"The End" Week: Kull the Destroyer #29!

After the toy show, I mentioned I was going to go through my Conan box; which included this last issue (and a copy of Claw the Unconquered #1!): From 1978, Kull the Destroyer #29, "To Sit the Topaz Throne!" Written by Don Glut, pencils by Ernie Chan, inks by Ricardo Villamonte.

It's the former king of Atlantis, Kull, versus the current king of Atlantis, Ardyon--really Thulsa Doom!--for the crown of Torranna. Wait, Torranna? Thulsa Doom wasn't content with forcing Kull into exile; he wanted his foe to win the crown of Torranna, but not as a consolation prize: Torranna was a kingdom of corpses, kept alive by magic, but only three of their wizards could live outside of the city's walls. Unless a certain prophesy was fulfilled, which involved a scar-faced champiton taking the crown; then the Torrannians would be able to leave their city, albeit as Thulsa Doom's slaves, while their king would be trapped there forever! Kull isn't going to just let that happen, though; and gives Doom a pretty good shot to the face with an axe, but the skull-faced wizard doesn't even bleed.

While most of the fight takes place with them projected to Doom's homeland, Grondar; back in the throne room a barely-conscious Kull is about to be crowned, when he makes a last ditch effort and wrestles Doom onto the throne and the crown on his head: the earlier blow to his face had scarred it, fulfilling prophecy! The citizens of Torranna age into nothingness, while the city collapses and Kull and his minstrel Ridondo make a break for it. Kull guesses the Torrannians took life from their king, but Thulsa Doom had been dead for centuries, so they had nothing but death on top of death. Ridondo, thinking quickly, had nicked Kull's old crown when it fell off Doom's head; and they head back to scenic Valusia. The court had noticed "Ardyon" had disappeared, but were in no hurry to get him back, the bloom had come off that rose and they almost missed Kull. Kull takes back the throne, since he knows none of them are about to talk back to him...at least to his face.

The letters page mentions something we noted when we checked out Kull #16: the title had been cancelled multiple times, and this would be the third and final time. Still, he would of course continue appearing in Savage Sword of Conan, and would get more series later. I don't know if anybody's doing Kull stories now; I also don't think he's received the public domain treatment like Conan would get with those "The Cimmerian" comics. "The Atlantean" is right there!