Jim Zub's Twisting Loyalties part 2: Fangs & Foolish Thieves concludes.
The Shemite coastal city of Kyros. The sneak thieves lead by Tarnasha have been brutally dispatched by Conan of Cimmeria and girlfriend Bêlit.
To save her life, Tarnasha, proposes a heist to steal a relic.
We get a nice The God in the Bowl flashback. Conan encounters "The Serpent God" in Kallian Publico's Temple, a museum in Numalia (city in Nemedia). Conan is still shell-shocked from his clash with the enormous snake with the human visage.
Bêlit, Conan and Tarnasha decide to team up. They make a pact. They will remain partners for the duration of the robbery.
The trio of thieves start planning. The famous antiquarian, Libradicio, has in his possession a Stygian artifact, "The Fangs of The Serpent".
Bêlit will create a disturbance (as Libradicio's troubadour paramour) in front of the antiquarian's manor house and Conan & Tarnasha will filch "The Fangs" and whatever else shiny they can get their mitts on.
The Lord of the Black Ring is indisposed, so snake priest Nizsm is the one who visits Libradicio. Nizsm MUST return to Kheshatta (city of magicians in Stygia) with "The Fangs of The Serpent"; i.e., Thulsa Doom's Dagger (the very same one with the two intertwining snakes from the 1982 Conan the Barbarian film).
Nizsm and his two bodyguards decide to kill all witnesses. Libradicio's two guards fall to the khopeshs of the bodyguards.
Nizsm utilizes Doom's Dagger to slit the antiquarian's throat.
Conan kills bodyguard #1 and Tarnasha fails to kill Nizsm.
Nizsm uses the power of the Doom dagger to turn himself into a Serpent Man. Conan tries to fight Nizsm, but the priest in his new reptilian form is now much too powerful.
Nizsm stabs Conan in the gut, infecting our hero with Set magic. Nizsm informs the barbarian that his Cimmerian strength will now be serving his dark god.
Bêlit arrives on the scene, she starts strangulating bodyguard #2 for information, kills Nizsm from behind and pulls Doom's Dagger from her lover's belly.
Nizsm never intended to pay for the Dagger so no gold coins can be found.
Tarnasha escapes with the 1982 Dagger.
Looking for revenge, Bodyguard #2 attacks Bêlit, Conan kills him.
The Militia arrive too late, Bêlit, Conan and Tarnasha have already departed.
Bêlit buys two cloaks and the Queen & King of the Black Coast return to Bêlit's ship, The Tigress.
Bêlit orders her crew to hunt down Tarnasha. Conan, the cooler head, tells Bêlit to stand down. Sacrificing the crew to satiate a desire for vengeance is idiotic. They cast off instead.
In Kheshatta? The master of the Black Ring (Thoth-Amon, High Priest of Set?) is seen conversing with an unseen entity (Set?) who is requesting more power.
The End!
What I did like:
Some humour finally slithers into the tale.
The End?! What is Set's grand plan for humanity? We'll find out in SCOURGE OF THE SERPENT on Free Comic Book Day 2025.
A nice interview with Canadian illustrator/artist: Danica Brine.
An advert for the upcoming Solomon Kane mini-series by Patch Zircher. The iconic hero returns with a furious vengeance in his first solo series in 15 years!
Tarim and Ishtar mentioned.
2 female characters actually speak! Two!
Women appear on FIVE of the variant covers. Bravo!
Archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks is on fire this month, he talks Iron Shadows in the Moon, The Pool of the Black One, The Black Stranger, Helen Tavrel, Isle Of Pirate's Doom, Pirate Anne Bonny, Pirate queen Grace O'Malley, Marylin Taferal, The Moon of Skulls, Sir Richard Grenville, The Blue Flame of Vengeance/Blades of the Brotherhood, Malachi Grim, Cormac Mac Art, Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, Terence Vulmea, Swords of the Red Brotherhood, Black Vulmea's Vengeance, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rafael Sabatini and Douglas Fairbanks.
What I did not like:
Tarnasha does not really care that Bêlit and Conan decimated her companions.
Bêlit is disrespectful toward her crew.
Bêlit does not use a Wild Blueberry potion to heal Conan.
More Thulsa stuff? Really? It's just too soon, bro. The Barbarian has other enemies. New recurring villains can also be invented and used.
Still NO letters page!
I give it a 6/10. Zub cannot give us a decent heist because he is just way too busy mining the Milius universe for memorable memorabilia. Heroic Signatures, please stop procrastinating and give us adaptations of John Milius’s screenplay: King Conan - Crown of Iron and of Fred L. Rexer, Jr.’s screenplay: Conan - The Lord Of Stone. Get Arnold Schwarzenegger on the phone and pay for his likeness already. The John Milius universe should have its own series. C'mon, Fredrik Malmberg! Do it! Make the call.
