Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown

Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown #1-5

by Saladin Ahmed

A DEADLY QUEST AND A DARING HEIST...IN THE AGE OF MARVELS! CONAN wanders the desert, and as he reaches the city, no Stygian temple nor Vendhyan fortress greets him. No, something far stranger: the lights of fabulous Las Vegas! Conan is far from home, and it's time for him to tread the thrones of the Marvel Universe under his sandaled feet! The City of Sin is just the beginning for Conan's solo jaunt by Saladin Ahmed (BLACK BOLT, MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN) and Luke Ross (STAR WARS: ALLEGIANCE, SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN), as the barbarian finds himself on a quest for a relic that predates even his Hyborian Age: the Serpent Crown of Atlantis! But will his battle for this crown earn Conan his own kingdom, or doom him to a nefarious trap set forth by Mephisto? Featuring a wide array of Marvel heroes and villains, his is an adventure you can't afford to miss!

COLLECTING: CONAN: BATTLE FOR THE SERPENT CROWN (2020) 1-5

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

112 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2020

About the author

Saladin Ahmed was born in Detroit and raised in a working-class, Arab American enclave in Dearborn, MI.

His short stories have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards, and have appeared in Year's Best Fantasy and numerous other magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, as well as being translated into five foreign languages. He is represented by Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON is his first novel.

Saladin lives near Detroit with his wife and twin children.

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I would have given this 3.5 star but it definitely deserves a round up. I liked the idea of the Savage Avengers of Conan in the modern world. Now he finds himself in the City of Sin, Las Vegas. Now a quick score is going to take him on a tour of the Marvel universe.

As much as I like Conan I think most of the Marvel characters universe are way out of his league. I like that fact that do show how Conan defeated so man sorcerers. I also like how it shows Conan adjusting to the modern world.

The covers reminds me of Aku in Samurai Jack. The artwork is great the story is ok. Lots of fights, again I do like that Conan can take a hit as well as give it.

All in all a good side story to the Savage Avengers. Am looking forward to what happens next in the main story. I am glad the Savage Avengers is based around Conan. The book finishes with a cover gallery of varient covers quarter page thumbnails.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great one!

We follow Conan into Las Vegas as he meets this woman thief Nyla and they want to go after this guy named Imus Champion who did something bad for Nyla and well from there they meet Black Cat in a heist, go to Wakanda and face off against the Black Panther for us only to find the scepter they have and finally Atlantis aka the domain of Namor and thus begins the revelations of what Champion wants and whose backing him and which leads to a big fight between him and Mephisto for the serpent crown?

Its a great volume and has some great lore and additive actually plus good to see Nyla after the nocenti run on Daredevil and great to see Conan meet two big stalwarts in Marvel Universe and face him off against a man like Champion who has his own evil motives, evil plan like Kulan Gath (Conan's arch enemy) and I like the way the writer writes the narration and what he thinks of the modern marvel world and what he thinks of these people here and its always fun to see the Cimmerian honor his words. Great volume and fun team ups and a mystery and the art is great for sure!

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the cataclysmic events (as every single other one in the Marvel Comics universe) of ‘No Road Home’, Conan has been stuck on Earth-616, in present day, and in the company of the Avengers, and the rest of the Marvel heroes. Now, he wonders the Earth searching for the sorcerer Kulan Gath, who might hold the answer on how to return him to his home at the Hyborian Age, but, as it is, he finds himself arriving at Las Vegas, Nevada, where he’ll meet a thief named Nyla Skin, a former Daredevil associated. Together they’ll get in the pathway of the evil millionaire Imus Champion, who is secretly working for Mephisto in order to obtain two mythical artifacts related to the God-Snake, Set, known as the Serpent Scepter, and the Serpent Crown, which seems to grant their owner unmeasurable power, so it’ll be up to Conan, and Nyla, to stop Champion from obtaining those objects for the Evil deity.
Apparently, this takes place somewhere in between ‘Savage Avengers’ first volume, so I think I might’ve missed a couple of contexts on what happened to Conan post ‘No Road Home’. In reality, this plot isn’t that complicated to follow, arguably, you shouldn’t even need to read the whole previous Avengers comics in order to get this through, however, it would be helpful to- at least- understand the situation. Long story short, he’s been brought to Earth-616 after the Avengers battled Nyx, the Goddess of the Night. As for this specific story, the starting point, and the way the initial plot flows is pretty resemble of your typical Conan stories. I have to admit that the writer, Saladin Ahmed, started pretty decently the main story, with a Conan who’s walking by himself in the desert, arriving at Las Vegas and all, but for some reason everything felt downhill the moment the character of Nyla appears. Not that she is terrible, but she isn’t really that interesting a character to go along in an adventure alongside Conan the Barbarian, especially in the modern world. Out of all the characters in the Marvel Universe they could’ve selected as his companion, they picked a simple thief, who happened to be a character from a Daredevil comic, from the 1980s. Thor, Hercules, Ka-Zar, hell, even Scarlet Witch could’ve made comeback to at least have a certain connection with the previous arc where he appeared in, and since the both of them already had a great chemistry and interaction. But no, we’re stuck with Nyla and, well, there isn’t that much of a special chemistry with her and Conan. Pardon if I’m a little bit of an old-school fella, but in a Conan story, I’d like two kinds of characters to team up with the Cimmerian; either a potential partner that’ll eventually turn a foe to him (male or female), or a female to which the character could share a little of a sexual tension (just like it happened with Scarlet Witch and him in ‘NRH’), but also a potential interest towards the relationship of those characters. I don’t know, some might consider it conventional and formulaic, but that’s the way I think it works for this specific character.
Now, that is not my biggest inconvenient towards this spin-off title, but the fact that… I don’t really think Conan works in the modern-day world. Part of what makes the Cimmerian so unique, and iconic, is how timeless his dated conception is. Its not only him as a character what gives him such legendary appeal, but the world around him; the way he talks about the lore in the Hyborian Age, the way this world follows certain rules, how it looks, essentially everything that relates to the ‘Sword and Sorcery’ genre of fantasy, which, unfortunately, is all gone in present day. Not to say that he shouldn’t be in a crossover with classic Marvel characters, but if you’re going to do that, at least make sure he’s teaming up with better and more relatable names. I know this is essentially a cash-grab title to keep exploiting the property alongside Savage Avengers, but at least you could try to make the best out of it. How interesting and more “in character
would’ve been to have Conan being at Asgard, or the Olympus? I don’t know, just a place more fit to his environment. Just the image of Conan in a normal city, interacting with modern day people, it just feels wrong and… well, cheesy. It reminded me of the ‘Masters of the Universe’ movie with Dolph Lundgren as ‘He-Man’; these characters don’t work that well in modern environments, specially if they’re attached to a solidly specific genre such as ‘Swords & Sorcery”, besides, you take the risk of turning them into “fishes-out-of-the-water type of characters, and that automatically could turn them into clowns or jokesters.
But is this title that bad? Well, once I got past the whole inconsistency of environments, I found the story was a little entertaining, considering Mephisto is the main baddy in this. If I complained about Conan teaming up with an average character throughout the whole 5 issues, I admit Mephisto is a damn good option for Conan to fight against. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last longer, and the final fight against Champion feels very anticlimactic.
In the art department, I can’t really complain. Mahmud Asrar is the lead cover artist, and with the whole ‘Conan the Barbarian’ main series in Marvel, I think I got used to see him draw Conan in a regular basis, pretty much of how I got used to see the drawings of John Buscema, and Barry Windsor-Smith in the classic series from the 70s, Asrar has made a name for himself in the modern take of the Cimmerian, well, at least, in the Marvel version. So, I admit that, not seeing his pencils in this was a little bit of a letdown. The interior’s artist is Luke Ross, and I have to say, he’s a fine replacement for Asrar. He is making an effort to draw Conan as similar as Buscema did, but also trying to mimic a little of Asrar’s shapes and forms, so some frames look familiar enough, but at the same time, I don’t think he did anything interesting with any of the characters he worked with. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to mention that some Marvel characters, such as Black Cat, or Black Panther, appear in these issues, but Ross doesn’t necessarily exploit them artistically or attractively enough in a memorable way, the same I can say about Ahmed’s script.
This was entertaining enough, but unfortunately, it also feels disposable; it is clear this isn’t the “main crossover”, but that doesn’t mean something cooler and better couldn’t be made with it. Is just another average Marvel entry that utilizes a legacy character to mix alongside some standard Marvel characters just for the sake of having another crossover title to go side by side. Fortunately, this wasn’t another regular series, so it limits itself to only 5 issues. It’s an “okay” title that won’t hurt anybody, but hardcore fans of the Cimmerian might be left a little bittersweet taste on how passable it is, and that’s the thing, with Conan you don’t get to simply go “passable”, you go epic, and all the way, and this one didn’t.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finalmente um quadrinho divertido do Conan dentro do Universo Marvel!!! Esse encadernado Conan: Batalha Pela Coroa da Serpente entrega nada mais que um roteiro divertido com uma arte deslumbrante. Méritos do escriba Saladin Ahmed e do artista brasileiro Luke Ross, este último com um trabalho cada vez mais impactante. Conan atravessa diversas paragens do Universo Marvel para combater Mefisto e evitar que o poder da Coroa da Serpente caia nas mãos do mal. Para isso, ele encontra e enfrenta diversos heróis e vilões do Universo Marvel enquanto conta com a ajuda de uma carismática ladra - resgatada por Ahmed dos porões da continuidade Marvel. Passam pelas páginas a Gata Negra, o Pantera Negra, o Aranha Escarlate e Namor, mostrando a versatilidade da história e enchendo nossos corações de aventura e aegria ao ver personagens queridos se defrontando pela primeira vez com o bárbaro cimério. Uma história em quadrinhos despretensiosa, para aqueles que estão buscando diversão no roteiro e bons desenhos e narrativa.

[Alex Sarll]

Doubtless I could puzzle out exactly where this fits between the various other Conan comics, but what profit there? The important bit is that he's still wandering present-day Marvel Earth, bumping into a frankly implausible number of its familiar inhabitants (which is often an issue in time travel books, just look at All-Star Western). As per the cover, fan-favourite MCU absentee Mephisto looms large*, but the Cimmerian also bumps into everyone from Black Panther to the Black Cat. Are there any other Marvel characters whose alias is a subset of another Marvel character's, assuming we exclude cosmic entities like Infinity and Eternity? Plus, Conan versus Namor! Marvel's two most awkwardly topless men, together at last.


*If he looks like this when he eventually turns up, he'd have to be played by Jim Jarmusch.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Conan best when he's in Cimmeria, not when he's interacting with D-list Marvel heroes and villains on Earth. To wit, Battle for the Serpent Crown finds Conan on Earth, tracking Kulan Gath, but quickly sidetracked by a quest for the serpent crown (and scepter). These items will help free Mephisto from his hotel prison, though Conan has no clue about this part of the fetch quest.

A few visits to Wakanda and Atlantis later and we've got a bland punchfest and...Conan is back on his merry way. Battle for the Serpent Crown is competently written and modestly engaging, but it's ultimately a pointless side quest.

[Leonardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

La batalla por la corona serpiente es un aventura entretenida, pero decepcionante. Las historietas de Conan publicadas por Editorial Novero fueron algunas de mis lecturas preferidas en los años ochenta y tenía grandes esperanzas con este encuentro entre Conan y el universo Marvel. Lamentablemente, aunque Conan y Nyla son una excelente pareja dispareja de ladrones de tesoros, por momentos parecen meros títeres de las maquinaciones de otros personajes (y lo son, pero no debería ser tan obvio). Además, hay demasiadas subtramas y participaciones de villanos y superhéroes que no llevan a ningún lado (la Araña Escarlata y la Gata Negra, para empezar) y es apenas en el tercer volumen de la serie que los retos y enemigos empiezan a tener verdadera trascendencia. En el aspecto visual, el estilo es competente y hay secciones que son realmente admirables. La expedición subterránea de Nyla y Conan bajo Wakanda hasta llegar al templo de Set realmente logra transmitir una ominosa sensación de encierro. El descenso al fondo del mar está retratado con gran maestría del color y las sombras y la pelea entre Namor y Conan es la más lograda y dinámica de todo el libro (superando a la confrontación con Pantera Negra). Namor mismo está retratado con una estética cercana a la de Pierre et Gilles y es uno de los personajes anatómicamente más armoniosos de la colección. Lamentablemente, no se puede decir lo mismo de Conan y de Imus Champion (lo cual es un problema importante, considerando que son el protagonista y uno de los principales antagonistas). En fin, una lectura entretenida para matar una hora sin demasiado sentido de culpa.

[EmBe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mir war danach, den Cimmerier, von dem ich schon Erzählungen gelesen habe und seine Inkarnationen im Film kenne, nun mal als Comic-Figur zu erleben. Ich griff nach dem, was gerade im Zeitschriftenhandel erhältlich (und kostengünstig) war. Es sind ja schon tausende Comic-Seiten mit Conans Abenteuern gefüllt worden. 2020 wurden eine Reihe von neuen Geschichten veröffentlicht. Ich war nicht unbedingt darauf aus, seine Abenteuer im Marvel-Universum zu verfolgen (die übrigens noch nicht beendet sind), aber Crossover kann schon seinen Reiz haben, auch wenn man sich nicht so im Marvel-Universum auskennt wie ich. Ja, der Kimmerier lässt sich von Las Vegas nicht beeindrucken und auch nicht von Superhelden und Superschurkinnen, schließlich ist der grimmige Geselle selbst so etwas wie ein Superkrieger. Er weiß was er zu tun hat, und ist unbeirrt, auch wenn er fremdgesteuert Wird. Denn der Däman Mephisto zieht im Hintergrund die Fäden. Das alles sorgt schon mal für ein Schmunzeln und ist leidlich unterhaltsam ja auch gut gezeichnet und ansprechend koloriert. Aber bringt er wirklich "Crossover-Magie auf die nächste Stufe". Dazu ist der Zusmmenprall noch nicht richtig ausgereizt worden.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is about as good as it can be, I guess. But the whole idea of pulling Conan out of his own time so he can interact with the current continuity of Marvel characters is just so wrong-headed and bad, that there's not a whole lot that's going to make it work. Hopefully this sojourn is over quickly and Conan can go back to doing what he's supposed to be doing in his own time.

[Xavier Marturet · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a shame and a waste of opportunities.
Bad story. Bad the comic-book fans, bad for REH fans and bad for those who loved the Conan comic-books and magazines of the 80's.
You are loosing readers in all fronts.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saladin Ahmed writes a GREAT Conan in the modern world. I could read 500 issues of him on a Conan Marvel Team-Up book.

[Yoshiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

POPKulturowy Kociołek:
Piekące słońce i bezkresna pustynia nie powstrzymuje ciągle prącego naprzód Conana. Jego cel to znaleźć i zabić czarodzieja Kulana Gatha, przez którego znalazł się on w tej nieznanej dla siebie krainie. W końcu przed jego oczami roztacza się cywilizacja. Nie jest to jednak ani stygijska świątynia, ani vendhyjska forteca, ani też inne znane mu miasto. Widzi on bowiem przed sobą najbardziej grzeszne miejsce na ziemi, jakim jest Las Vegas. Nowe miasto oznacza nową porcję kłopotów. Do nich Conan zdołał się już jednak przyzwyczaić, radząc sobie z nimi na swój barbarzyński sposób.

Pomysł umieszczenia Conana w realiach współczesności wyszedł spod pióra Saladina Ahmeda. Człowieka, który udowodnił już, że potrafi pisać naprawdę dobre komiksy, czego efektem jest zdobyta przez niego nagroda Eisnera. Tym razem jednak popuścił on trochę za bardzo wodzę swojej wyobraźni. Decyzja o połączeniu Conana i współczesnego uniwersum Marvela nie każdemu bowiem będzie musiała przypaść do gustu. Ba nawet część ortodoksyjnych fanów Cymeryjczyka nazwie ten pomysł zwyczajnie głupim.

Conan: Bitwa o Wężową Koronę nie jest więc pozycją zachwycającą, ale nie jest też komiksowym szrotem, na który nie warto zwracać uwagę. Jeśli tylko ma się otwarty umysł (na różnego rodzaju crossovery) i pragnie się chwili niezobowiązującej rozrywki, to album ten ma co nieco do zaoferowania.

Na pewno dobrym pomysłem było wybranie miejsca akcji. Las Vegas swoim klimatem (hazard, pieniądze, przemoc, kobiety) przypomina bowiem niektóre znane ze świata Conana miejsca. Całkiem poprawnie prezentują się tu również dialogi naznaczone przyjemnym w odbiorze lekkim humorem. Trzecim plusem tytułu jest jego widowiskowość, której zdecydowanie tu nie brakuje, chociaż nie należy spodziewać się niczego nadzwyczajnego. Konfrontacja barbarzyńcy z niektórymi postaciami Marvela pokazana jest poprawnie i w kilku momentach potrafi mocniej przykuć uwagę czytelnika.

Obok zalet nie można nie zwrócić uwagi również na wady tytułu. Najpoważniejszą z nich jest dość mocno naciągana fabuła, w której wyraźnie czuć, że Conan nie za bardzo pasuje do współczesnych realiów. Twórca ponadto niepotrzebnie stara się na swój sposób „ugrzecznić” głównego bohatera, przez co w niektórych scenach wypada on sztucznie. Kolejną wadą jest zbyt szybkie (jak na mój gust) przystosowanie się Cymeryjczyka do nowego otoczenia. Nowe technologie nie robią na nim większego wrażenia i szybko odnajduje się on w tych realiach. Wynika to oczywiście głównie z braku miejsca i konieczności szybkiego posuwania fabuły do przodu....

https://popkulturowykociolek.pl/conan...

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've made it clear that I'm not a fan of Conan, but this is probably my favorite story I've read of his so far. I really liked seeing him in a modern setting and I loved Nyla (plus the other cameos we got). I'm just not a historical person, so something small like making this present-day improved so much for me.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty fun, but where Savage Avengers feels like Marvel playing in Conan's space, this is more like Conan on a whirlwind tour of the Marvel universe. Why is Black Panther here? Why is Namor here? why is any of this happening? I don't know, it's a little goofy, but it's not a bad thing to see the comedic side of Conan every once in a while.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book looking taking the titular hero, Conan- Barbarian and thief - and adding in various other thiefy character types from the Marvel Universe. Each issues takes us to a new place and cameos - logical ones - abound. It's fun, there are twists, interesting backstories, and plenty of action. It's what a Marvel book should be.

[Frank Jarome · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun. Conan trapped in the Marvel universe is not something I’d want to see long-term, but for a relatively short period of time there’s a lot of entertainment to be mined from the concept.

[Δημήτρης Αθανασόπουλος · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one happens in between the savage avengers story.

This is worse than the savage avengers story.

I have no idea why they tried to add Conan almost everywhere in the current marvel stories but by crom... He doesn't belong in any way.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Alexandre · Rating 1 out of 5]

would have been 2.5 stars if it wasn't marvelled all over ...

[Iván Pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Por el momento me parece que tiene muy buen dibujo, excelente en algunas viñetas y en cuanto al guión, pasa más desapercibido, aunque la historia es lo suficientemente entretenida para que quiera seguir leyendo y ver que ocurre a continuación.