Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1 review — The threat of the serpent echoes through time

After months of teasing, it’s finally here. Jim Zub’s long-awaited Scourge of the Serpent mini-series hit shelves this week, setting the stage for a story that will span multiple time periods and threaten not only our favorite Cimmerian, but several others of Robert E. Howard’s timeless characters. Can our heroes hope to stand against a threat that spans the millennia? Does the story live up to the hype Zub has given it? Let’s find out.

*Mild spoilers ahead for Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1*

Our story begins in a time long before the Hyborian Age, the Thurian Age, when Atlantis still stood above the waves. The Pict spearman Brule—who will undoubtedly be a familiar face to those who have followed Zub’s run on Conan—listens to the foreboding vision of the Seeker, Gonar, who has seen a great threat that will span the ages. To work against it, Brule travels to the palace of another familiar face, King Kull, ruler of Valusia. There the king discovers a horrific truth the extent of which he does not yet know. 

In the Hyborian Age, meanwhile, a young Conan embarks on what should be a simple burglary, picking up from the events of the Free Comic Book Day Special. However, it isn’t plunder he finds awaiting him, but rather a dead man and a guard who immediately assumes the Barbarian is the murderer. 

Jumping forward even further in time to 1934 in Boston, we find ourselves in the presence of one Professor John Kirowan, who also finds himself entangled in a serpentine mystery when a friend of his reveals that his wife tried to kill him that morning. What makes this attempted murder all the more intriguing is the presence of a mysterious golden ring upon her finger. A ring resembling a serpent, its eye glinting evily…

Though this book is but the first in the limited run and therefore must devote much of its pages setting up the events to come, Zub wastes no time throwing us into the action. This works in no small part thanks to the fact that these are all established characters who require little-to-no introduction, especially after the Free Comic Book Day Special released back in May. Conan, of course, is well known to readers by this point, which is why his name is plastered on the title of the book. But even if readers are only familiar with Zub’s works for Robert E. Howard’s characters, they should already know Brule and King Kull from Zub’s Conan the Barbarian run. Professor Kirowan, meanwhile, appeared in Zub’s previous Howardverse event, Conan: The Battle of the Black Stone. Since none of the characters require much introduction, Zub is free to jump right into the story at full speed, something that benefits this first issue greatly. 

Speaking of the story, I personally loved the air of mystery that surrounded each character. While some things can be guessed based on recent stories in Conan the Barbarian and The Savage Sword of Conan, there’s still a great deal that has yet to be revealed. We don’t yet know exactly what the threat is, other than that it appears to be related to the followers of Set fought in both of the aforementioned titles. Beyond that, we’re left to guess until the next issue comes out. 

Picking up from his work on the Free Comic Book Day Scourge of the Serpent Prelude, Ivan Gil brings the story to life with artwork that both matches what previous artists have brought to Zub’s Conan titles while also feeling unique in its own right. Conan in particular benefits from Gil’s style, as the barbarian feels younger than he does in the main title, as he should given that he’s supposed to be around 17 in this story. While no less imposing of a figure than he is any other time, this Conan doesn’t yet seem burdened by the weight of things yet to come. Instead, he seems more carefree, concerning himself only with the revels he hopes to experience later that night. 

While it’s ultimately too soon to say for certain whether the story lives up to the hype Zub has been building for the mini-series over the recent months, I feel confident in saying I have little doubt it will. The story is compelling, with equal parts action, mystery, and supernatural to entice readers new and old. Bonus points for an Easter Egg to another comic universe, intentional or not. 

Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1 is available September 24th from Titan Comics.