OK, new rule: if I buy the same damn comic three times, I have to blog it.

I've mentioned more than once how when I was a kid, everyone in my small town read Conan comics--more specifically, my Conan comics. I couldn't say how many I lent out that were never returned, but to make up for that when I see cheap back issues I grab them right up. In this case, I wasn't even reading the title at the time, but I've semi-accidentally bought it three times in the last month or so, and I'm hoping there aren't more in the garage...from 1984, Conan the King #25, "Daggers" Written by Alan Zelenetz, breakdowns by Marc Silvestri, finishes by Geof Isherwood. Cover by Mike Kaluta. 

Over the years, we've blogged King Conan #19--the last issue before the name change--and CtK #28; since I know I fell off the book with #20, "The Prince is Dead." Conan's son Conn was killed off, the book seemed to go a lot darker and more serialized than the Conan titles had been for some time, and I didn't check it out again until Red Sonja's guest-spot in #28, which kind of hooked me for the rest of the series. I need to take an actual look at which issues I have, I may have by sheer happenstance put together a complete run...and some extras, apparently.

Anyway, this comic opens with one of Conan's elite Black Dragon Legionnaires, Leonidas, sneaking through the king's courtyard, but not for anything nefarious: he has a clandestine meeting with Conan's daughter, Radegund. Which makes the next page a buzzkill: Radegund is due to meet her betrothed, a prince from the next kingdom over, a marriage arranged from the time of her birth. She isn't thrilled about the idea of a marriage without love; but can't see that her mom Zenobia and Conan's marriage might not be doing so hot, either. (Charitably, Conan was neglectful, since he felt bored and hemmed in as king.)

The next day, Conan and Radegund (and a mess of troops, advisors, and whatnot) meet the possible future prince of their country, a worthless ponce who gets knocked into the moat and has to be fished out by his pantaloons, which does give the king possibly his first good laugh since the death of his son. He doesn't notice, but Tarquin, the head Black Dragon, spies the glances between Leonidas and Radegund. Back in Aquilonia, Prospero--one of Conan's main two regents--visits Lysander, who had been the sole survivor of the massacre that Conn died in. Prospero somewhat cattily tells him he won't be getting the captain of the guard job: maybe they owed him something...something like a short rope and a long drop, possibly. Lysander does have the confidence of Zenobia, even though he (like about everyone else) doesn't care for Conan's other son, Taurus. Taurus had recently accidentally turned one of his feet into a hoof with a spell gone bad, but he was more than a bit sour before that. Zenobia may have first just wanted to hear about Conn, since Lysander would've been the last to see him alive, but there may be something more there now.

While setting up for guard duty, Tarquin scolds Leonidas, and takes him off the princess's detail and puts him on Conan's. Probably a good choice there. When assassins attack, the Black Dragons make short work of them (with sai-wielding Syan-Lin getting the bulk of the kills) and Tarquin is more worried about Leonidas than Conan: in fact, Conan nearly kills Leonidas himself for being in his room, but Leonidas had been following orders. He then makes a poor showing against an assassin, who Conan is more than happy to take care of himself. Shamed, Leonidas quits the Dragons; but telling Radegund later she isn't bothered: she says she'll flee the kingdom before marrying the ponce, and asks Leonidas to give her something to remember him by...

Also this issue: Conn, Prince Conan II, was not dead, but currently lost in distant Asia-like Khitai. He stumbles across a pretty girl and a samurai type, but manages to convince them he means them no harm. But that leads to a confrontation between two groups of soldiers: the girl and the samurai were apparently from rival clans. After a fight, the samurai is captured, then later rescued by Conn, only for him to kill himself in shame. With the girl following him, Conn recalls his dad had passed through Khitai some years back, to save his mom from a wizard; and had friends there. Maybe close friends, as he is greeted by "my very twin--!!" Ooh, that's going to be awkward.

I think that recent issue of King Conan tries to do what Conan the King was here: move Conn from a boy to a man, although "The Prince is Dead" goes about it like, say, the Odyssey, a quest to return home; Jason Aaron's version is more like a quest to prove oneself. Conan exiles Conn "until he can bring me a tale from every land on the map." That feels harsher, but not necessarily out of character, either.