confusing enough? Bast was originally a solar lion goddess. Over time, Bast became associated with cats. But she was not the goddess of cats. She was a goddess with a cat head, who sometimes appeared in the form of a cat. She was regarded as a goddess of protection - but she would probably agree the best way to protect yourself is to go out and disembowel all of your enemies. It seems the Greeks decided she was like Artemis, and so told everyone she was a moon goddess. (By the way, the Panther God of Wakandia is apparently an aspect of Bast.)


There is one other problem with Howard's account - if you read Exodus you will notice that there are in fact two staves that perform miracles. At the burning bush Moses' shepherd staff turns into a serpent and back into a staff again, but when Moses and his brother Aaron appear before Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites, it is Aaron's staff that becomes a serpent. Aaron's staff turns the Nile to blood, and calls down plagues of frogs and insects. And then Moses' staff calls down hail and locusts. This does not make much sense - until you remember that God is performing the miracles, not Moses, Aaron or their staves.


Later Aaron's staff is put in the Ark of the Covenant, but Moses' one is not. So there may have been a tradition that Moses' staff was kept, and passed onto the Kings years later. But I can find no real evidence of this. This is an important issue, as I want to use the staff in my novel. But if Howard made it up, I don't think I can.

So I have two questions I still need to solve - did Howard make the staff up? And what do the makers of Age of Mythology know that I don't?

From the Front - September, Second Wave

I didn't realise that Guardians was missing till I checked up on when these books came out. Must be another shipping mess up. Yay. But regardless, this is the rest of my September reviews. Hopefully I can review the first arc of Guardians (1-6) and the Secret Invasion/She-Hulk tie-in-cross-over arc of X-Factor before the end of the month.

Uncanny X-Men #502
SFX Part 3: Beginning to See the Light
The title is very apt, as Uncanny is either getting better, or I'm just enjoying it more for some reason. This issue gets across exactly how things are going to work. If, like me, you thought Karma's unannounced appearance at the end of last issue was strange, you had best get used to it. Cause Cyclops is gonna call in whoever he needs, whenever he wants. Need bait for a trap? Call in Karma, who can walk around looking like a helpless girl, but is really incredibly tough and can suddenly turn around and control her attackers minds. This issue does a far better job of introducing her then the story about her in Manifest Destiny - and she's barely in half of the book! And when the mission is finished, he thanks her and she leaves, and we don't see her again in the issue. In a similar way to Karma's appearance, Storm suddenly shows up to help attack the Hellfire Cult's base with no explanation of where she's been (probably flying in from Wakandia, but her role will be examined in the World's Apart miniseries). Colossus is apparently on the mission too, but we don't see him.

We are shown exactly what kind of leader Cyclops is - his plans aren't perfect, as Karma's ability to control people is neutralised in the first page, forcing her to withdraw, and later Empath escapes a carefully constructed web by means of a tunnel that no one knew about. On the other hand he has contingencies in place, as Logan and Kurt are on hand to take down the ambushers when Karma proves unable to control them. He's also good at rapidly analysing situations and changing plans accordingly (Emma explained this to Shanna back in the Savage Land). For the mission to the cultists base, where presumably they will still be protected from mental attacks, he tells Emma to go diamond form, using her as powerhouse instead of a telepath. This will prevent her from acting as team coordinator, so he uses Beast (with radio communicators) as co-ordinator instead. When Pixie suddenly leaves, they're short a teleporter, so he calls in Kurt again.

We also take a good look at Pixie. It takes a lot to shut her up, but Beast manages to render her speechless by introducing her to her favourite pop-star, Dazzler. Pixie then decides she just wants to be normal, and tries to sneak off, but learns there's no sneaking past Logan. He drop her off at her friend's place in a run-down warehouse, and gives her a good Logan-style talking to. He calls her girly-girl, probably because of the unicorn incident near the end of the New X-Men run. And while the X-Men are off fighting Emapth, Pixie decides to join them after all, leaving us with the famous words, 'What could possibly go wrong?'

By the way, anyone else notice the graffiti scrawled on the wall read 'Embrace Change'? Skrull propaganda is everywhere.

Verdict: Minor Victory.

X-Factor #35
Best Intentions
I decided to read this, as it could take while for #34 to get here, and it’s a SI tie in anyway, so its not absolutely essential. I was wondering if David could come up with a good reason for the real Longshot to show up, and he does. Longshot sees a picture of himself and Darwin fighting a skrull in the newspapers, so goes to Detroit to find out who's been impersonating him, and is told that XF Investigations are good at getting answers, so he pays them a visit. Hilarity ensuses as he tries to convince Guido that if he was a skrull, he wouldn't be impersonating someone they knew was a skrull, would he? This sort of thing works with Guido - but it doesn't with Rictor. If Rictor's on the team for his investigation skills rather than his powers (and we know he has investigation skills, he's the only one who realised something was off with Gameday) surely he can work out for himself that Longshot isn't a skrull?

Madrox and M are called in by the cops and shown Hector (Darwin's father) in a coma at the hospital, with severe brain damage. Longshot seems to be replacing Layla, as he gets a feeling that it would be a good idea to meet Madrox at the hospital, and uses his powers to charm the dour cop into giving him Hector's check book, leading to the reveal that Hector only wanted to find Darwin because someone was paying him to deliver Darwin to them. Except, instead of paying Hector, they shot him. How nice. But it never rains, it pours - Madrox accidentally lets out his X-Factor dupe, who tries to suffocate Hector, but fortunately he is stopped in time. But...Longshot now knows Madrox's secret. He has proved his usefulness , so it looks like he'll get a feeling that it will be a good idea to stick around for a while.

Darwin, meanwhile, is at the mercy of some nasty people, who appear to be trying to use him for some sort of genetic experiment. Why do I get the feeling that this corporation will turn out to be funded by the same mysterious person who was funding Damian Tryp and Singularity?

While the story is strong, I am still not enjoying Larry Stroman's art. It’s a bit better than issue #33, but not by much. The cover is good, but Siryn doesn't fight Longshot - in fact, she's the one who convinces Guido he is who he says he is. But we don't exapect whats on the cover to actually happen in the book anymore, do we?

Verdict: Minor Victory.

Both books aren't at their best, but they're getting there. And lastly…

Solomon Kane #1
The Castle of the Devil, Part 1
This is the first book from Dark Horse I've bought - in fact it’s the first book by a publisher other than Marvel or DC. And it was quite different. Even the paper felt different. And I must admit…I didn't quite follow the story. But it is the first of a five-parter adapting a story that Robert E. Howard never actually finished, so I'm sure my understanding will improve drastically when I have more of the story in my hands. It takes place in Germany before Kane travels to Africa, and follows his journey with incidental companion John Silent, who's name sounds vaguely familiar - I suppose he is referred to one or twice in the later stories I've read. Silent and Kane are not two people who would normally make friends, Silent doesn't quite know what to make of Kane's insistence that he is following God's will, and Kane dislikes Silent's blasphemous mouth (and yes, saying 'Name of the Devil' counted as bad swearing back then, especially to Puriatins like Kane). But a fellow Englishman is a fellow Englishman, and they find themselves starting to like each other in spite of their differences. They end up guests at the titular castle, named after the Abbey of the Devil over which it was built, made infamous by the discovory that its prior was an apostate. The Baron who resides in the castle is obovisly either very scared of some evil goings on, or is the instigator of them, but no more is revealed for now. The artwork was sombre bat well-drawn, with a pastel palette - except for the blood in Kane's fight with the bandits, which is jarringly bright red. I suppose I'm used to X-Factor in which blood is usually discoloured to a muddy brown. And its good to know I'm not jaded and still flinch at blood.

By the way, the cover scene does happen in the book. Well, almost - he's not holding his gun in the book.

Verdict: Minor Loss. I didn't particularly enjoy this, even though I usually enjoy Kane stories. But I'm hoping I will be able to revise my opinion soon.