Conan the Barbarian: the Usurper #1-3

[Col_Fury]

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: THE USURPER #1 (December 1997)
by Chuck Dixon & Steve Lieber

APPEARANCES:
Conan, M’Bota, Vrod, Gen. Vindictus, Ferrux, King of Aquilonia (unnamed), Aquilonians, Vanir (inc unnamed shieldmaiden)

SYNOPSIS:
Conan serves in the Aquilonian army. After surviving a successful battle against the Vanir he spares a woman fighter’s life by requesting her to be his shieldmaiden. Soon after, the Army (and Conan) learns that their next target is Cimmeria.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: THE USURPER #2 (January 1998)
by Chuck Dixon & Steve Lieber

APPEARANCES:
Conan (becomes Gen. Conan), M’Bota, Vrod, unnamed shieldmaiden, Gen. Vindictus, Ferrux, Aquilonians, Cimmerians

SYNOPSIS:
The Aquilonians battle the Cimmerians, but Conan, knowing their fighting habits, allows the Cimmerians to ambush some Aquilonians. Unhappy with his general’s cruelty and urged by other soldiers, Conan begins a mutiny. After killing the general, Gen. Conan announces he’ll he taking the army back to Tarantia.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: THE USURPER #3 (February 1998)
by Chuck Dixon & Steve Lieber

APPEARANCES:
Gen. Conan (becomes King Conan), M’Bota, Vrod, unnamed shieldmaiden, Emperor of Aquilonia (unnamed, same guy from issue #1), Aquilonians (inc Drassus, Gen. Darius Hykanius)

SYNOPSIS:
As Gen. Conan marches toward Tarantia he grows his army by recruiting from various outposts. At first the Aquilonian Emperor dismisses Conan’s activities (he doesn’t know who Conan is), then tries to bargain with him. Gen. Conan storms Tarantia and kills the emperor. Conan’s friends die during the fight but Conan becomes king of Aquilonia.

NOTE:
Um… well. OK. I don’t see how this can fit alongside GSCO 1, SAVSCO 46-52, COK 20 & 23.

This Aquilonian king is thin, not crazy, and doesn’t know who Conan is. In the established version, he’s fat, crazy, and knows damn well who Conan is.

In this version, Conan becomes a general on his way to overthrow Tarantia. In the established version, Conan became a general while serving in the Aquilonian army, served as a general for a while, the king became paranoid and jealous over Conan’s successes and had him imprisoned.

In this version, Conan decides to overthrow the king because he was forced to attack Cimmeria. In the established version, Conan decided to overthrow the king because his friends convinced him to after the king had imprisoned Conan.

I also don’t see how this could be a previous time where Conan was king of Aquilonia. That would mean he killed the previous king, ruled for a bit and then quit, and then some time later rejoined the Aquilonian army, and the new king just didn’t realize that the previous king was now serving in his army and so he promoted him to general. That’s just… stupid.

No chronologies this time because this mini can’t fit. My placement suggestion: the non-canon list!

Thoughts?

[lettsmonster]

I totally agree with you. I read this miniseries before you analyzed it, scratching my head over it. I vote for non-canon list as well