Scourge of the Serpent part 4 (of 4): Unity or DEATH. The epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics is over.
Kirowan, Kull and Conan are now in Set's dimension. The mysterious Set siren appears before our heroes. The siren is disappointingly just Set (the Great Serpent) in human form.
Our heroes morph into their future selves: John Kirowan loses his right eye (Battle of the Black Stone #4), King Kull loses his flesh (Conan the Barbarian (2023) #10) and Conan the Barbarian loses his freedom and youth (Conan the Barbarian (2023) #25).
Set introduces our heroes to a Woeful dark god who has awaken from his slumber... The Woeful Eye/Shuma-Gorath is coming to earth (as revealed in Conan: Spawn of the Serpent God).
Set remarks that the "END WAR" is upon us.
We see an extremely unlikely future... Kirowan, Kull and Conan accompanied by their serpent-descendants are fighting the Black Stone Beasts of the Woeful Eye (last seen in Battle of the Black Stone #4).
To win this "END WAR" against the Woeful one, Set wants our three heroes to breed a hybrid race of serpent people (as previously attempted in Conan: Spawn of the Serpent God). Their minds too strong, Kirowan, Kull and Conan refuse Set's unwanted advances. The psychic link to Set breaks, our heroes return to their own realities.
The Thurian Age of Kull of Atlantis (from Robert E. Howard's The Shadow Kingdom).
Kull the King of Valusia and Brule the Spear-Slayer slay all the serpent-men masquerading as councilors. Kull snuffs out the serpent-man that was impersonating him.
The Hyborian Age of Conan (from Robert E. Howard's The God in the Bowl).
Conan of Cimmeria beheads the beautiful gigantic serpent and promptly leaves Numalia (city in Nemedia).
Boston, Massachusetts 1934 (from Robert E. Howard's The Haunter of the Ring).
Kirowan defeats Roelocke/Yosef Vrolok. Evelyn Gordon is now unpossessed. Kirowan puts the ancient and accursed serpent ring of Thoth-amon under lock and key.
Now alone in her dimension, Set sheds her human skin and blurts out that "THERE IS ANOTHER!"... a fetus that the Black Stone cannot reach: the unborn barbarian baby of Conan and... Brissa... the Pict scout of the Gurian tribe that Set saved from death way back in Savage Sword of Conan (2024) #4.
What I did like:
A Yoda (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)) homage.
A nice interview with illustrator Ivan Gil!
Cool cover by Roberto De La Torre!
Archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks talks Set (god of the Serpent Men), The God in the Bowl, The Hour of the Dragon, Apophis, Damballa, Black Canaan, Pigeons from Hell, Yig the Father of Serpents, The Nāgas and The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean by Maurice Doreal.
What I did not like:
Gonar the Seeker (from Kings of the Night) gets yet another full page to bespout his mumbo jumbo.
Extraneous covers by Lucio Parrillo & Mark Bagley.
Having Parrillo not draw Brissa or Set in human form on his cover has to be a crime against the arts.
No Thoth-Amon!
Robert E. Howard's name is still not on the cover! IT SHOULD BE THE FIRST NAME ON THE COVER!
Set forgets to mention that she wants Earth for herself.
Ishiti was never used. Another wasted opportunity!
Conan is not He-man. An elderly barbarian without superhuman strength cannot fight dozens of giants simultaneously.
James Allison and Brissa remain silent.
The Woeful Eye also says absolutely nothing! A reticent Unicron it is.
I give it a 7/10. This reads like a preview of things to come instead of a true finale. We get plenty of pages where nothing happens. A lazy anticlimax to start 2026. Set sending Conan's kid to be raised on planet Almuric, now that would have been a proper ending.