Jim Zub's A Nest of Serpents part 4: The Nest Beneath
Athyr-Bast (sorceress of the Outer Circle) is infuriated, she's been betrayed by a barbarian who was born on a battlefield!
Conan the Cimmerian and Zula the Darfarian are now wanted men looking for Set's subterranean brood.
Zula surmises that Thoth-Amon must be breeding giant snakes somewhere and that he will be sending them out in bowls as "gifts" to his enemies (as seen in The God in the Bowl).
Zula explains that the exorcised evil snake spirit twin of Conan (Conan the Barbarian #20) now lives in his magical amulet, masking his true aura from Set sorcerers.
Conan and Zula kill three guards. Zula uses the power of his amulet to open a gigantic sealed H.R. Giger themed door. What could be lurking within?
Conan and Zula find dozens and dozens of snake eggs. Man-Serpent younglings attack our heroes. Conan at last recalls the traumatizing events of The God in the Bowl.
Zula's amulet is making the younglings excited, Zula cannot shapeshift to escape. Conan sees the mysterious Set siren from the upcoming Scourge of the Serpent mini-series. Conan incinerates the Man-Serpent who was trying to hypnotize him.
Zula is unable to purge the snake spirit from his amulet so Conan shatters the baleful bauble on the ground. Conan lights up the floor with his torch, scorching the slithering litter. Conan and Zula vamoose from the burning birthing den.
Somehow the slaves of Kheshatta have broken free! Zula disappears in the frantic crowd, leaving Conan to rescue Livia (The Vale of Lost Women) on his own.
Conan finds Livia... alone, freshly bewitched by Athyr-Bast's curse of kindness. Livia assures Conan that he will encounter Athyr-Bast... again. Livia obeys Athyr-Bast's final command and commits suicide.
Athyr-Bast is ordered to the Obsidian Tower by Thoth-Amon to smother the fires and to recapture the insurgents.
Conan walks away from the city of magicians/black magic. The Lonely Man Theme by Joe Harnell starts playing in the background.
The End/Game Over?
What I did like:
Come! The Man-Serpents never looked more menacing.
Spanish penciller, Fernando Dagnino Guerra's art is on fire!
Athyr-Bast appears on Karen Hallion's cover!
Luke Eidenschink's cover is spectacular!
Archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks talks Stygians: Thutothemes (The Hour of the Dragon), Thutmekri (The Servants of Bit-Yakin/Jewels of Gwahlur), Prince Kutamun (Black Colossus), Totrasmek (Shadows in Zamboula/The Man-Eaters of Zamboula) and Lady Athyr-Bast (Savage Sword of Conan #205-206).
What I did not like:
We never got an Athyr-Bast cover by Dan Panosian!
Thoth-Amon, the Stygian sorcerer, Kalanthes' deadly foe is a no-show!
No humour.
The snake spirit does not take over Conan the minute its amulet prison gets smashed? Sure, whatever.
Pazuzu's well known connection to Conan is left unexplored.
The Fire Dragon (the Son of Set) from McFarlane Toys is not present to protect the eggs. Very disappointing.
The editor is not doing his job.
The last page is just Conan vacating Kheshatta. No teaser for things to come. Weak!
No letters page!
It is Thutothemes not Thutothmes.
Conan confesses that slaying in the arena made him feel sick, then two seconds later he's murdering guards. LOL.
Killing a character (Livia) created by Robert E. Howard. It should not be permitted! If you want to kill someone, kill your own creations. Selfish, arrogant and disrespectful.
I give it a 6/10. We get another lazy Aliens (1986) homage. Zub does not add anything new to the Hyborian bestiary. Who was laying the eggs? It could have been something fascinating, terrifying..... instead a canonical character gets unceremoniously axed from the Howardverse. Boring, clumsy and unimaginative, but it looks absolutely stunning.
