Random Happenstance

I've mentioned other issues of this series that I've bought more than once, and I'm maybe missing one that I probably had, but today we've got one I hadn't read before! From 1985, Conan the King #27, "A Death in Stygia" Written by Alan Zelenetz, breakdowns by Marc Silvestri, finishes by Geof Isherwood.

A dark issue this time around, as a long-standing foe of Conan's returns, even if he isn't referred to by name here: Thoth-Amon. A fisherman and his wife had found his Serpent's Ring in a fish, and thought it would bring them good fortune: hard no there. The ring frees Thoth from the netherworld, and he wastes no time setting up with one of Conan's baron's, the inept failson Maloric. I would've expected him to be a bit more perturbed that Conan had managed to become a king, but he merely watches through his magic, disgusted at the barbarian's happy family life, but seeing potential in Conan's youngest son, Taurus.

Thoth tracks down the ring, but finds the fisherman and his wife murdered, their child seemingly dumbfounded by the loss. Summoning a spirit from the deeps, he is told the ring had been "claimed by one of his own kind,' which Thoth takes to mean a trip to Stygia was in order. In the cursed city of Neethu, within the black hyena sphinx, he finds a gathering of wizards, who have no idea about the Serpent Ring, but are also nowhere near a match for him even as a group. Thoth murders them all horribly, but then laments the impulsive overuse of his magics. He still had enough juice to look through the "mists of time," which mostly catches us up on Conan's regularly-scheduled plotlines, but is blocked from seeing who now had the ring. Furious, Thoth plans to find and kill them, and then Conan; while back at the fisherman's shack, the bodies are found by their neighbors, who are at least grateful the couple didn't have children to leave as orphans...and nearby, the formerly dumbfounded child contemplates the Ring, with evil eyes.

Despite having read so much Conan, I really don't know if I've seen Thoth-Amon that often? Possibly to avoid overuse, cheapening him; although I think Jason Aaron uses him in his King Conan story, as kind of a loser: Conan had become a king, had a family, lived a massively rich life; and what had Thoth-Amon done?