Tuesday, October 13, 2015

I'm not sure you should throw dung under a truce flag...


Since I have HBO again for a bit, I'm in the middle of catching up on Game of Thrones: midway through season three, and I have a good feeling about how things are going to turn out! But I'm only able to catch an episode or two a week, which occasionally leaves me scratching my head for a moment as I try to remember what happened last time, or what episode I was on. Not unlike today's comic! From 1986, Conan the King #33, "Day of Wrath" Written by Don Kraar, pencils by Mike Docherty, inks by Art Nichols.

Prince Conn, Conan's son, is after the slippery Stygian spy Crassus, who is in the middle of kidnapping Conn's sister Radegund. Crassus has an ace in the hole, though: Conn's younger brother, Taurus! Sick of living in his brother's shadow, Taurus had taken to black magic, ended up with a goat's foot, and was willing to switch sides to spite his father and maybe get his foot back. Crassus escapes with them, and a disgruntled Conn is left to deal with the siege of Tarantia; which is still surrounded by the forces of Argos, Nemedia, and Ophir. Meanwhile, King Conan keeps his forces in line by setting an example at the smithy, then parleys with King Xanthus, who isn't going to face Conan in single combat when he has superior numbers.

The blind witch Zelata casts a spell for Conan, bringing rain that turns the plains to mud and slows the enemy advance, but also causes the rivers to rise to the point that Conan's forces may be flooded out. Using his blacksmiths as decoys to make the enemy think he was staying put, Conan moves his forces through the fog to join his son and the city's troops...

I know I read these as a kid, but I'm not sure I ever had a long run of them to read at a time--I lent out a lot that never came back! We saw the last issue a couple years back, but that was by Priest, not Kraar, and I'm not sure how many plotlines Kraar wrapped up. Also, in the last issue Taurus seems repentant, but here he's a troll-faced bastard who laughs as a farm family is murdered; I don't know if Kraar had redemption planned for him.

1 comment:

SallyP said...

Man its been ages and ages since I have read any King Conan!