When Conan the King #50 opens, we’re back where we left off … in issue #28.

I am not sure when the decision to cancel the book came about; Conan the King, unlike most of the other books in Marvel’s line, was a bi-monthly 48-page book (and cost $1.50). But after a long story arc that involved wars and conquest of a significant portion of the known world, we get a sort-of new creative team. Christopher Priest (then James Owsley), who had been the editor at one point came on as writer and Geof Isherwood returned as artist, doing both pencils and inks. With that came a story that they credited the Alan Zelenetz/Marc Silvestri team for starting because they were going to finish the storyline that involved Conn’s disappearance and inner turmoil in Conan’s castle.

Now, what I had to do was actually look up this book on the Marvel Wiki because I had no idea what was going on and if there was some sort of weird continuity thing. I think that there might be some discontinuity between this and Don Krarr’s run, especially when it comes to the big bad, but after about an issue or two of wondering, I found the stories too good to even care if they were falling in line. Besides, the only thing that I learned from Marvel’s Wiki was that chornologically speaking, Conan the King was the “last” Conan story, at least at the time. Yes, there were at least a few more years of Conan the Barbarian, but those adventures take place before this book.

All that aside, it really didn’t matter because the book got so much better once the new creative team took over. I’ve enjoyed Priest’s superhero writing (I even wrote an episode of Pop Culture Affidavit about his short Batman run after “A Death in the Family”), and even though this isn’t a superhero book, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be let down. Isherwood was an artist I came to know via the Jon Ostrander-penned Suicide Squad series of the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as his tenure inking Wayne Van Sant on The ‘Nam. And these six issues have covers by Michael Kaluta, Joe Jusko, and Andy Kubert, so all around, I was in for a treat.

It definitely was. Priest, as he always seems to, knows the characters very well and it feels like even though he wasn’t the writer 25 issues ago, and Isherwood’s art is absolutely magnificent. Seriously, I think that these issues are some of the best of the entire series and even outshine the early Buscema issues (sacrelige, I know). And the reason that I wonder about when the cancellation came is twofold: the absence of a lettercolumn (not like that’s a sign or anything, but I’ve read many a series that have jettisoned letters when on their way out) and the way they bring back Thoth-Amon for a climactic battle for the fate of our character, his family, and his kingdom. If you’re going to go out, go out fighting your big bad, right?

Thoth-Amon comes back via the manipulation of Taurus, who had already been scheming against his family, and since Conan is away at war, Thoth-Amon is able to quickly take over the kingdom. Meanwhile, Conan’s family is in disarray because his illegitimate son–who looks just like Conn–has come to the castle, everyone still believes Conn is dead, and his daughter resents him at times because he keeps ignoring her.

Conn, by the way, isn’t dead, and is the star of a backup feature that’s written by Adam Blaustein drawn by Dale Eaglesham and Pat Redding. Blaustein, prior to this, had an issue of Kickers Inc. and Web of Spider-Man and would go on to write Dragonlance for DC as well as the Milestone series Hardware and Static. Eaglesham’s pencils can be seen on a number of DC and Marvel books throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but I remembered him for his work on Judd Winick’s Green Lantern run in the 2000s. The backups are pretty solid, especially for a couple of people in the beginning of their careers, and my only complaint is that I think they should have ended the backup story before the last issue because you have Conn getting the weapon that’s necessary to defeat Thoth-Amon after the climactic story. It’s a minor gripe, though.

Now, Marvel would publish Conan in various series until 1996 and then Dark Horse would pick up the character in 2003, publishing his stories until 2018 when Marvel bought the rights back. I didn’t buy either version until I saw King Conan solicited in Previews in 2021. Written by Jason Aaron with art by Mahmud Asrar, it picks up in some way where the 1980s series left off, giving us a six-issue story that had legacy numbering from the classic series. At the time, I was still trying to fill the last few holes in my collection of the title, so this was a must-buy. I did read it as it came out and decided to put it in with the other books and read it after I’d hit issue #55.

The book is nominally “King Conan” as it’s been a long time since he abdicated his throne to Conn and wandered to explore what lies beyond the frontier. He winds up shipwrecked on an island at the “edge of the world” where he encounters his old foe Thoth-Amon and then winds up teaming up against him as night falls on the island and the dead rise. They then have to contend with a female villain who’s dressed kind of like Deja Thoris (and whose name caused controversy upon the comic’s release) who is looking for someone to take her place on the island so she can finally rest. Aaron gives a classic “hero teaming up with the villain” story that eventually results in them fighting again, but with Conan-style savagery. We also get flashbacks to Conan’s efforts to make Conn go on a rite of passage via exile from Aqualonia as well as a look into the rule of King Conan II, who is now an adult and looks very much like his father, and I thought it was a really good “conclusion” of sorts to the story. I’ve heard good things about Aaron’s work before and this book was a really great read.

So, after all of that, I have to make a decision on this book, which is sitting on top of my shortboxes at the moment.

Keep, Sell, Donate, or Trash?

Keep.