Conan the Barbarian: Scourge of the Serpent Vol. 1 review

Last fall, Titan Comics and Jim Zub brought us another epic crossover between the heroes of the Howardverse, pitting the likes of Conan the Barbarian, King Kull, Brule the Spear Slayer, and Professor John Kirowan against the endless menace of the serpent god, Set. Across the ages, the heroes fought against the various faces of Set’s evil, oblivious to the true extent of the threat facing them. Now, Titan Comics resurrects that threat, collecting the entirety of the crossover into a trade paperback for all to experience. 

*Mild spoilers ahead for Conan the Barbarian: Scourge of the Serpent Vol. 1*

Note: As I’ve already gone into detail about the individual issues when they were released (which you can find here if you want a more in-depth breakdown), I won’t spend too much time on specifics in the story here. Instead, I’ll be focusing on my thoughts on the crossover overall, offering only broad strokes of the plot as needed.

Our story begins in the streets of Numalia, where, as night falls, a 17-year-old Conan slips into the manor of one of the city’s nobles. His intention is simple: steal whatever treasures lie within its guarded halls to further fund his wanderlust. The said treasure has already been spent; however, the master of the house offers another treasure to the Cimmerian, convincing him to steal a valuable artifact from the antique house of Kallian Publico. A theft that promises to be a simple matter, though, will quickly prove to be anything but.

Elsewhere, millennia before Conan so much as touched a blade, Brule the Spear Slayer sneaks into the palace of King Kull, ruler of Valusia. Brule has come at the behest of the Pict elders to aid the warrior-king against a grave threat that could destroy not only Valusia but all of humanity if allowed to remain unchecked. However, defeating this threat will be no easy task, even for two as mighty as Kull and Brule. For the evil threatening Valusia is not an invading army at the gates, but rather an enemy that has already infiltrated the palace, hidden behind familiar faces once trusted by the king. If they don’t act quickly, the shapeshifting minions of Set will overtake the city before anyone even realizes anything is amiss. 

Finally, in 1934, Boston, Professor John Kirowan finds himself with a troubling dilemma. An associate of his, James Gordon, claims to have been attacked by his wife, Evelyn, which nearly resulted in his death. The attack came out of nowhere, he alleges, and he believes some manner of supernatural element to be at play. Determined to uncover the truth, Kirowan accompanies Gordon back to his home, where his suspicions are aroused upon discovering a strange ring given to Evelyn shortly before the unprecedented attack. A ring crafted to look like a snake, which once belonged to the wicked sorcerer Thoth Amon (who Conan recently fought against during his time in Kheshatta), and now serves to further the plans of Set through the unsuspecting vessel of Evelyn Gordon.

On the surface, Scourge of the Serpent reads more like a collection of three individual stories than a true crossover like Zub’s previous crossover, Battle of the Black Stone. For the most part, the three storylines remain distinct, with little overlap save for visions by the Pict elder, the echo of ancient words spoken by Brule reverberating through the ages to reach Conan and Kirowan, and a common overarching antagonist. Beyond these, each character fights their own separate battle for the bulk of the story. This is arguably the weakest aspect of the crossover, as, by attempting to juggle three storylines, it struggles to present a cohesive narrative, let alone provide truly satisfying conclusions for each separate story.  

Further muddling matters is the ending. While I won’t go into detail here to avoid spoilers, the ending seems more focused on setting up a future story than neatly wrapping up this one. And while I love a good epilogue to tease something forthcoming, the way it's presented here feels like the entire final chapter is just a glimpse at the next big story. This could be forgivable if the story had built to it better, but instead, it just feels like we’re abruptly pulled into it from the ongoing storylines.

Overall, Scourge of the Serpent is an intriguing concept that stumbled and never quite regained its footing. It has its share of cool moments, but ultimately feels less like a genuine crossover of Howardverse heroes and more like three different comics with similar villains were lumped into a single book. If you’re a fan of Jim Zub’s work on Conan, it’s definitely worth a read as you’ll still likely have fun with it, though it doesn’t quite capture the same epicness that his other works thrive in. 

Conan the Barbarian: Scourge of the Serpent Vol. 1 is available now from Titan Comics.