2024 saw an unprecedented crossover as multiple characters created by Robert E. Howard joined forces in Battle of the Black Stone. Led by Conan the Barbarian, these time-crossed adventurers fought to save all reality. The adventure continues in a new event, Scourge of the Serpent, teaming Conan with more legendary heroes from across time.
Many is the time that Conan faced the servants of Set, the wicked snake-god whose followers control the nation of Stygia. Yet they are connected to another evil, the Serpent Men, who were ancient even before the time of the Hyborian Age. It has been prophesized that three heroes of different times shall stand against the evil of the Serpent Men, and the barbarian sell-sword is destined to be one of them.
The main cover and first five pages of Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1, may be viewed below.
What legends are Conan the Barbarian teaming up with?
The preview of Scourge of the Serpent #1 reveals two Robert E. Howard creations apart from Conan. The first is the focal point of the preview, which is based on a scene from the story “The Shadow Kingdom.” It was there that the Pict warrior Brule the Spear-Slayer was dispatched to save King Kull from Serpent Men assassins before they could conquer the land of Valusia.
A master of many weapons (favoring the spear), Brule was also well-versed in magic lore. He knew a charm which undid the illusions Serpent Men used to pass as human. Brule afterward became one of Kull’s most trusted advisors and a boon companion on his many adventures.
The third figure additionally revealed alongside Conan and Brule in the preview appears to be Professor John Kirowan. First appearing in the story “The Children of the Night,” Kirowan was a 20th century scholar who sought occult lore he might use to fight evil. While evidently forged of noble intentions, the battle became personal after a rival sorcerer used dark magic to corrupt the only woman Kirowan ever loved.
John Kirowan is also connected to the mythology of Conan. His 1934 adventure, “The Haunter of the Ring,” involved a cursed ring. Kirowan identifies this as ring as one “handed down by foul cults of sorcerers since the days of forgotten Stygia.” This emphatically confirmed it to be be the Serpent Ring of Set, once wielded by Conan’s arch-enemy Thoth-Amon.
Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on September 24, 2025.
