Conan the Barbarian (2019) #16 - Full Script (Patreon)

The climax of of 'Into the Crucible!'

I wanted my first story arc on the monthly series to tell a classic-style Conan story but, hopefully, in a way that I hadn't quite seen before. Putting Conan in a place he didn't know and unable to communicate in the local language put our hero on his back feet and required him to use his guile, not just his combat prowess. The classic 'civilization VS savagery' theme at the heart of the original Conan stories also gets explored with Garchall's death cult that has turned a city into death worshippers obsessed with the Crucible contest. Wherever Conan goes, he is a force of change - usually change brought about on the edge of a keen blade and that holds true here as well.

Since this was built as an ongoing series, I also tried to seed elements for future storylines. The Nightstar sword is the piece that will carry forward into a 2-part tale, and then the next full arc.

That said, the pandemic absolutely crushed us in terms of release and sales. Issues #13 and 14 came out on time and then there was a 7 month publishing gap before issues #15 and 16 wrapped it up. Any hope we had of standing out in the comic market after the initial series launch by Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar was completely decimated as the world had way more important things going on. My bucket list project was on life support right from the start and it was a very strange time indeed.

Attached here is the full script, the full outline (and you can see some subtle changes from outline to final version), and the Utta language 'vocabulary' I used to make sure it felt consistent across each issue. If readers wanted, they could go through each chapter and loosely translate what was being said to/about Conan even though he doesn't fully understand their words. Having that language piece running underneath it all was a fun challenge and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.

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THE REVENGE OF CONAN!

The true nature of the Great Crucible is revealed! CONAN has angered the leadership of Uttara Kuru, but he will not be crushed by their punishment so easily! The dramatic conclusion to "Into the Crucible" and the start of Conan's next quest!