SOLOMON KANE: THE SERPENT RING part 4 (of 4): Hell on Earth
Solomon Kane refuses to be a tasty snack for a clan of spotted Hyenas.
The Valley of the Serpent.
Rolando Zarza, Nico Cassini, Mbondu, Hoto and Diamanta Bensaid have reach a guachimontón pyramid.
Zarza, the disgraced Knight of Malta, makes it clear that he's the one who will possess the Ring since he's the dude who financed the expedition to the Kingdom of Ndongo.
Inside the pyramid, Abramo Bensaid is the prisoner of the High Priestess of the Goddess Set, Sha-Kabet. Sha-Kabet scolds Abramo for desiring the Serpent Ring aka the Eye of Set.
Sha-Kabet mentions that she's actually quite ancient and that Set placed a curse on the Serpent Ring to ensure her successor's worth.
Sha-Kabet shows Abramo the past: We see Kull the Conqueror and Pictish warrior, Brule the Spear-Slayer fighting Serpent Men from "By This Axe I Rule!".
Thoth-Amon finding the ring in a nighted tomb a league beneath the earth, forgotten before the first man crawled out of the slimy sea from "The Phoenix on the Sword".
The hated, yet feared Thoth-Amon clashing with Conan the Barbarian from the upcoming Conan: Scourge of the Serpent mini-series.
Sha-Kabet confines in Abramo that she wants to know how firearms work.
Back outside. A gigantic snake straight from the 1982 John Milius movie attacks our heroes. The porter, Hoto gets swallowed. Solomon, out of nowhere, shoots the serpent in one eye, then the other.
Kane and company enter the pyramid and they immediately start slaying Serpent people.
Nico saves Diamanta from a spear, but dies for his heroism. Abramo loses a hand, but quickly mends the wound by calling The Lord who heals/Jehovah-Rapha.
Sha-Kabet heats up her temple, she burns Mbondu. Zarza grabs the Ring of Thoth-Amon that was hidden in the eye of an immense Set statue.
Zarza puts the ring on, it transforms him into a Serpent Man and he commands the Set possessed Set statue to kill Sha-Kabet. The statue cannot take the strain of being alive, it breaks apart on both Zarza and Sha-Kabet.
Kane, Mbondu, Diamanta and her father escape the collapsing pyramid.
The dour Puritan gives jewels/diamonds (procured off-panel inside the pyramid) to Diamanta... and leaves (like Diamanta did to Kane last issue when he was dying).
Fin.
What I did like:
Who gave Kane antivenin? Did Sha-Kabet survive? Patrick Zircher is keeping the specifics under his hat for now.
CassIni has been renamed CassAni.
The oceans that drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas from The Phoenix on the Sword get mentioned.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire mentioned.
Cyclops Polyphemus and Odysseus mentioned.
"Orlando in Love" by Matteo Maria Boiardo mentioned.
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor mentioned.
Yad ha'Elohim does indeed mean Hand of God.
Elizabeth I (1533–1603) mentioned.
"E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle" the last verse of Inferno, from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy quoted.
Professional comic book colourist, Peter Pantazis does another stupendous job.
We get an exclusive interview with the Z-Man himself: Patrick Zircher.
Fantastic variant covers by Jessica Fong & James Castillo.
What I did not like:
The real star of the series, the staff of Sha-Kabet, never resurfaces.
Mbondu is unaware that The Valley of the Serpent is the home of a ginormous serpent.
Where the heck did the giant snake go?
Sha-Kabet doesn't mention the giant snake.
Sha-Kabet does not appear on any of the covers!
A younger N'Longa, the fan favourite African shaman never appears. Disappointing!
No Golem! Extremely disappointing!
No mention that this tale takes place in 1562.
No letters page!
No "From the creator of Conan the Barbarian" on the cover to attract more readers.
A new Solomon Kane mini-series was not announced.
I give it a 9/10. Patrick Zircher is the MVP of Heroic Signatures, he surprises us with a cinematic, yet bittersweet grand finale full of non-stop action. Buy it now and Buy the TPB (ISBN-13: 9781787746428) in late October for the toothsome extras!
