Literature: "Queen of the Black Coast" (1934)

Today, I wanted to touch upon a vintage Swords & Sorcery tale, the great "Queen of the Black Coast" (1934) by R. E. Howard:

While this is ripping yarn generally acknowledged as one of R. E. Howard's finest Conan of Cimmeria entries and while I generally agree with this assessment, something about this story has always irked me.  Specifically, at the beginning, Conan walks into the courthouse open carrying his broadsword and apparently no one tried to relieve him of his obviously lethal instrumentality.  One might argue that the court staff was cowed into submission...except that the judge's behavior obviously indicates otherwise.

This utter lack of self-awareness or sense of self-preservation by the court staff broke my suspension of disbelief.

ಠ_ಠ

Next, Conan brutally murders the judge in cold blood because the latter dared to ask the barbarian displeasing questions.  Leaving aside the issue of the Cimmerian's obvious sociopathy in killing an innocent person, making the court staff unbelievable stupid is, well, unbelievable.  Really, the whole beginning reads like Howard's revenge porn against some authority figure that irked him personally.

Howard then resorts to massive Plot Armor in order to prevent the logical conclusion of this scenario (i.e., Conan's capture and execution).

O_o

Thereafter, "Queen of the Black Coast" kicks into high gear and becomes a fine heroic fantasy story, featuring perhaps the most interesting supporting character in all of the original Conan works, Bêlit, "the wildest she-devil unhanged."

But that first speed bump is a doozie.