Jesse’s Reviews > Tales of Weird Menace > Status Update
Jesse
is on page 99 of 536
“Skull-Face”
This is one of the pulpiest things I’ve yet read from Howard. This story stands in contrast to the attitude behind REH’s Early Adventures of El Borak, which had a multi-racial gallery of comrades for ol’ Frank Gordon. Here, Cthulhu—I mean, Kathulos—has a multiracial crew of thugs that he plans to use to recreate the civilization of Atlantis.
— Nov 12, 2025 02:37PM
This is one of the pulpiest things I’ve yet read from Howard. This story stands in contrast to the attitude behind REH’s Early Adventures of El Borak, which had a multi-racial gallery of comrades for ol’ Frank Gordon. Here, Cthulhu—I mean, Kathulos—has a multiracial crew of thugs that he plans to use to recreate the civilization of Atlantis.
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Jesse’s Previous Updates
Jesse
is on page 517 of 536
“Moon of Zambebwei (untitled synopsis)”
Again, a synopsis of the published story with few if any significant differences. I’m struggling to think of exactly where these synopses fit in with Howard’s creative process. Was this his brainstorming? It’s not as though the opening essay tells us anything about this, preferring to laud “Skull-Face”.
— Nov 15, 2025 05:21PM
Again, a synopsis of the published story with few if any significant differences. I’m struggling to think of exactly where these synopses fit in with Howard’s creative process. Was this his brainstorming? It’s not as though the opening essay tells us anything about this, preferring to laud “Skull-Face”.
Jesse
is on page 513 of 536
“The Black Hound of Death (synopsis)”
A pretty straight summary of the story. No revelations, here, except Brent’s assistant was white in the draft, but mixed race in the finished tale.
— Nov 15, 2025 05:15PM
A pretty straight summary of the story. No revelations, here, except Brent’s assistant was white in the draft, but mixed race in the finished tale.
Jesse
is on page 511 of 536
“The House of Om (synopsis)”
Sooo this is a full blow by blow synopsis of a Yellow Peril story. Now, the villain is an expatriate American, but some of the broad details are similar to “Guests of the Hoodoo Room”, including a frame-up, an heiress under the power of the bad guy, and a world domination plot. But, uh, Om’s plot sounds like QAnon talking points. Time is a circle, I guess!
— Nov 15, 2025 05:11PM
Sooo this is a full blow by blow synopsis of a Yellow Peril story. Now, the villain is an expatriate American, but some of the broad details are similar to “Guests of the Hoodoo Room”, including a frame-up, an heiress under the power of the bad guy, and a world domination plot. But, uh, Om’s plot sounds like QAnon talking points. Time is a circle, I guess!
Jesse
is on page 499 of 536
“The Devils of Dark Lake (untitled synopsis)”
As I read this synopsis I’m laughing again at how ridiculous this story is, and then I’m surprised because Howard omitted one key detail from the synopsis when writing the main story, resulting in—astoundingly—a LESS racist tale.
— Nov 15, 2025 04:09PM
As I read this synopsis I’m laughing again at how ridiculous this story is, and then I’m surprised because Howard omitted one key detail from the synopsis when writing the main story, resulting in—astoundingly—a LESS racist tale.
Jesse
is on page 493 of 536
“Sons of Hate”
Three partial synopses. They detail the evolution of the story as Howard imagined it. The first two are pretty much in-line with the final story. The third has most of the plot beats, but Howard was considering changing Stalbridge’s last name to Brandon and having Gorman getting brained by the iron slug while driving a car instead of while he was running to the rescue.
— Nov 15, 2025 04:00PM
Three partial synopses. They detail the evolution of the story as Howard imagined it. The first two are pretty much in-line with the final story. The third has most of the plot beats, but Howard was considering changing Stalbridge’s last name to Brandon and having Gorman getting brained by the iron slug while driving a car instead of while he was running to the rescue.
Jesse
is on page 487 of 536
“”James Norris…””
This synopsis is a blueprint for a murder mystery with zero occult trappings. I mean, fair enough! I’ve read enough exploitative racism to last the rest of my life and this has none of the like.
— Nov 15, 2025 03:52PM
This synopsis is a blueprint for a murder mystery with zero occult trappings. I mean, fair enough! I’ve read enough exploitative racism to last the rest of my life and this has none of the like.
Jesse
is on page 485 of 536
“The Spell of Damballah”
A Kirby of unknown provenance investigates a case where a man’s fiance has been hypnotized. But, no, it’s not Oriental, here, but a Haitian con-man who is using voodoo to control affluent young women into stealing their fathers’ riches and then running off with him. As this fragment terminates, Loup is 0 for 2 but has just taken a potshot at our hero, the bullet grazing his scalp.
— Nov 15, 2025 03:47PM
A Kirby of unknown provenance investigates a case where a man’s fiance has been hypnotized. But, no, it’s not Oriental, here, but a Haitian con-man who is using voodoo to control affluent young women into stealing their fathers’ riches and then running off with him. As this fragment terminates, Loup is 0 for 2 but has just taken a potshot at our hero, the bullet grazing his scalp.
Jesse
is on page 479 of 536
“Spectres in the Dark”
A city is under siege from spectres that are haunting people and appear to be capable of possessing them, driving them into murderous rampages. This story doesn’t go so far as to reveal what the cause of this epidemic is, but if the weird aside between the narrator and his brother in law is any indication, then it’s some sort of Oriental hypnotism / mesmerism at play.
— Nov 15, 2025 10:24AM
A city is under siege from spectres that are haunting people and appear to be capable of possessing them, driving them into murderous rampages. This story doesn’t go so far as to reveal what the cause of this epidemic is, but if the weird aside between the narrator and his brother in law is any indication, then it’s some sort of Oriental hypnotism / mesmerism at play.
Jesse
is on page 465 of 536
“The Jade God”
Another night, another cursed treasure. This one APPEARS to be set in the antebellum South and has two men rushing to the defense of a third, who talks about “the jade god” right before he expires. And their locale is kind of isolated due to a recent flood. And the dead man had just entrusted a jade idol to one of his two would-be rescuers.
— Nov 15, 2025 09:47AM
Another night, another cursed treasure. This one APPEARS to be set in the antebellum South and has two men rushing to the defense of a third, who talks about “the jade god” right before he expires. And their locale is kind of isolated due to a recent flood. And the dead man had just entrusted a jade idol to one of his two would-be rescuers.
Jesse
is on page 459 of 536
“Yellow Laughter”
A bizarre fragment, the setup of which I don’t entirely understand. It looks like some sailor’s boat was taken over by Chinese malcontents, one of whom he knows by name. The “yellow” paranoia is palpable, concluding with an image of all the invaders laughing at the MC while he rows away in a small watercraft, which he presumes is his means of escape. God only knows where this was going.
— Nov 15, 2025 08:35AM
A bizarre fragment, the setup of which I don’t entirely understand. It looks like some sailor’s boat was taken over by Chinese malcontents, one of whom he knows by name. The “yellow” paranoia is palpable, concluding with an image of all the invaders laughing at the MC while he rows away in a small watercraft, which he presumes is his means of escape. God only knows where this was going.
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rated it 4 stars
Nov 12, 2025 02:40PM
Cthulhu is a worthy comparison, though Kathulos is obviously of an infinitesimal power. Both are dredged up from the bottom of the sea; they can drive men insane; and they plan a sort of ghastly world revolution that has Implications for, err, the “white race”. Howard’s language here is deliberately borrowed to invoke the tone of the Call of Cthulhu.
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I think that the Kull book drew a lineage between Tulsa Doom and Kathulos. It would have been kind of cool to reveal this mummy man as ol’ Skeletor, but Tulsa was kind of a soggy muffin. A mastermind, I guess, but the way that story ended—with him striding away—was kind of awkward.
The El Borak comparison is funny because Kathulos’s plan has some of the trappings of El Borak’s larger schemes. I distinctly recall Howard planning to have him overthrow some governments in the East. But, well, he’s a white guy with the heart of a barbarian, so he can do no wrong by Howard.
As a completed story, this one gives us a love interest in Zuleika. Like, okay. She bails Costigan out on several occasions and is madly in love with him because she can see his noble soul beneath the hash addiction. At least she doesn’t end up naked.
There was something else… Costigan is addicted to hash as a coping mechanism for PTSD from his time in World War I. It’s an interesting character beat for REH, and the first twist Howard gives us with it is the villain removing the addiction…by replacing it with an even WORSE one.
It’s too bad that it’s saddled with the master plan to foment an African revolution with Kathulos as its Atlantean messiah, fully intending them to be slaves in the new world order.
This story talks about Atlantis but it doesn’t feel so much like Kull’s… it’s more the picture of CAS’s Atlanteans with their magic and opulence. Well, REH DOES describe this Atlantis as part of Solomon Kane’s adventures.
I forgot to mention that Kathulos’s posse is racially similar to El Borak’s, almost like much of the fringe of the early conception of Frank Gordon was given over to Kathulos, with Gordon vaguely similar to the JOHN Gordon agent in this story.
