Conan Annual #1-6

[Col_Fury]

KING-SIZE CONAN #1 (1973)
Reprints COB 2 & 4.

CONAN ANNUAL #2 (1976)
By Roy Thomas & Vicente Alcazar

APPEARANCES:
King Conan & his army (inc Prospero, Pallantides, Trocero), Thoth-Amon (sorcerer) & his priests, Ascalante, Dion, Gromel, Volmana, Rinaldo, Epemitreus (long-dead wizard), Publius (Aquilonian councilor), baboon-like beast

SYNOPSIS:
Ascalante conspires against King Conan and sends his slave Thoth-Amon to one of his co-conspirators (Dion) to make sure plans are going well. Thoth-Amon discovers Dion has his missing serpent ring, kills him and regains his Set powers. He conjures up a baboon-like beast to kill Ascalante. Meanwhile, Conan is contacted by Epemitreus, who empowers Conan with the Phoenix to war doff a coming threat. Ascalante, Gromel, Volmana and Rinaldo attack Conan, but he fights them off. The beast arrives, killing Ascalante. Conan defeats the beast with his Phoenix-empowered sword.

NOTE:
Adapted from “The Phoenix on the Sword” by REH.

There’s a three-page opener (by Thomas & Buscema) that recaps what we already know of Conan’s life leading up to him becoming king (some of the “bigger” stories from COB & GSCO 1-FB). It’s all recap, though.

CONAN ANNUAL #3 (1977)
Reprints SAVSCO 3 & SAVSCO 2/2. (in color!)

CONAN ANNUAL #4 (1978)
By Roy Thomas & John Buscema

APPEARANCES:
King Conan & his army (inc the Black Dragons, Pallantides, Dodona, Metrius, Temakus), King Tarascus, his army (inc Karthanix) & his harem (inc Zenobia), Manotaur (spelled “Manotor” on the cover, bull version of a minotaur, actually Phaidon, son of Pallantides), Red Sonja, Bêlit, Valeria (prev 3 in Conan’s thoughts)

FLASHBACK:
Recap of GSCO 1-4 (no new information).
SYNOPSIS:
King Conan takes Tarascus back to Nemedia and retrieves Zenobia from his harem. Of course, Tarascus’ men attack Conan; despite killing several of his attackers Conan is captured. Meanwhile, Conan’s army outside the castle grow impatient. Later, Conan is put into a maze; find Zenobia and escape before the Manotaur kills them both. Conan battles the beast and kills it, only to learn he was a transformed Phaidon, son of Conan’s general. Conan savagely slaughters Tarascus’ guards and Zenobia kills Tarascus. Conan sends a signal to his waiting army, who then sieges the Nemedian capital. Conan escapes with Zenobia, then proposes marriage. They swear to make lots of babies or die trying.

CONAN ANNUAL #5 (1979)
By Roy Thomas & John Buscema

APPEARANCES:
King Conan, his army (inc the Black Dragons, Pallantides, Prospero, Trocero, some also in fb) & his harem (inc Velata), Queen Zenobia, Publius, Countess Albiona, Count Drago (also in fb) & his rebels (inc Byzantus, Vallinor, some also in fb), Tsotha-Lanti (wizard), King Tarascus (bts), Zenobia duplicate (demon), Aquilonia residents, Lord Godfor (Zenobia’s father, mentioned), Red Sonja, Bêlit, Valeria (prev 3 in Conan’s thoughts)

FLASHBACK:
Recap of GSCO 1-4 & CO@ 4 (no new information). Recap of SAVSCO 30 (no new information). Conan defeats the “Zenobia” monster and finds Tsotha-Lanti. Meanwhile, his Black Dragons find Count Drago and the rebels (during main story).
SYNOPSIS:
King Conan (seemingly) puts an end to the rebellion started while he was in Nemedia. Soon after, Conan announces his wedding will be in one month. At the announcement someone tries to kill Conan (and fails miserably). A spy reports to Count Drago and Tsotha-Lanti the assassin failed. Weeks later the wedding nears. Conan disbands his harem and Zenobia leaves to meet her parents; it’s a trap, though, and she’s abducted by Tsotha-Lanti, who reveals a duplicate of her will attend her wedding tomorrow. After the ceremony, “Zenobia” turns into a monster and attacks Conan. Soon after, Conan attacks Tsotha-Lanti, rescues Zenobia from crocodiles and Tsotha-Lanti dies (again). Soon after, Conan and Zenobia are (re-)married in private.

NOTE:
It’s been “months” since CO@ 4, and twelve months since GSCO 2 (sheesh!). The wedding hasn’t happened yet because Conan wanted to find Zenobia’s parents (no luck). Also, Conan has a harem and Zenombia doesn’t mind, even though they haven’t gone all the way yet. Um, OK.

Also, Tarascus survived last issue; he sent Conan a wedding gift this issue.

The letters page says next year’s Annual will begin an adaptation of Conan the Avenger. There was no annual next year, and the next annual instead adapted…

CONAN ANNUAL #6 (1981)
By Roy Thomas & Gil Kane

APPEARANCES:
Conan (also in fb), Barlonius (scientist, former councilman to King Nimed, also in fb) & his Hyrkanian servants, Annia (Barlonius’ wife, in fb), Khengor (warlord, in fb-fb), Lala (Barlonius’ lover), bandits, giant spiders, King Nimed (mentioned)

FLASHBACK:
In Nemedia, Annia hires the mercenary Conan to find her missing husband Barlonius (recently). Bored with his life, Barlonius leaves Nemedia and finds Khengor’s tower (four years ago). Khengor conquers a whole bunch of places (fb-fb).
SYNOPSIS:
After an extended chase through the desert, Conan eludes some bandits and fights some giant spiders before coming comes across a gleaming walled tower. He’s approached by someone and passes out. When Conan awakes he recognizes Barlonius (a scientist!), the man he was hired to find. Conan reveals Barlonius’ wife wants him back but Barlonius doesn’t want to return; instead, he wants to emulate Khengor (a warlord) instead. Barlonius uses his tricks to knock out Conan. Later, Barlonius’ jealous lover (Barlonius wants a harem) releases Conan, who then ignores Barlonius’ tricks, now knowing they’re tricks. He fights Barlonius, who dies when Lala (the lover) removes a jewel from a statue which causes the tower to collapse. Conan and Lala try to figure out what they’re going to tell Barlonius’ widow.

NOTE:
Adapted from “King of the Forgotten People” by REH.

I’m not seeing this one in Roy’s chronology. So…

This hit the stands the same month as COB 127.

Conan mentions here having fought a giant spider before, which he did in COB 13. Also, he knows how to use bows and arrows, which he learned in COB 36. So, this is after both of those.

King Nimed is still alive here, so before GSCO 1 where Nimed dies. That makes sense, since Conan isn’t king yet here (he’s already king in GSCO 1).

Conan is a mercenary here, and starts the plot in Nemedia.

According to Roy’s CONAN SAGA chronology, mercenary Conan is in Ophir in COB 125 and in Cimmeria in COB 127. SAGA #77 says COB 127 happens after a break in the action “after other adventures not yet related.” Ophir (COB 125) is south of Nemedia (CO@ 6), which is south of Cimmeria (COB 127). Maybe an unrelated adventure was in the Border Kingdom (which is between Nemedia and Cimmeria)?

So yeah. I’ll says this happens in publication order, between COB 126-127.

Chronologies!

ALBIONA, COUNTESS
GSCO 3
GSCO 4
*CO@ 5

CONAN
……
[COB 100]
*[COB 126]
*CO@ 6-FB
*CO@6
*[COB 127]
[SAVSCO 116]
COB2 1
COB2 2
COB2 3
[COB 231]
[SAVSCO 101]
M/GN:COBSOS
[SAVSCO 66]
[SAVSCO 108/2]
M/GN 19
[SAVSCO 117]
[COB 275]
SAVSCO 219
SAVSCO 220
[SAVSCO 221]
CO:ROOT
[SAVSCO 223]
[SAVSCO 62]
COV.RUNE
M/GN:COR-FB
M/GN:COR
M/SSPEC 2 (7:4 - 8)-FB
[SAVSCO 38]
CORG
[SAVSCO 223/2]
M/SAGA 1
[SAVSCO 37]
M/SSPEC 2 (6:2 - 6:3)-FB
[SAVSCO 189/2]
SJNS-FB
TCORPS 3
[SAVSCO 128]
[SAVSCO 206]
M/SSPEC 2
[SAVSCO 73 (1 - 4:4)]
SAVSCO 225 (12:6)-FB
[SAVSCO 73 (4:5 - 49)]
[SAVSCO 122]
[SAVSCO 69]
SAVSCO 225 (13:1 - 13:3)-FB
SAVSCO 225
SAVT 2
SAVT 3
SAVT 3/3
GSCO 1 (15:4)-FB
[SAVSCO 211]
[SAVSCO 76/2]
GSCO 1 (16:2 - 16:6)-FB
[SAVSCO 214]
*CO@ 2
*[SAVSCO 227/4]
*[SAVSCO 205/2]
[SAVSCO 30]
GSCO 1
GSCO 2-FB
GSCO 2
GSCO 3
GSCO 4
SAVSCO 8/5
SAVSCO 10
*CO@ 4
*CO@ 5 (1 - 26:1)
*CO@ 5-FB
*CO@ 5 (26:2 - 33)
[COSAV 4]
[P@ 2/4-FB]

DRAGO, COUNT
CO@ 5
CO@ 5-FB

EPEMITREUS
CO@ 2

KING TARASCUS
GSCO 1
SGCO 2-FB
GSCO 2
SAVSCO 10
*CO@ 4
*CO@ 5-BTS

MANOTAUR/PHAIDON
CO@ 4

PALLANTIDES
*CO@ 2
{GSCO 1}
SAVSCO 10
*CO@ 4
*CO@ 5

PROSPERO
*CO@ 2
{GSCO 2}
GSCO 3-FB
SAVSCO 10
*CO@ 5

PUBLIUS
[SAVSCO 214]
{CO@ 2}
[SAVSCO 227/4]
CO@ 5

QUEEN ZENOBIA
See Zenobia

THOTH-AMON
COB 7
COB 68
*CO@ 2
*[P@ 2/4-FB]

TROCERO, COUNT
*CO@ 2
{GSCO 4}
SAVSCO 10
*CO@ 5

TSOTHA-LANTI
[SAVSCO 30]
CO@ 5

ZENOBIA
GSCO 2
*CO@ 4
*CO@ 5

[StrayLamb]

Looks like late last year sirmuddy returned and posted an updated version of his timeline online, along with Roy's original timeline. There is a small discussion on chronological points there. Here are links for anyone who's interested.

sirmuddy's updated timeline:
http://swordsofreh.proboards.com/post/22204

Roy Thomas' original timeline:
http://swordsofreh.proboards.com/post/22206

The entire thread:
http://swordsofreh.proboards.com/thread ... ronologies

I recently read Conan Annual #6, which as I noted earlier, I'm not seeing in Roy's CONAN SAGA chronology.

I haven't really read through all of the links (just a glance, really), but I see he placed CO@ 6 much later than I did. Is that placement discussed in the links? Does it have something to do with an REH chronology (since CO@ 6 is an adaptation)? Hopefully I'll get a chance to look through the links in more detail soon, but if anyone knows...

sirmuddy has COB@ 6 placed here for Roy's list..

386 EYE OF THE SORCERER (SSC#69 - ROY,EC,AA)
386a KING OF THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE (CTBA#6 - REH,ROY,GK)
386b Daughter of the Western Sea (SSC#213[/3] - DMY,AC,SF)

..and in the same position on his own list..

460 EYE OF THE SORCERER (SSC#69 - ROY,EC,AA)
461 KING OF THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE (CTBA#6 - REH,ROY,GK)
462 Daughter of the Western Sea (SSC#213[/3] - DMY,AC,SF)

Conan is in Shem in SSC 69, so that could conceivably lead into COB@ 6, but i don't know his location in SSC 213/3.

[Col_Fury]

Thanks for pointing that out.

He also mentions in the linked thread that Roy didn't include a handful of things (CO@ 6 being one of them) and he placed them in Roy's list based on where *he thought* Roy would have placed them (and then he carried that same placement over to his own list). But I'm not seeing why he thinks that's where Roy would have placed CO@ 6.

To be fair, he's obviously read more Marvel Conan than I have. I've read through CONAN SAGA so I know the major beats, but I haven't read all of the actual comics yet. His placement might be better than my suggestion. I'm sure there's a reason why he thinks that's a better spot. But I'm not seeing what that reasoning is.

It might have something to do with an REH chronology, and if that's the case, then yes, I can see why Roy would have put CO@ 6 there instead of between COB 126-127. That would lock it in for me. I haven't had the chance to go digging through any REH chronologies yet, though.

If an REH chronology is irrelevant (say, "King of the Forgotten People" was never placed in the REH chronology Roy was working off of for whatever reason), then my personal fallback would be to go to publication order (which the clues line up with). CO@ 8-12 (the non-King ones) are all in publication order according to Roy (with one exception, which he's explicit about).

[StrayLamb]

If an REH chronology is irrelevant (say, "King of the Forgotten People" was never placed in the REH chronology Roy was working off of for whatever reason), then my personal fallback would be to go to publication order (which the clues line up with). CO@ 8-12 (the non-King ones) are all in publication order according to Roy (with one exception, which he's explicit about).

Agreed.

[Col_Fury]

As it turns out, there's no way "King of the Forgotten People" will ever be included in a Conan chronology outside of the Marvel version.

In REH's original, it features 1930s adventurer Jim Brill, who in the Gobi Desert evades some nomads and fights giant spiders before finding the lost city of Khor, once Genghis Khan's stronghold. Another American (a scientist!) had already found the place and wants to emulate Khan. Only Jim Brill can stop disaster! Sound familiar?

So, they adapted a Jim Brill story into a Conan story. For our purposes, that basically boils down to this being an original story.

CO@ 6 was reprinted in CONAN SAGA 69, but that doesn't help with seeing into where Roy might have placed it. SAGA reprinted CO@ 2, 4, 5, 6 in consecutive months and as noted, CO@ 2, 4 & 5 are King Conan stories and CO@ 6 is before he's a king.

I'm leading toward publication order for this.

[StrayLamb]

Oh, that one. I know that story as "Valley of the Lost" - it's one of the stories published in R.E. Howard's "Marchers of Valhalla" (Sphere Books 1977). Excellent story.! Your placement for King of the Forgotten People seems to be the best option under the circumstances.

[Col_Fury]

Yup. This same story was also published as "Valley of the Lost" in Magazine of Horror #13 (Summer 1966) and as "Secret of Lost Valley" in Startling Mystery Stories (Spring 1967).