In search of an ancient relic that would command untold riches, Conan clashes with Namor, the Submariner in oceanic intrigue deep beneath the waves in the May issue of Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown. Writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Luke Ross presents the audacious barbarian’s most dangerous heist yet — steal a wondrous artifact from the underwater realm of Atlantis. After matching his roguish expertise against the Black Cat in Las Vegas and the safeguards of hidden Wakanda, the intrepid Conan stakes it all in the sunken city of Atlantis, this May from Marvel Comics. 

Throughout time and across extra-dimensional space, the depraved influence of the Serpent Crown has plagued humankind, passed from pagan priests to the treacherous brows of amoral sovereigns since the days of antiquity. Serpent cults have long revered the sinuous crown, and the malevolent schemes of wicked sorcerers have drawn on its mythical powers to fuel arcane rites for ages. In Conan: Serpent War, Robert E. Howard’s swashbucklers Dark Agnes, Solomon Kane, and Conan the Barbarian are gather from across time and, with the avatar of Khonshu, Moon Knight, tasked with destroying relics of ancient power in a struggle against the snake god, Set. While their efforts are largely successful, the unsettling circlet of intertwining serpents is shifted, back across time, to the pre-cataclysmic Thurian Age and bestowed upon the Atlantean-born barbarian, King Kull of Valusia by a sinister Lemurian priest. The influence of the Serpent Crown transcends time and space, bending its devotees to its malign will and compelling their actions to further its obscure designs.  

Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown chronicles the continuing saga of the cursed crown with the hunt for the Atlantean artifact returning to the fabled city of its origin. In the swords and sorcery tales of Robert E. Howard, the mythical city of Atlantis exists in the time that predates the Hyborian Age of Conan, before it fell into the sea, and from that anti-diluvian era comes another of Howard’s literary creation, Kull the Conqueror. The events of the Serpent War, “Chapter IV: Kingdom of the Worm,” from Jim Zub and Ig Guara, find the Serpent Crown conferred upon Kull in the final frames of the mini-series, reigniting the cycle of the sinister relic. Hurtled out-of-time and into the modern world, Conan the Barbarian gambles it all against the Submariner to steal the Atlantean artifact in the undersea city, in May’s Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown, from Marvel Comics. 

While avarice and an empty purse has driven Conan to climb the tower of the evil sorcerer, Yara to steal the fabled gem, “The Heart of the Elephant,” and to purloin the legendary “Teeth of Gwahlur,” precious stones hidden in the ancient city of Alkmeenon, the barbarian-thief has yet to match wits with winged-feet — against the half-human/half-Atlantean mutant, Namor. With the Serpent Crown several thousand leagues under the sea, the time-traveling scoundrel dives deep for hidden treasure, in the submarine vaults of the sunken city. Leaving Las Vegas for Wakanda, Conan fights to the last breath, or an eternity down in Davy Jones’ Locker, this May in Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown. 

  • CONAN: BATTLE FOR THE SERPENT CROWN #4 (of 5) Writer: Saladin Ahmed Artist: Luke Ross Cover: Mahmud Asrar Varant Covers: Eduard Petrovich, Philip Tan IN TOO DEEP! The SERPENT CROWN’s roots in the Pre-Cataclysmic Age lead CONAN back to where it all started… …but ATLANTIS is not quite what it once was. And even if he can locate the Crown, NAMOR isn’t going to let that treasure slip through his grasp!

More: Conan the Barbarian: Sin City and the Serpent Crown

Source: CBR