BotTalk Reviews

Scourge of the Serpent part 2 (of 4): Words of Power. The epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics continues. The Thurian Age of Kull of Atlantis (from Robert E. Howard's The Shadow Kingdom). Gonar the Seeker (from Kings of the Night) proclaims that time and space do not exist, that EVERYTHING is happening NOW. Brule the Spear-Slayer reminds Kull (the king of Valusia) that Serpent-Men, similar to an actor donning a mask, can resemble anyone they decide to impersonate. Uncounted centuries ago, we see the race of men who battled with the grisly beings of the ELDER UNIVERSE. Men in combat with hideous monsters, vanquishing a planet of frightful terrors: the bird-women, the harpies, the bat-men, the flying fiends, the wolf-people, the demons, the goblins, the wolf-men and the serpent-men. To conceal it from view, Brule picks up the carcass of the doppelgänger of chief councillor Tu and vanishes with it through another secret door. Kull wonders... Are the people of V...

64 restored and fully colored pages of barbaric savagery! Inside this magnificent full-color magazine you will find the following: Classic remastered art pin-ups: Conan the Barbarian by Alfredo Alcala from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #1 Conan the Barbarian by John Buscema from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #17 Conan ad by Jeff Aclin from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #24 THE FROST GIANT’S DAUGHTER by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. (New Colors by GFB Group/GFB.it) The uncensored version. Atali, Ymir's daughter lures Conan into an ambush, the barbarian cuts down Atali's brothers and the frost-giant retrieves his offspring.  OGRES, NYMPHS, AND ROCK STARS. SOME THOUGHTS ON THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN by Patrick Zircher (Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring) The Z-Man waxes lyrical about The Tower of the Elephant and The Frost-Giant's Daughter. CIMMERIA (a poem) by Robert E. Howard, Barry Windsor-Smith and Tim Conrad. (New Colors by Jão Canola) Conan wrestles a wol...

eBook by Brian D. Anderson Cover by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  Central Kush. Conan and others are protecting their employer Marisova Mella, Mella's caravan full of silks and linens, Mella's wife Shayistra and young Joni (Shayistra's secret lover). Kushite mercenaries attack the convoy! Titus Havarius (also a Kushite) saves his Cimmerian friend's skin once again. Mella gets murdered. The attackers retreat. Titus suspects that Mella's wife hired the killers to kill her husband. Shayistra refuses to pay Conan and company, Conan threatens her gigolo and to make her mariticide known to the magistrate... they get paid in gold. Conan, Titus, and the Hyrkanian cousins: Asher & Cabil leave the caravan for the small village of Albon.  Titus has to leave Conan, he is wanted back home. Kush. Conan and twenty soldiers of fortune are now working for Lord Gulan Adria to end a siege. Lord Adria had seized nearly all the harvest of hi...

Jim Zub's The Nomad: A Tale of Conan the King A mysterious migrant arrives in Tarantia, the capital of Aquilonia, he tells the guards that he wants an audience with Conan. High councillor, Publius and King Conan (the Ruler of Aquilonia) welcome the pale stranger. To obtain his "gift", Conan needs to offer his cadaverous visitor three days of hospitality. Conan is well aware of Melnibonéans (Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné appeared in Conan the Barbarian (1970) #14 & #15), so he gives the frail drifter the benefit of the doubt, a chamber and servants. Day 1 of the stranger's stay. Pallantides, the General/Commander of the Black Dragons (the king's guardsmen) thinks that Conan has gone mad. Could the offbeat foreigner be a white wolf in sheep's clothing? Conan defeats Pallantides in a sparring session. Day 2 of the stranger's stay. Queen Zenobia informs her Cimmerian husband that the newcomer is making her and her servants nervous... the nomad ...

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 ...

CHAPTER 1 58 BC. Helvetii lands (Switzerland). Marcus Coax/Crow, a gigantic horseshoe moustache-wearing Gaul that looks like the long-lost brother of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, saves Sanian Divico (an Helvetii oracle) and her entourage from Germanic scouts. Sanian invites Coax to her village. Irika and Sanian spy on Coax, while Coax has a nightmare about his recent blood oath of vengeance.  Coax informs Sanian's father, Divico (possibly the leader of the Helvetian tribe of the Tigurini) that Germanic clans are gathering on the other side of Lacus Lausonius (Lake Geneva on the north side of the Alps). The Helvetians are sure to be raided and decimated before springtime.  Flashback!  75 BC. A Rhodian galley is intercepted by Cilician pirates, a 25-year-old Julius Caesar gets captured.  Farmakonisi (island in the Aegean Sea, Greece). Caesar makes the acquaintance of a clean-shaven Coax who does not know his own tribe because his parents were slaves, killed ...

Novel by Tim Lebbon Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love  Illustrations by Juan Alberto Hernández From Titan Books and Conan Properties International Also available unabridged on audiobook from Blackstone Publishing, read by Bradford Hastings  Spoilers! Spoilers!  Conan in now the bored, inactive, pampered, sexagenarian King of Aquilonia. A barely alive and desperate Baht Tann arrives at the royal palace to call in a favour. 40 years ago, Baht Tann saved the life of a 20 year old Conan. They both escaped the Zamoran run salt mines of Tangara, together. Today, Baht Tann is no longer a mercenary, he has a family, they are heartgem prospectors/hunters/sellers.  Grake, a barbarian 6 inches taller than King Conan, and his brigands kill half of Baht Tann's companions, they force the rest and Baht Tann's family to slave for them. Conan picks up his dusty broadsword and Zelata's knife (from The Hour of the Dragon), leaves his wife (Queen Zenobia) and young son (Conn) and departs for t...

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 ...

Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, your local spinner rack is once again showcasing another new issue of SSOC!  64 pulsating pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint! Inside this magazine you will find the following: THE COILS TIGHTEN an intro by Jim Zub Awe-inspiring art pin-ups: Conan the Barbarian by Max Von Fafner Spear & Fang by Ivan Gil Sailor Steve Costigan and Mike the bulldog by Gerardo Zaffino CONAN: TWICE PAID DEBTS part 1: The Traitor Returns by Jim Zub and Doug Braithwaite Shem. Conan is drinking with the Kozaki (mercenaries known as the "Free Companions").  10 years have passed since the events of Conan the Barbarian #18. Conan sees the traitorous thief, Tarnasha traversing the tavern. Conan follows Tarnasha outside, she stabs him in the back, they fight. Another Tarnasha sedates Conan with a tranq arrow. CONAN: TWICE PAID DEBTS part 2: Sacrifices by Jim Zub and Doug Braithwaite Conan awakens from a nightmare (featuring the slithery dei...

You know the sword-and-sorcery heist story by heart: From 1933, The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard. A strange, blood-freezing story of an idol that wept on its throne, and a valiant barbarian from the fringes of an elder civilization. What I did like: 25 impassioned paintings by French comic book artist and illustrator Valentin Sécher starring David Boistault as Conan. 1) The Maul neighbourhood, the City of Thieves, Zamora, street level. 2) In a tavern, a Kothian, a professional kidnapper schools a young Conan about the Elephant Tower that houses the great jewel called the Elephant's Heart (the secret of Yara's magic). 3) The lacerated corpse of the kidnapper. 4) Conan the Cimmerian hits the streets. 5) The temples of the City of Thieves (Arenjun) and Yara's impenetrable tower. 6) Yara, the high priest. 7) Yara's mysterious gardens. A Zamorian royal guard lies strangled. Conan encounters Taurus.  8) Conan converses with Taurus of Nemedia aka the Prince of all...

Jim Zub's A Nest of Serpents part 3: Power and Influence Zula from Conan the Barbarian #20 frees the Cimmerian from his chains! Conan suggests that they should kill Thoth-Amon. Zula wants to know all about Thoth-Amon's big plan. Since Conan is in Zula's debt, he will help the shapeshifter of the Black Kingdoms and then free Livia from slavery.  Zula plunges the enchantress Athyr-Bast into a deep mystic sleep and transforms into her doppelgänger. The impersonation spell will dissipate at daybreak. The Cimmerian masquerades as Athyr-Bast/Zula's armoured bodyguard. They depart to meet Thoth-Amon at his inner sanctum, Kheshatta's Dark Temple of Set. A whining wizard, a blood pact connaissance of Athyr-Bast detects that something is wrong with Zula's aura. Conan kills the escorts of the acquaintance, but gets hurt and Zula silences the sorcerer forever. Zula and Conan dump all three bodies in wine barrels.  Thoth-Amon offers Zula some Stygian wine, he refuses, Thoth-...