Kull's uneasy rule is again threatened by the serpent cult determined to destroy him, as it seeks aid from his most frightening foe, the immortal Thulsa Doom! * Written by David Lapham (Stray Bullets, The Strain)! * Thulsa Doom!
More comfortable with a sword than a scepter, the enigmatic Kull has recently crowned himself king and seeks to unite the once proud and powerful land of Valusia. As representatives from all corners of his kingdom seek his counsel, the warrior-king accepts a strange invitation from the Pictish emissary. Kull will need to discard ancient prejudices if he's to save the newly united Valusian empire from a clandestine enemy that once threatened to enslave and exterminate mankind! Aided by Brule—a hotheaded Pict confidant—Kull uncovers layers of deception and treachery in the ancient halls of the Tower of Splendor and faces the growing threat of the devious Serpent Cult! Join us as we discover Valusia's darkest secrets and witness the first days of its mightiest king. • Collection features a new cover by Paul Renaud. • See pages 28-29 for the conclusion to Arvid Nelson's acclaimed Rex Mundi series and the return of Zero Killer! • "Strong storytelling, powerful action, real emotion, great detail work, and a balls-to-the-wall sense of power from his main character."—Comic Book Resources
Legendary artist Joe Kubert's very first sequential Conan work and illustrations by Cary Nord, Justin Sweet, and Joseph Michael Linsner highlight this latest collection of stories from Dark Horse's ongoing Conan the Cimmerian comic -- book series. In his short career as a mercenary, young Conan has impressed both Princess Yasmela and military leader Lord Amalric, but an ambitious rogue prince arrives in Khoraja and blindsides Conan out of the comfortable, courtly situation he's found himself in. Not only is Conan's love affair with Yasmela going south, but rebel Prince Julion immediately challenges Conan's headstrong impulses and military plans, causing a rift between the battered but proud forces of Khoraja and Amalric's army of colorful mercs.
David Lapham (Stray Bullets) pits Robert E. Howard's original barbarian king against a terrifying magical foe from his doomed homeland of Atlantis. The Hate Witch has waited from the beginning of time for a great man of uncertain destiny, whom she can use to bring about the destruction of civilization. She believes that King Kull is that man, and she has launched an all-out assault on Valusia, slaughtering its people, in an attempt to draw him to her seat of power—the wilds of Atlantis! Kull will have to return to his savage origins if he wants to hold onto the throne in Valusia and save it from civil war! Collects issues #1-#4 of the miniseries.
On the run from the army of Turan, Conan and fellow fugitive Olivia hide out on a small island in the Vilayet Sea. They soon find themselves stalked by an unseen terror in the jungles and threatened by a group of pirates belonging to the Red Brotherhood, which is led by Conan's sworn enemy-Sergius of Koth! However, those may be the least of Conan's concerns, because when the moon rises on this island, the ruins of a lost civilization stir and an ancient, deadly curse awakens! Conan will be pushed to his limits as he and Olivia fight to survive! * Collects Conan the Cimmerian issues #22-#25, plus the Weight of the Crown one-shot with its MySpace Dark Horse Presents short-story prologue. * This collection completes the epic Dark Horse series Conan the Cimmerian. * Features a foreword by series writer Timothy Truman and an afterword by Robert E. Howard biographer and genre writer Mark Finn!
"When Kull the Conqueror was relaunched in 1982, the finest fantasy artists and writers were assembled to bring all of Kull's barbaric rage to a new generation of fans!"--Volume 4 cover.
In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. From his fertile imagination sprang some of fiction’s most enduring heroes. Yet while Conan is indisputably Howard’s greatest creation, it was in his earlier sequence of tales featuring Kull, a fearless warrior with the brooding intellect of a philosopher, that Howard began to develop the distinctive themes, and the richly evocative blend of history and mythology, that would distinguish his later tales of the Hyborian Age. Much more than simply the prototype for Conan, Kull is a fascinating character in his own right: an exile from fabled Atlantis who wins the crown of Valusia, only to find it as much a burden as a prize. This groundbreaking collection, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Justin Sweet, gathers together all Howard’s stories featuring Kull, from Kull’ s first published appearance, in “The Shadow Kingdom,” to “Kings of the Night,” Howard’ s last tale featuring the cerebral swordsman. The stories are presented just as Howard wrote them, with all subsequent editorial emendations removed. Also included are previously unpublished stories, drafts, and fragments, plus extensive notes on the texts, an introduction by Howard authority Steve Tompkins, and an essay by noted editor Patrice Louinet. Praise for Kull “Robert E. Howard had a gritty, vibrant style–broadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life.”—David Gemmell “Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks.”—Stephen King “Howard was a true storyteller–one of the first, and certainly among the best, you’ll find in heroic fantasy. If you’ve never read him before, you’ re in for a real treat.”—Charles de Lint “For stark, living fear . . . what other writer is even in the running with Robert E. Howard?”—H. P. Lovecraft
"In the timeless age of Atlantis - an age of heroes, broadswords, and ancient sorcery - King Kull strides like a colossus across the Seven Empires. A fire-eyed barbarian of superhuman strength, Kull carves a path of blood and havoc to the Topaz Throne of Valusia, Land of Dreams. There his name becomes legend for great and terrible deeds. But unrest ever stirs Kull's soul, and he longs for the strange and secret wisdom beyond the curtains of reality. Then one day, waging war against the kingdom of Commoria, Kull falls wounded in battle on the gore-strewn field. Now Kull the Magnificent must face his darkest foe as Death comes to call in a guise of deadly and seductive beauty."--Cover
A failed assassination attempt brings into Freeman’s possession Muramasa, the Devil’s Sword, an ancient samurai blade that brings misfortune and death to any who possess it. Wishing to spare Freeman and tame the sword’s malevolent spirit, Tiger Orchid, Freeman’s wife, takes the blade to Kowloon to train with a legendary swordmaster. But she’ll need to find him in Kowloon Castle, a slum so riddled with crime and destitution that it does not officially exist. But its dangers are all too real, and even a possessed sword may not be enough to stop a gun-toting criminal army bent on selling Tiger Orchid into slavery! Written by the legendary Kazuo Koike, creator of Lone Wolf and Cub, and illustrated by the incomparable Ryoichi Ikegami, Crying Freeman is adult manga at its most challenging: dark, violent, morally complex, erotically charged and regarded worldwide as one of the classics of adult graphic fiction.
The intense psychological portrait of a hitman—the anti-Jason Bourne—as he stalks his prey from Boston to LA. He wants you to know him, maybe even admire him, but only for his excellence in his craft. Perhaps he was even born for it. "A natural killer," his mentor—a middleman named Vespucci—said he was. He proved it with his first professional hit: a Fifth Circuit Court judge in Boston, executed with a sheet of Saran Wrap in the stairwell of her own courthouse. He's proved his merit often, usually with a Glock semiautomatic, but he's improvised too, with his bare hands, the heel of a shoe, knives, even a sewing machine. He is the consummate assassin, at the top of his form, immune to the psychological strains of his chosen profession. He is what the Russians call a Silver Bear. He calls himself Columbus. It's the name Vespucci gave him, ten years ago, when he discovered a dark, new world of fences, clients, marks, jobs, jack. Not that his real name meant much to him anyway. He never knew his father or his mother, a prostitute who became dangerously involved back in the seventies with an earnest young congressman named Abe Mann, then a rising star in the Democratic Party. The magnetic Abe Mann has since become the Speaker of the House. He is currently running for the Democratic nomination in an exhausting presidential campaign, weaving his way across the country. Columbus is not far behind. But as he pieces together his past and prepares the seamless assassination of his mark, the criminal underworld he has always ruled begins unraveling violently around him.