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Kareem Ali 4

King Conan: The Conqueror #3

 

  • The good

    Interesting theory of what the Set priest might be attempting to do with the Heart of Ahriman. Some entertaining action with Set worshipers

  • The bad

    Still ignores the more interesting story threads introduced in the first issue and focuses on Conan just navigating the city

  • The ugly

  • King Conan: The Conqueror #3 has Conan sharing his recollection of when he finally arrived in Stygia after following the trail of the priest who stole the mystical Heart of Ahriman. He and his crew come upon a fisherman who they accost, and this fisherman confirms that the priest’s black galley did indeed land there. He tells Conan that the priest’s name is Thutothmes and that he brought back a relic that he refuses to talk about but it’s so he could overthrow another priest by the name of Thoth-Amon, which Conan recognizes and causes him some concern. He takes the fisherman’s clothes so he could infiltrate the city and he tells his crew that if he’s not back by dawn they can set sail since they can’t take the city by force. He knows since this land is ruled by the followers of Set that this won’t be an easy task but it would be even more treacherous for those unfamiliar with the understanding of the dangers ahead. But this was King Conan’s life and he also shares with the scribe how he intends to travel again before his death and has no intentions of being buried in the tomb constructed for him to serve as a monument of his reign. He plans to live his life to the fullest. But how was he even able to infiltrate this city and pursue this treacherous priest, and what dangers were awaiting him that he had to overcome?

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    I loved the first issue in this series and I felt a better job couldn’t have been done in not only being very entertaining but setting up the rest of the series very well with its intriguing story threads. I enjoyed the second issue a lot but I felt it didn’t reach the same level as the first issue as certain things were left unaddressed. This issue opens up very well with Conan’s interaction with the scribe and his characterization showing how all the events of his life made up who he was but many of those characteristics still remaining from earlier in his life. The interrogation of the fisherman was an easy plot device to move the story forward but also raised the stakes with the mention of an additional priest of Set, so I was pretty excited for what might unfold this issue. And this issue was interesting for what it was but once again there were temporarily abandoned plot threads and virtually no story progression with this issue having Conan navigating the city and then the temple while showing the customs of the worshipers of Set. And it’s definitely made clear that the entire city is very dangerous for Conan and that justifies him using mainly stealth as the action sequences are dictated by that. But I wonder, what happened to the interesting characters pursuing Conan in the first issue or what is Thutothmes doing to overthrow the other priest, and how could a fisherman know about it but not the priest? If you were to start the series with this issue it would be an enjoyable read but if you started from the beginning you would be left wondering about the initial story threads so I hope there’s a return to them after this issue.

     

    SUMMARY

    King Conan: The Conqueror #3 is an entertaining single issue but suffers due to the fact that it makes virtually no progress with the more interesting story lines introduced at the start of the series. Yes Conan is still pursuing the priest but the focus here is on him navigating the city and doesn’t address any of the questions from earlier. There’s an intriguing development at the conclusion of this issue so I’m hoping there are more story developments going forward from this point but I’m still enjoying the series overall.

     

    Release Date: 4/30/14

    Writer: Timothy Truman

    Artist: Tomas Giorello

  • Rating ( 7.5 )
  • Total score 7.5

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