Another Free Comic Book day has come and gone, filling our collections with a hoard of new issues and (hopefully) sparking the love of comics into a new generation. For fans of Titan and Jim Zub’s Conan, however, this year also means the beginning of a new crossover even within the Howardverse. For just as last year’s free Comic Book Day introduced the world to the Scourge of the Serpent crossover miniseries, this year sees the rise of a new threat to once again unite the heroes of the Howardverse in Conan the Barbarian: Tides of the Tyrant King #0. Will they be ready?
*Mild spoilers ahead for Conan the Barbarian: Tides of the Tyrant King #0*
War. It’s as consistent as the rising of the sun or MCU movies, plaguing every generation since the dawn of humanity. Some battle for glory; others, because they must. All battle for survival. A battle that continues long after they’ve left the blood soaked fields of war.
This eternal parallel is the framework for Conan the Barbarian: Tides of the Tyrant King #0. Evenly divided between Conan in the Hyborian Age and Stephen Costigan in the much nearer past of the 1900s, the story follows the two as they fight their respective desperate battles. The battles are mirrored, showing us the pair as they charge against the enemy force, as they’re injured, and as they rise victorious. But if it is a mirror, it is a twisted one, as the two men could not appear more different in their views of the conflict. Where Conan seems to revel in the fight, appearing far more alive than his normal sullen-eyed demeanor off the battlefield, Costigan appears horrified by what he sees. Where Conan’s eyes shine with ferocity, Constigan’s are wide with fear. Where Conan leaps back into the fray after nearly meeting his demise, Costigan remains knelt in the mud, visibly shaken.
The mirror continues after the pair have left their respective battlefields, as both are forced to contend not only with their injuries, but with the cruel depravity of their comrades. Each makes an effort to stand against these men, but each is ultimately brushed off. These men are beyond reason, having abandoned what decency they once possessed in the savagery of the battlefield.
Seeking to escape that savagery, Costigan goes on a journey, hoping to find some way to free himself of the conflict’s lingering grip upon his soul. Conan, too, departs on his own journey, though his is less a matter of escaping war’s horrible shadow and more a decision to rid himself of the ilk he had been fighting alongside. Both of their journeys appear to be leading to the same place, however. A place in which a new conflict arises, pulled from the depths of a time long forgotten to challenge the world across the ages. For Thulsa Doom has risen once more from his ancient grave, and Conan and Constigan will need a miracle if they hope to prevent the necromancer's evil from overtaking the world.
Much like last year’s Free Comic Book Day Scourge of the Serpent Prelude, this issue does a fantastic job setting up its premise. It gives away little, with only a sinister snippet of the looming threat on the final pages to tease what is to come. But because this threat is one that we’ve seen before in Zub’s earlier Conan stories, we already have a sense of just how dangerous it will be. Conan himself only narrowly defeated Thulsa Doom before; with his resurrection now threatening multiple eras of the Howardverse, it’s safe to say that he has returned more resilient and dangerous than ever. Will our heroes be capable of standing against such a force?
And what of these heroes? Will they find their way to each other through space and time, as the united heroes of the Howardverse did in Battle of the Black Stone? Or will these be separate stories united by parallel like Scourge of the Serpent? The latter seems more likely, given the setup that this unknown evil will threaten multiple times, but this could be a misdirect by Zub.
I do appreciate that it looks like we’ll only have two protagonists this time around. While I certainly don’t dislike seeing the various characters of the Howardverse joining together Avengers-style, this can create a bit of an issue should characters that are too alike be featured together, such as Conan and Kull in Scourge of the Serpent. This is especially true if the story is intended to run as an adventure of parallels rather than a straightforward union.
With only two characters, though, (and two characters that seem very different from one another, at that) I don’t believe the story will run into that particular issue. If anything, the differences between Conan and Costigan could likely play off each other well, providing contrasts that keep the story fresh.
The tide of an ancient evil is rising, and I’m excited to see what it will bring.
Conan the Barbarian: Tides of the Tyrant King #0 is available now from Titan Comics.
