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Exclusive: Hail the Queen of the Black Coast in Marvel's Age of Conan: Bêlit
Acolytes of Robert E. Howard's simmering Cimmerian warrior are reveling in their time, as Marvel has relaunched a pair of hardcore titles set in the Hyborian Age with Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar's ongoing Conan the Barbarian and this month's Savage Sword of Conan series by Gerry Duggan and Ron Garney.
Now a powerful new five-issue release is poised to join its brothers in arms as writer Tini Howard (Thanos, Euthanauts) and artist Kate Niemczyk (Mockingbird, Invincible Iron Man) resurrect the Queen of the Black Coast in next month's Age of Conan: Bêlit #1. SYFY WIRE is joining the barbaric fray and presenting an exclusive look at the premiere issue!
Age of Conan casts off on March 13 and showcases one of Conan’s most notorious and enticing romantic companions: the ravishing pirate queen Bêlit. Inside we'll learn the adventurous origins of the fearsome compatriot who was first introduced in Weird Tales magazine in May of 1934, as Bêlit stows away on the ship of the dread Admiral Atrahasis as an ambitious teenager. This decision lures her into a life of dangerous ocean-going exploits that will forever alter her life and the fates of those who traverse the perilous waters of the Hyborian Age.
Also included in the debut issue is the first chapter in an all-new serialized Bêlit prose novella, offered up to the hordes of REH faithful for the first time.
Series Editor Mark Basso considers Bêlit one of the most dangerous, exciting, and memorable characters to cross paths with Conan, from her initial appearance in the Robert E. Howard “Queen of the Black Coast” to her adventures in the Marvel Comics of years past and beyond.
"I was thrilled to get a chance to dive deeper into her mysterious origin, and see why she commands a crew like a goddess on earth when we met her in those original adventures," Basso tells SYFY WIRE. "Speaking with Tini at the outset of this book, she had a great take on it that we were excited to explore, and with Kate Niemczyk and Jason Keith realizing the story in the art pages, we’ve got the perfect crew assembled to navigate these murky waters of this Hyborian Age mythos."
"Conan fans may not recognize the Bêlit we meet at the beginning of Issue #1 — and that's by design," Howard tells SYFY WIRE. "The story is no good if the wicked madwoman of the seas starts out that way — we've gotta meet her early in her life so we can have fun watching her break bad."
Set sail into our exclusive five-page preview of Marvel's Age of Conan: Bêlit #1, plus the main cover by Sana Takeda and variants by Oliver Vatine, Sara Pichelli & Mattia Iacono, and Afu Chan in the full gallery below, then tell us if you'll join her rowdy pirate crew when the premiere issue cruises into port on March 13.
