COB:EXODUS

[wolverine7230]

COB:EXODUS is relatively problematic in terms of finding a clean placement, but I believe that the MCP's current placement can't work as it currently stands. Currently, it is split into two segments like so:

CONAN...
COA 2 (3:3 - 23)
COB:EXODUS (1 - 3)
COB 31-FB
...
COB 92
COB:EXODUS (4 - 20)
COB 3-FB
...

At the very least, this issue should be listed together and not separated into two segments. Conan has the same three-pronged spear across both segments, which we do not see him carry in any other stories. In terms of placement clues, there isn't much to work with:
- The introduction page is very generic but implies that this is pretty soon after Conan leaves Cimmeria
- Conan doesn't speak whatever language the people he encounters is, which backs up this implication
- The map denoting "regions explored in this issue" just highlights a very large region of mountains stretching from Cimmeria down to Ophir

Bearing all this in mind, I would say there are two possible placements:
1) Immediately following COB 31-FB where Conan is in the mountains and he ends up without a sword. In COB:EXODUS Conan starts by surviving in the mountains and ends up with a new sword. Problems: Conan's clothing doesn't match with the listing before or the listing after.
2) If we assume that all the references to Conan first travelling North are incorrect, we could say that Conan had some brief adventures in Northern Aquilonia and/or the Border Kingdom before he went North (this also helps accomodate the problematic COB 201-FB as long as we continue to ignore the reference to Conan being "seventeen" in that issue). These adventures could be what occured on Conan's journey home following his adventures with Jorrma in COB 236-240. In Conan's adventures in Aesgaard and Vanaheim it is repeatedly implied that at times he wants to return home before something or other happens to stop him, so perhaps after these early adventures Conan got homesick and returned to life in Cimmeria again before getting restless and leaving for good?

I must say initially I was more sold on the first placement, but writing this out now and thinking about it the second placement seems to me the better option. If we take this and apply it to the chronology I presented in my recent thread then we get the following sequence of events:

(Battle of Venarium)
COB 236-240 (Adventures with Jorrma; ends with Jorrma's death)
COB 201-FB (Conan has been doing some mercenary work in Northern Aquilonia)
COB:EXODUS
SAVSCO 219/2-FB (Conan back in Cimmeria, warning another tribe of a Pictish invasion)
COB 211 (1-11) (Conan avenges a raid on another tribe's camp

This certainly tells the narrative that Conan's first solo adventures didn't quite go to plan, so he returned home to see if he could lead an exciting life helping defend his homeland. As we know, this would not be enough to satiate his hunger for adventure!

I can't see any major problems but if I've missed something, let me know, and as always I look forward to hearing your thoughts!