Conan the Barbarian: Exodus #1

[Col_Fury]

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: EXODUS #1 (October 2019)
By Esad Ribić

APPEARANCES:
Conan, soldiers, wolves, a jungle cat, a bear

SYNOPSIS:
At age 15, Conan leaves Cimmeria, travelling through the snow. He fights wolves, a jungle cat and a bear on his journey. He finds some armor and a horse when he comes across dead soldiers. Coming across a farm he steals some goat milk and is arrested and crucified. That night he escapes and the soldier who crucified him is found dead. Conan wanders off.

NOTE:
The only dialogue in this story is written in a rune-type font, indicating Conan doesn’t understand the soldiers’ language.

The introduction on the credits page says this is Conan’s leaving Cimmeria to explore the rest of the world for the first time, including that he’s seen 15 winters here (at least at the start of the story). The map in the back shows he left Cimmeria, traveled through the Border Kingdom, between Aquilonia and Nemedia, then between Nemedia and Ophir, ending up near Numalia, south of Brythunia.

Of course, we see Conan leave Cimmeria in COA 2. In COB 31-FB Conan fights a bear and finds a magic sword. In SAVSCO 182/2, Conan is hanging out with some Aesir. In COB 1-2, COB 69-FB, SAVSCO 39, COB 254-FB and COB 92 he’s still messing around with the Aesir and Vanir. By COB 3 he’s in or near Brythunia, where he still is in COA 3.

I’m going to say that pages (1 - 3) happen early on, shortly after COA 2; he’s still in a snowy climate. In pages (4 - 8) he’s moved into a jungle setting. In pages (9 - 20) he’s in a forest setting. Conan has the same three-pronged spear in (4 - 8) and (9 - 20), so he likely doesn’t have any other published adventures between those.

I’m also going to say that the bulk of the issue, pages (4 - 20) happens after COB 92 and before COB 3. That makes the map in the back of this issue slightly wrong, as the path ignores him heading west in the earlier cited stories before heading south. Maybe the map is only concerned with this story's travels?

OR, since it’s only stated in the intro page and not the story itself (no dialogue, remember), we could put the entire comic after COB 92 and before COB 3; he’s still in a snowy climate in COB 92, so that COULD work, but then we’d have to ignore his implied age in the intro as well (Conan is 16 in COB 1-2). This really wants to start when Conan initially leaves Cimmeria.

Fun story, and the art is gorgeous.

Chronology!

CONAN
……
COA 2 (3:3 - 23)
*COB:EXODUS (1 - 3)
COB 31-FB
SAVSCO 182/2
COB 1
COB 2
COB 69-FB
SAVSCO 39-FB
SAVSCO 39
COB 254-FB
COB 92-FB
COB 92
*COB:EXODUS (4 - 20)
COB 3-FB
……