Scourge of the Serpent part 1 (of 4): Stealing Faces & Finery, the epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics continues.
The Thurian Age of Kull (from Robert E. Howard's The Shadow Kingdom).
Pictish warrior, Brule the Spear-Slayer is chilling with Gonar the Seeker (from Kings of the Night).
Brule wants to know if Kull the Conqueror is a camouflaged Serpent-Man.
Gonar reassures Brule that if he utters the unfamiliar words: "Ka nama kaa lajerama!", it will melt away Kull's human disguise, exposing him as a Serpent-Man.
Gonar glimpses three heroes from the Howardverse: Kull of Atlantis, Conan the Barbarian and Professor John Kirowan in separate time periods... all are prepared to take on Set's servants.
Brule the Spear-Slayer is wearing the gleaming, mystic armlet of the dragon; he scales the walls of the royal palace, reaches Kull's window and verifies the King's humanity.
Brule shows King Kull of Valusia that his palace is jam-packed with secret passages, a very honeycomb.
Brule and Kull find the 18 Red Slayer guards who were supposed to be safeguarding Kull's chamber door... all dead.
8 minutes later, Kull is shocked to discover that the very same Red Slayers are still protecting his door.
Brule tells Kull that men were not always ruled by men. That night and day Kull is being watched by Un-men.
Tu (the chief councilor of King Kull) sneaks into Kull's room... to assassinate his King 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 movie)!
King Kull uses his great tiger strength (the mystic aura of the Tiger-Totem, sole vestige of Kull's barbarian heritage) to overpower and kill the abnormally strong councilor. Tu transforms back to his original scaly state... a Serpent-Man.
The Hyborian Age of Conan (from Robert E. Howard's The God in the Bowl).
We are in Numalia (city in Nemedia). Kallian Publico is in his temple, he's trying to open a sealed Bowl.
A young, 17-year-old, cash-strapped Conan of Cimmeria is trying his hand at being a thief. Conan easily breaks into the temple of Kallian Publico.
Aztrias "scented dog" Petanius (the governor of Numalia's nephew) convinced Conan to steal a Zamorian diamond goblet (as seen in Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #0).
Conan stumbles upon the corpse of the master of the Temple (Kallian Publico) and a very much alive watchman (Arus)... who sounds the alarm.
Demetrio the Inquisitor and Dionus arrive with the city watchmen. Conan introduces himself and lies that he came to steal food.
Boston 1934 (from Robert E. Howard's The Haunter of the Ring).
The home of Professor John Kirowan. James Gordon is terrified of Michael O'Donnel's new acquisition, a jewel-hilted dagger.
Gordon thinks he's hunted for a black crime committed in a previous life. Gordon resembles his great-grandfather, the uxoricidal Sir Richard Gordon of Argyle.
Gordon's wife Evelyn tried to kill Gordon with a straight razor. Evelyn had a hateful, viperish look in her eyes... her shadow looked very much like Ishiti (Snake Goddess of Set from Conan the Barbarian (1970) #134 & #139).
Gordon informs his friends that Joseph Roelocke, Evelyn Gordon's ex-suitor, had sent his wife a wedding gift... a copper ring, made like a scaly snake coiled three times, with its tail in its mouth and yellow jewels for eyes.
Evelyn warns Kirowan that Roelocke's ring (the ancient and accursed ring of Thoth-amon, handed down by foul cults of sorcerers since the days of forgotten Stygia) is now fastened to her finger.
For a brief moment Kirowan sees the mysterious Set siren first seen in Conan the Barbarian (2023) #24 instead of Evelyn.
What I did like:
It is very new reader friendly.
Valka and Mitra mentioned.
Acheron kingdom mentioned.
A tiny statue of Cthulhu (created by H. P. Lovecraft, a pen pal of Robert E. Howard) appears.
A 1934 Ford Model 40 Victoria appears.
Kirowan resembles actor Peter Cushing.
A "bande dessinée franco-belge" version of Conan the Barbarian.
Nice covers by Roberto de la Torre.
We see the The God in the Bowl Man-Serpent lurking in the foreground. Nice touch.
Archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks talks God in the Bowl, Plutarch’s Lives by A. H. Clough, Mark Finn (Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard) and Giant-Kings.
What I did not like:
Thoth-Amon, the Stygian sorcerer, does not appear!
What is the serpent god's grand plan for the puny humans of planet Earth? Will we ever know?
No Red Sonya of Rogatino!
No Brissa!
No Dark Agnès de Chastillon!
No A-aea (from Spear and Fang)!
No Sha-Kabet (from Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring)!
The editor is not doing his job.
Anachronism: “cut the cheese” is an idiom from the late 1950s.
James Gordon does not disclose that his better half attempted to murder him MULTIPLE times.
Robert E. Howard's name is not on cover! IT SHOULD BE THE FIRST NAME ON THE COVER!
I give it a 9/10. The event story that feels like Neapolitan ice cream on a scorched tongue... satisfying and evocative... resumes! Zub continues to adapt three tales by Two-Gun Bob in one mini-series. Will more of Howard's heroes join the fight against Set? Let's hope so. Also available as a special digital edition which contains an exclusive extract from the upcoming book, Conan: Spawn of the Serpent God (by Tim Waggoner – on sale this October from Titan Books)!
