Conan the Barbarian #187 – “Resurrection” – James Owsley/John Buscema/Ernie Chan
This one starts with a messenger delivering a package to an eerie castle in the middle of nowhere. He’s quite nervous and with good reason, as his delivery is to a group of wizards called the Council of Seven. The package turns out to be an ornate sword, which the Council tells the messenger to raise to the sky. A lightning bolt strikes, killing the messenger and making the Council quite happy. But they’re not quite satisfied …they want Jahli, the boy-king of El Shah Maddoc, dead, along with his protector, Conan. Speaking of whom, the barbarian is still at the castle, trying to arrange some decent protection for Jahli. Keiv (newly restored to human form) is
ready to leave, but Conan wants to make sure Jahli isn’t murdered by the first usurper who comes knocking, something his mother (Anneka) and grandfather (Shapur) appreciate. As assassins sent by the Council stealthily infiltrate the castle, Conan passes out from sheer exhaustion and Keiv suggests that he may have designs on the throne himself, something Shapur and Anneka don’t believe. Shapur and Keiv go to summon one of the men Conan has chosen and soon find out why he’s called Mad Simeon. (He likes to argue with a parrot.) But when assassins bust in looking for Jahli, it’s Simeon who takes 
them all down. In the temple, Anneka gets jumped by some assassins, but she kicks their asses and gets Jahli to safety. Shapur takes Keiv and Simeon to recruit another bodyguard, Kaleb, who turns out to be a giant with immense strength (he can punch through trees) and catlike stealth. After wasting some more assassins, Kaleb (and his daughter) agree to go see Conan. The last assassin tries to kill Conan as he sleeps, but the barbarian turns the tables and extracts the name of his employers before dispatching him. Anneka tells Conan she’s sent Jahli to live with one of her old housemaids (Syreeta) in the country to keep him out of harm’s way, but Conan figures she’s just signed her son’s death warrant. Meanwhile, the Council of the Seven have done a
ritual over the body (and sword) of the dead messenger and brought him back as the Devourer of Souls. This is a pretty good issue, although not much happens. I’m not sure why Keiv is suddenly talking shit about Conan and trying to get everyone to distrust him; maybe he’s reverting to type, or maybe it’s some kind of test to see who’s loyal. It looks like Anneka believed Keiv’s warnings about Conan and that’s why she sent Jahli away, but that’ll probably turn out to be a mistake.
Conan the Barbarian #188 – “The Killing Season” – James Owsley/John Buscema/Ernie Chan
Yeah, definitely a mistake. When they all go to Syreeta’s cottage to find Jahli, the place is empty. Anneka wonders if Jahli was kidnapped, but Conan (rather harshly) tells her he’s dead and she should grieve and move on a bunch of assassins attack and Conan’s squad takes them down easily, except one. Conan asks him where they hid Jahli’s body but he won’t answer, so he has Simeon take him out to kill him. Simeon asks the guy for a bribe and lets him go, but it turns out it was all a ruse do they could follow him back to his
master. That master (Ybn) already has company: the Devourer of Souls, who vanishes when the assassin arrives. Ybn sees through the ruse and kills his disciple, but Conan has already caught up and eliminated Ybn’s hidden guards. He threatens to kill Ybn, who tells him to come to the Arena at midnight if he wants to see Jahli. Later, the others discuss Conan’s insistence on going alone to the Arena. Kaleb suggests that Conan thinks Jahli may still live and won’t accept his death until he sees the body. At the Arena the Devourer watches Conan arrive, impressed by his lack of fear. Ybn sets all his assassins on Conan at 
once, but luckily the others ignored his wishes and are there to back him up. They all waste dozens of assassins (with help from Shapur’s army) and Conan corners Ybn, who’s scared to death but gleefully tells Conan he killed Jahli himself and hid him right under Conan’s feet. Conan goes nuts and hacks Ybn to pieces, then heads back to the cottage where he finds Jahli’s corpse. This is a pretty good issue, though I’m not sure why the Devourer of Souls was even in it, since he doesn’t really do anything. I suppose he’ll be a threat going forward. It’s too bad Jahli is dead, but I’m not sure what Conan will do now, or who will take the throne.