In a brand-new story arc, writer Jim Zub provides readers with the ideal introduction to Conan the Barbarian, as the celebrated swordsman charges into a fabled world of adventure in the latest issue from Marvel Comics. Traveling far beyond the eastern borders of the legendary Hyborian nations, Conan finds himself in unknown Uttara Kuru where the customs are as foreign as the language to the blithe scoundrel. Caught up in ritual mayhem, arduous feats of strength turn to evil acts as pious followers seek to placate their mad god with a reluctant sacrifice, Conan, in issue #13 of Conan the Barbarian, “Into the Crucible.”
Since the return of Conan the Barbarian to Marvel last year, Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar cast Robert E. Howard’s swords-and-sorcery hero into a grim and expansive tale with the year-long story arc “The Life and Death of Conan.” The twelve-issue arc chronicles Conan’s epic journey across the lands of the Hyborian Age and the trail of carnage that lures the hunger of the Crimson Witch and her dreadful death magic. With the blood of a mighty warrior, rich in the vehemence of one that has cheated death at every turn, the Crimson Witch hopes to raise an Arch-Demon of the Elder Night with her vile necromancy. Jason Aaron’s story spans the rapturous days of Conan’s youth spent as thief, adventurer, and soldier of fortune and into his twilight years on the throne of opulent Aquilonia, with the weight of a crown on the sovereign’s brow and, all the while, the children of the Crimson Witch lurking in wait. “The Life and Death of Conan” is a fateful tale, forbidding and an ill-omened, which challenges even the boundless fortitude and unquenchable spirit of Marvel’s mightiest barbarian.
The latest story arc in Conan’s grand saga finds the swashbuckling swordsman in mystical Uttara Kuru, on the farthest reaches of the Hyborian nations, where the peculiar and foreign city of Garchall lies in the shifting sands. The youthful and wanton Conan revels with the roisterous citizens of Garchall, where the native tongue is unfamiliar to the rogue but expressions of mirth and merriment are, fortunately, universal. Egged on by enthusiastic locals chanting in ritual fervor, a bemused, and thoroughly inebriated, Conan is drawn into feats of strength and an inevitable street brawl with loutish ruffians. A translator conveys that his strength has earned him an honored place in the ritual competition and if he endures the grueling trials, the city of Garchall will receive great blessings from the god-fiend Challi-Mai, the Many-Deaths. His mind addled with grog, Conan is swept up in the zeal and hysteria of the frenzied crowd and pitched grudgingly “Into the Crucible.”
While Jason Aaron’s ambitious tenure on Conan the Barbarian elicited an elegant, yet grim, warrior’s epic in “The Life and Death of Conan,” Jim Zub’s new “Into the Crucible” story arc promises to deliver heroic exploits and high adventure in far-flung lands guided by the Cimmerian’s irrepressible wanderlust. In “Part I: The People’s Champion,” a brash young Conan must traverse a subterranean maze of traps and horrors, built to honor the remorseless death god Challia-Mai. The deadly Crucible, both a holy rite and depraved custom, will test the mind, body, and soul of the barbarian, ensnaring him in a sinister contest and pitting him against other victims of the dubious ritual in the strange and treacherous city’s catacombs. In the tale Jim Zub writes, “Merriment can be hard to come by in these times” but readers will find it simply abounds in the latest issue of Conan the Barbarian, “Into the Crucible," from Marvel Comics.
- Conan the Barbarian #13 Written by Jim Zub Art by Rogê Antônio Colors by Isreal Silva Cover art by E.M. Gist Variant cover by Toni Infante Into the Crucible, as the March to Khitai Begins! Conan has faced many foes since leaving Cimmeria, but the greatest challenge lies ahead! A perfect jumping-on point for new readers as Conan finds himself in a city in the mystical Uttara Kuru, further on the eastern border than the young barbarian has ever traveled. And with the new city comes new dangers! Unfamiliar with the language, Conan inadvertently agrees to be the latest entrant to the Great Crucible. The people of the city support their foreign champion - but what deadly traps does the Crucible hold, and what will Conan sacrifice to overcome his ordeal? Out in comic book shops now!
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