Paneling: Conan The King #26

I don’t know why Conan keeps popping up in these Paneling posts, but whatever the reason, here’s the issue with a cover date of January 1985, that features the panel in question.

This issue contains two stories running concurrently, both of which, in their own way, involve an opening in the Black Dragons, the elite personal guards of Conan I, King of Aquilonia.

Said opening happened in the previous issue when Leonidas, a young Black Dragon, failed in his duty to protect his king from an assassin. Of course, his king is Conan, so he didn’t really need the protection.

Still, it’s the principle of the thing, and young Leonidas has no choice but to resign in disgrace.

Of course, little did the king know that Leonidas had already dishonored himself, engaging in an illicit, though up this point, mostly chaste, affair with the Conan’s daughter, Radegund.

It does become less chaste after this.

Before Leonidas leaves, Radegund asks him to give her something to remember him by, and while he leaves an opening in the Black Dragons, he finds an opening of his own…

One assumes it was thoughts of the princess that had kept Leonidas from adequately performing his duties to her father, particularly given that the event occurs within the walls of the castle of Baron Maloric, whose foppish son Radegund is set to marry, and who is behind the plot to kill the king.

By order of Count Trocero, Leonidas was supposed to be standing guard outside Radegund’s room, but the leader of the Black Dragons knew about the budding romance between the princess and the Dragon, and seeing the need to nip it, put Leonidas on Conan duty.

And this is where we start getting to the events of the next issue.

Conan II, eldest son of Conan, known to most as Conn, is believed to have died some months earlier. Unbeknownst to everyone – well, except Conn himself – he’s actually been transported half a world away, and for the past several months his efforts to make his way home have been featured in a back-up story.

In any case, the point is that Conan believes his beloved son to be dead, his remaining son is a disappointment, and the dictates of the court tell him he has to marry his daughter off to someone who looks like something he’d wipe off his boot.

The Cimmerian is not, therefore, in his gigantic mirth era.

While he wasn’t particularly concerned about Leonidas failing in his duty, he was pissed off that Leonidas was lurking in his bedchambers in the first place, and even more pissed off to discover that having a Black Dragon lurking in the darkness guarding over him while he sleeps has been standard practice for quite some time.

This practice was put in place by Count Trocero, who, until recently had been Conan’s most trusted friend and adviser.

However, Conan’s poorly expressed grief over the loss of his son and the frustrations that accompany wearing the crown have caused friction between the two, and this betrayal – which is how Conan sees it – is the last straw, and in the interest of the kingdom, Trocero decides to leave the capital of Tartantia and return to his province of Poitain.

And that’s where we pick up, following Trocero on a journey not only from the palace in Tarantia to his estate in Poitain but also through his memories and dreams of what is yet to come.

Conan, meanwhile, is overseeing the trials of the candidates seeking to fill the opening left by Leonidas (no, not that one), a prize that the candidates believe is worth any cost.

Trocero, thinking of all that he’s lost in the years spent at court, isn’t so sure that the price he paid was worth it, and continues to be haunted by memories and visions.

I was thinking about Trocero and this issue in particular because the latest issue of Conan the Barbarian tells the story of when Conan and Trocero first met.

I’ve provided you some of the background information about what brings us to the specific panel that thinking of Trocero brought to mind, but the thing is, none of that is important.

The reason that the sixth panel of the sixteenth page of the twenty-sixth issue, with breakdowns by Marc Silvestri and finishes by Geof Isherwood is burned in my memory has nothing to do with the story itself.

It’s that text beneath the panel.

That’s not something I wrote; it was there in the printed issue.

In the more than 41 years since I first read that issue and saw that, I’ve often wondered if it was supposed to be there or if it was some kind of exchange in the margins between members of the production team – perhaps between letterer Richard Parker and editor Jim Owsley – that somehow slipped past everyone and went to print.

Certainly, it’s possible that it was deliberately left in as a bit of levity, but given the melancholic tone of Trocero’s story, that seems somewhat out of place, especially given that there’s plenty of humor to be found in the other story as we see the wannabe Dragons dropping like flies as they compete for the coveted position.

Then again, maybe bringing a bit of levity to the heavier story was the point.

Whatever the case, it is there, and it’s been in my brain for more than four decades.

And now it’s in yours.

You never know what random thing will bring a random panel – though there’s a good chance it’ll be a panel featuring Conan – to mind, so check back soon for the next Paneling post.

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