It's the Collaborators Who Add the Extra Shine
Roy Thomas delivers another barbarian vs. decadent empire story in 'When Dead Gods Walk!' Arak, once the hero of Byzantium, after helping secure the capture of a were-lioness, and then leading The Greens to victory in the chariot races in the Hippodrome, suddenly becomes an enemy of the state when he defies Empress Irene's request for an audience, and he and Satyricus (whose true nature is revealed when he is disrobed in the arena) rescue the were-lioness instead.
That story is O.K., but the issue features the return of the Valda backup feature by Roy and Dann Thomas, and as before, that's where the real interest seems to be brewing, even though the story 'Red Corpse Riding' is just a 7 page setup for things to come.
While this whole title is Roy's baby, it's the collaborators that really make this issue. The aforementioned co-plotting by Dann on the Valda story, and especially, new artist Ron Randall who really draws sexy feminine figures of the were-tigress Dyana, and Valda. Also the original Arak artist, Ernie Colon has a full page pinup in the back of the issue that would have made a great cover back in the early issues.
Someday maybe DC will get around to collecting all these issues in a trade, given the resurgence in popularity of the sword-and-sorcery genre.