CO@ 7, M/GN:COISLES, COSAV 10

[Col_Fury]

CONAN ANNUAL #7 (1982)
By Roy Thomas & John Buscema

APPEARANCES:
King Conan (also in fb), his army (inc Count Trocero & his son Gonzalvio) & his pirates (inc Sigurd Redbeard (from SAVSCO 40-43), Yarunga (from COB 94)), Conn (Conan’s son, becomes King Conn), Queen Zenobia (in fb, corpse), Epemitreus, three of Conan’s children (in fb, see NOTE), King Ariostros of Argos (also in fb), Aquilonia residents (inc Baron Gillim), Argosseans (inc Strabo), Barachan pirates (inc Capt. Alvaro), a black kraken, Bêlit, Red Sonja (both in symbolic montage)

FLASHBACKS:
Symbolic montage of Conan’s barbarian adventures, fighting men and monsters in front of a burning city, then recalling Bêlit and Red Sonja (symbolic). Conan becomes king of Aquilonia (recap of GSCO 1-FB). Conan proposes to Zenobia (recaps CO@ 4). Zenobia dies during childbirth (new!, “a few years ago”). King Ariostros suffers the same malady Aquilonia has, has his people research it and goes looking for some pirates to confirm it (during main story).
SYNOPSIS:
King Conan is bored while tending to kingly business until Count Trocero freaks out. Conan thinks he might be drunk until Trocero is surrounded by floating red lights and vanishes. Over the next two weeks more people in Aquilonia vanish in a similar fashion. While asleep, Conan is approached by Epemitreus who warns him the world is in danger and only Conan can save it, but he has to leave for the unknown seas immediately. He gives him a phoenix amulet and warns him about the black kraken. Conan abdicates his throne to his son and departs. Days later, Conan runs into his old friend Sigurd and they catch up on old times. They’re hired by the King of Argos to do some pirating in the unknown seas. Conan recruits a crew and sets sail, thinking of Atlantis. They’re attacked by a black kraken and Conan is pulled under water. Conan blinds the beast and returns to his ship, wondering if Atlanteans still survive after 8,000 years and control the krakens…

NOTE:
Based on the novel “Conan of the Isles” by L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter.

Conn will rule as “Conan the Second” according to Conan.

It’s been “thirty years” since SAVSCO 40-43. Sigurd was brought to tears by reuniting with his old friend Amra.

Zenobia was still alive in King Conan by late 1982, so this death of Zenobia flashback is new. It may be expanded in some later issue of Conan the King (I don’t think so, though), but this would still be the first instance of it (unless it’s in SAVSCO 1-80 somewhere, but I don’t think so).

According to Roy’s chronology, Conan is “almost 70 years old” here. Zenobia died during childbirth “a few years ago,” so Conan is roughly 65-67 in the flashback (and Zenobia would have been about 45-50 when she died). Three of Conan’s children appear in this flashback; two that seem to be the same age (two, maybe three?) so possibly twins, and an older boy (anywhere from seven to sixteen, maybe?). Conn would be roughly 30 in the main story, so he’d be somewhere in his late-20s when his mother died, so the “older” boy in the flashback can’t be Conn. I see Conan had several kids (2nd a girl (Radegund), 3rd a boy (Taurus)) with Zenobia, but I'm not sure which ones these are. CONAN SAGA #93 says Radegund (the girl) and Taurus (the boy) are 13-14 by the time of COK 21, 16-17 by COK 28, 17-18 by COK 29 and 19-20 by COK 49. Also, Zenobia has a stillborn son in COK 46 (so not him, obviously). That would mean Taurus and Radegund are both in their early-20's by the time of CO@ 7-FB. CONAN SAGA #96 says the child (a girl) that Zenobia died giving birth to also died, but no mention of twins or younger children (but could have happened in "the years between"). For now I guess the three children seen here are unnamed, but hopefully we'll find an answer somewhere.

A blurb says the story continues in next year’s Annual, but instead, six years later…

MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL: CONAN OF THE ISLES (1988)
By Roy Thomas & John Buscema

APPEARANCES:
Conan & his pirates (inc Sigurd Redbeard, Yarunga, Yakov, Goram Singh, Milo), priests of Xolti (inc Hierarch), Antilles soldiers, Ptahuacan residents (inc Catlaxoc, Metemphoc, Itzra, Chitzlan), Xotli (a demon), Mitra (a god), giant lizards

SYNOPSIS:
After the events of CO@ 7, Conan sails for a bit and comes across an unmanned ship. After attacking it they draw out a wizard and fight him. The wizard makes one of Conan’s pirates vanish after being surrounded by floating red lights. Conan kills the wizard and searches his cabin. The wizard’s ghost tries to get a box but Conan gets it instead. Conan finds a map inside the box that shows the way to the Seven Cities of Antilles. Eventually spotting land, they’re suddenly attacked by a dragon. Quickly realizing the dragon is a ship, Conan and his pirates attack. After a battle the pirates are overpowered; Conan takes one of the Antilles soldiers’ helmet and dives underwater (the helmet lets him breathe). Later, he sneaks into the city and gets in touch with the city’s king of thieves, Metemphoc; he gains his favor and learns that Ptahuacan is the last city of the ancient Atlanteans while the Atlantean priests of Xotli landed on a different island and rule over them. Also, the floating red lights abducted people to sacrifice to Xotli. Conan puts a plan together and sneaks toward the priests of Xotli through tunnels Metemphoc shows him, but he’s attacked by a swarm of rats and is swept into the current of an underground river. Meanwhile, his crew awake, imprisoned by the Antilles soldiers. They’re brought to a temple and realize they’re going to be sacrificed to a demon. Conan awakes and fights some giant lizards, finds the temple and herds the lizards toward it. The lizards attack the priests of Xotli, halting the sacrifice. Conan frees his men but Xotli begins to form in this realm, and as it takes shape the sight of it begins to drive Conan insane. As he descends into madness he recalls the words of Epemitreus and smashes the phoenix amulet. When his mind clears he sees a blazing light washing away Xotli’s tenuous figure and realizes that by smashing the amulet he summoned Mitra. Shockwaves from the battle topple the temple, killing several Antilles soldiers while Conan and his men flee. Stealing a boat, Conan realizes he can’t return home as there are no ships large enough here to make the trip. Instead, Conan decides to sail to Mayapan where renegade Atlaneans founded barbarian states that worship strange and fearsome gods. They set sail west to explore a New World…!

NOTE:
Adapted from the novel “Conan of the Isles” by L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter.

The first 33 pages are a reprint of CO@ 7; the rest isn’t a second story, just a continuation of the same story.

Well, that took a decidedly Lovecraftian turn at the end (yes, there’s a good amount of Lovecraft in REH’s stuff, but I still was surprised). Yay! (I'm a pretty big Lovecraft fan)

Metemphoc calls Conan “Kukulcan” before the big showdown, and then he sets off for a new world. It’s spelled differently, but the Mayans worshipped the feathered serpent Kukulkan (called Quetzalcoatl by the Aztecs). Coincidence?

I wonder where Conan ended up…

CONAN THE SAVAGE #10 (May 1996)
By Roy Thomas & John Buscema

APPEARANCES:
Conan & his pirates (inc Sigurd Redbeard, Yarunga, Yakov, Goram Singh, Milo), Vacharn (necromancer), his sons (Wokal, Uldulla) & his zombies (inc Dalili), Esrit (giant legged leech-like demon)

FLASHBACK:
Recap of CO@ 7 & M/GN:COISLES (no new information).
SYNOPSIS:
As Conan’s ship continues to sail west until they’re overcome by a storm then caught up in ocean currents. They spot land too late, can’t slow down and the ship crashes into the cliffs. Only Conan survives; everyone else is killed. He meets some necromancers, learns they don’t call the nearby mainland Mayapan but rather Zothique (the island they’re on is Na’at) and that all of his friends are dead, reanimated and enslaved by the necromancers. After observing for a while and realizing he’ll be sacrificed to a leech-like demon, Conan teams up with Vacharn’s sons to kill Vacharn. Conan decapitates Vacharn but his body still lives, which kills one of the sons; the other is killed by the demon-beast Esrit. Conan kills the beast and realizes that even with the necromancers gone, the dead still shamble. Conan builds a fire to ensure the necromancers can’t return (he burns their corpses), then recalls that Vacharn murdered his wife (Dalili) and reanimated her to “preserve her youthful beauty and faithfulness for his lusts -- forever.” Conan tells Dalili to walk into the fire, which she does. Feeling remorse for getting all of his friends killed, he orders them to enter the fire as well. Conan gathers the remaining zombies (strangers to him) as a crew for his boat and sets sail for the mainland.

NOTE:
A sequel to M/GN:COISLES and freely adapted from “Necromancy in Naat” by Clark Ashton Smith (originally published in the same issue of Weird Tales that had the first chapter of REH’s Red Nails). We’re fully into Lovecraftian stuff here, folks (this was not originally a Conan story).

Conan is almost 70 years old, and the narration at the end of this issue implies that he’ll make it to at least 80 in this strange new world. CONAN SAGA #95 says Conan will eventually return to Aquilonia and rejoins his son Conn in a battle against ominous forces which threaten to bring down the whole of Hyborian civilization in "Requiem for a Conqueror" but that tale hasn't been told yet (as far as I can see).

Chronologies!

CONAN
……
[P@ 2/4-FB]
*CO@ 7-FB
*CO@ 7
*M/GN:COISLES
*COSAV 10

CONN
……
[P@ 2/4-FB]
*CO@ 7

EPEMITREUS
CO@ 2
*CO@ 7

GONZALVIO
CO@ 7

GORAM SINGH
CO@ 7
M/GN:COISLES
COSAV 10

KING ARIOSTROS
CO@ 7-FB
CO@ 7

KING CONAN II/CONN
See Conn

MILO
CO@ 7
M/GN:COISLES
COSAV 10

MITRA
M/GN:COISLES

SIGURD REDBEARD
[SAVSCO 43]
CO@ 7
M/GN:COISLES
COSAV 10

TROCERO, COUNT
……
KCO 8
*CO@ 7

XOTLI
M/GN:COISLES

YAKOV
CO@ 7
M/GN:COISLES
COSAV 10

YASUNGA
[COB 94]
CO@ 7
M/GN:COISLES
COSAV 10

ZENOBIA
……
KCO 2-BTS
*CO@ 7-FB