#Hyrkania

[msbraddock]

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

FROM THE SAVAGE LANDS OF HYRKANIA, SHE RODE FORTH...

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1200x1821 -- Spotlight on Dan Panosian cover art to "Savage Red Sonja" Vol. 1 #1. November, 2023. Dynamite Entertainment.

Source: https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/SEP230198.

[doomaday]

Gonna do Some Barbarian Stuff on the weekend! 💪

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Red Sonja: Noir (one-shot) by David Avallone and Edu Menna. Cosplay photo variant cover (1) of Molly Stewart. Variant cover (2) by Joseph Michael Linsner. Main cover (3) by Leirix. Out in June.

"The crimson-maned warrior of song and legend muscles her way into trouble once more in this all-new tale of hard-boiled Hyboria! When her mercenary partner is murdered, Sonja is drawn into a feverish hunt for a priceless artifact known as the Crimson Calypso. The She-Devil with a Sword is out for revenge-but first she's got to slice her way through a web of deception and violence, waging a war of both weapons and wits against a pitiless and implacable foe. Gimlet-eyed wordsmith DAVID AVALLONE joins legendary ink-slinger EDU MENNA for this special 40-page one-shot packed with two-fisted betrayals and bloody retribution-all wrapped in treacherously alluring covers from LESLEY "LEIRIX" LI, JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER, and cosplay by MOLLY STEWART!"

[browsethestacks]

Hyrkania Playboy Club Red Sonja

Art by Kerry Callen

[wonder-worker]

Kleopatra Thea

In dynastic terms, the history of the Seleukid Kingdom between 150 and 121 was dominated by Kleopatra Thea, the wife and queen of three rulers: Alexander Balas, Demetrios II, and Antiochos VII Sidetes. The competing candidates for the throne created an unstable system in which the role of queens increased enormously, becoming a stabilizing factor. This was partly because some male rulers died in battle or were taken into foreign captivity.

Alexander I Balas was probably a natural child of Antiochos IV Epiphanes, like his sister Laodike. The sources do not agree on the matter, but the tradition denying the royal descent of Balas seems to have been formed by the Romans for their own political interests in Syria. When it comes to queens, Kleopatra Thea (married three times), daughter of Ptolemy VI, was imposed on Balas as wife and queen in 150 and won a particular position. This royal couple minted coins with a double portrait of the rulers: Kleopatra is depicted in the foreground. Kleopatra bore Antiochos VI Dionysos, who became the ephemeral child puppet-king of the usurper Tryphon. The sources ascribe the killing of Antiochos VI either to Tryphon or to Demetrios II.

Alexander Balas was overthrown by Demetrios II. Ptolemy VI gave Balas no aid and handed over Kleopatra Thea to Demetrios II (145–139/138) as his wife. This new union produced three children: Seleukos V Philometor, Laodike, and Antiochos VIII Grypos. Demetrios tried to reclaim Babylonia but was defeated and captured by the armies of Mithradates I of Parthia (in the war of 139–138). He spent nine years in honorable captivity in Parthian Hyrkania where he married Mithradates’ daughter Rhodogune. The Parthians intended to use Demetrios II in their policies toward the Seleukid state. Demetrios II’s marriage to Rhodogune, who gave birth to children, was a breakthrough event and symbolic landmark, with the Seleukids, the declining dynasty in Western Asia, becoming the pawns of the Arsakids. In diplomatic-dynastic terms, the Parthians respected the Seleukids because of their high political reputation.

Kleopatra Thea became regent of the kingdom in the absence of her husband Demetrios. She tried to strengthen her dynastic position and married her husband’s brother, Antiochos VII Sidetes. In this intelligent way, she eliminated the threat from Antiochos VII, who would surely have initiated a fight for the throne. Kleopatra did not forget that Demetrios had married Rhodogune, so jealousy played a role (App. Syr. 68). When Antiochos VII took over the throne alongside his powerful consort, the split in the Seleukid dynastic house deepened. Kleopatra Thea bore him five children, three of whom died of disease at a young age. The fourth, Seleukos, was probably detained by the Parthians in 129 after his father’s defeat. The youngest child was Antiochos IX Kyzikenos. Antiochus VII took his juvenile son Seleukos and the daughter of Demetrios II, Laodike, on a campaign. The latter became a wife of the Parthian king Phraates II.94 Seleukos was captured by king “Arsakes,” i.e. Phraates II, and was kept in royal style as a prisoner (Porphyrios BNJ 260 F32.19 = Euseb. I 255–7 Schoene).

In the face of the invasion of Antiochos VII, Demetrios II was released from captivity by the Parthians (130) and made efforts to regain his kingdom (129–125). In 125 he was defeated by Alexander II Zabinas. After Kleopatra Thea refused to help him, he was killed in Tyros. In the face of many coups and dynastic struggles, Kleopatra cleverly sent her two sons, Antiochos Grypos (the “hook-nosed”), by Demetrios II, to Athens, and Antiochos Kyzikenos, by Antiochos VII, to Kyzikos to be educated (App. Syr. 68).

Kleopatra turned out to be a ruthless ruler. Appian reports her atrocities when the infant Seleukos V proclaimed himself king (Syr. 68): “As soon as Seleukos assumed the diadem after his father’s death, his mother shot him dead with an arrow, either fearing lest he should avenge his father or moved by an insane hatred for everybody.” Kleopatra minted coins in her own name (126/125). To strengthen her political position, she shared the throne (124–121) with her son, Antiochos VIII Grypos (Just. 39.1.9). As with Alexander I, the coin portrait of Kleopatra is in the foreground. In 124/123 Ptolemy VIII gave his grand-nephew Antiochos VIII his daughter Kleopatra Tryphaina as wife. A conflict arose between the two ambitious queens, the queen mother and queen consort, i.e. Thea and Tryphaina. When Grypos became more independent, Kleopatra Thea decided to eliminate him, but Grypos killed her first (in 121).

— Marek Jan Olbrycht, "Seleukid Women", The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World (Edited by Elizabeth D. Carney and Sabine Müller)

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Conan the Barbarian #78 ‘Curse of the Undead-Man’ (1977) by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Pablo Marcos and George Roussos. Edited by Thomas and Archie Goodwin. Cover by Buscema and Roussos.

Cover of the Day: Conan the Barbarian #78 (September, 1977) Art by John Buscema

[msbraddock]

Red Sonja by Marco Turini 

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE SAVAGERY THAT ONLY RED SONJA CAN DELIVER..."

PIC(S) INFO: Resolution at 1200x1821 (2x) -- Spotlight on Arthur Adams Variant cover art to "Savage Red Sonja" Vol. 1 #1. November, 2023. Dynamite Entertainment.

ISSUE OVERVIEW: "Prepare yourself for the savagery that can only Red Sonja can deliver in this brand-new series that harkens back to the classic era of Robert E. Howard's original pulp tales of swords and sorcery! Tasked with retrieving a long-hidden gem from a crumbled, ancient kingdom, the She-Devil With a Sword is traveling alone through a dangerous wasteland when fate intervenes, and her solo adventure is sidetracked by a wayward prince and his bride as they try desperately to escape from fearsome desert bandits -- only to be attacked by a monstrous beast from beneath the sands! Don't miss out on this fast-paced tale of mystery, suspense, and the supernatural - written by comics superstar DAN PANOSIAN and illustrated by ALESSIO PETILLO, with colors by FRANCESCO SEGALA!"

-- DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT®, c. 2023

Sources: https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/SEP230208 (Previews World 2x).

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Red Sonja #1 ‘While Lovers Embrace - Demons Feed’ (1983) by Tom DeFalco, Dave Simons, Vince Colletta and Christie Scheele. Edited by Larry Hama. Cover by Hama, Mary Wilshire and Walt Simonson.

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Red Sonja vs. the Army of Darkness #2 by Tim Seeley and Jim Terry. Cover by Björn Barends. Variant covers by (2) Seeley, (3) Tom Raney and (4) Nikkol Jelenic. Out in May.

"THE GREATEST PARTNERSHIP SINCE BONNIE AND CLYDE!

Now that they're stuck with each other and facing off against both a Deadite horde and Kulan Gath, Sonja and Ash form an uneasy… alliance? Yeah, let's go with that. But can the She-Devil with a Sword and the hapless hero with a boomstick cooperate long enough to stop this fresh influx of evil into the Hyborian Age? And more important - is that… a Deadite unicorn?!?

Comic book necromancers TIM SEELEY (Hack/Slash, Batman Eternal) and JIM TERRY (Sundowners, Alice Cooper vs. Chaos) delve into the forbidden realms to bring you the second issue of Red Sonja vs. The Army of Darkness - featuring torturously tinted covers wrought by the gnarled hands of SEELEY, BJORN BARENDS, TOM RANEY, and NIKKOL JELENIC!"

[ofcimmeria]

A starter written for @watsonjackpot

The warmth of the large hearth keeps the two bodies warm as they take shelter inside the cabin. The map in which Conan had been gifted to by his Asgardian companions was accurate - it had led Conan and his red haired ally to a large cabin with a large bed made of grey and black fur pelts from what the Cimmerian could only describe as looking wolfish.

The border of Nordheim was cold. A landscape of snowy mountains and hills for miles and miles... but they were finally near Hyperborea, continuing their journey to Hyrkania. This cabin would be their rest area for the night. And as the sun began to set, the two warriors had begun to realize they had a bed for themselves for the first time in a long time.

Conan's leather cuirass falls to the floorboard with a thud. Muscular torso possesses chiseled tanned skin, veins running up and down brutish looking arms. The Barbarian stood only in his leather greaves now, practically naked in front of the red haired warrior. A woman with a body that would make any man beg for her attention and grace. But Conan knew this woman had no issue with driving a blade through a man's throat... which was apart of the reason he had grown so fond of her.

"It's a cold night-" The Cimmerian walks towards Mary Jane, a gigantic arm reaching forward to wrap around her waist, pulling her close to his broad torso. "And the bed seems to call to us both, does it not?" Conan suddenly moves both of his hands to the belt around his leather greaves, releasing it and removing his Atlantian sword from his hip.

[comicsart3]

Red Sonja is an iconic sword and sorcery heroine, dating back to 1973 and her creation by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. She featured regularly in Conan and her own Marvel titles until the 1990s and was rebooted in the 2000s, with a slightly altered origin story, and has appeared in Dynamite Comics ever since. Sonja’s beginnings as a warrior woman were rooted in the violent death of her parents at the hands of bandits in the fictional land of Hyrkania, in the realm of Hyboria, when she was 17, prompting a lifelong search for vengeance against the murderers and any raiders, pirates or tyrants who reminded her of them. Aided by the goddess Skathach, Sonja equips herself with terrifying swordsmanship skills (frequently supplemented by an axe), together with formidable hand-to-hand fighting ability, and is usually attired in a distinctive scale mail armour “bikini” which, along with her distinctive red hair, increases her allure.

Although Sonja is possessed of a general sense of justice and she harbours particular protective affection for animals and children, she is unremittingly brutal in combat, remorselessly despatching enemies both mortal and supernatural, usually through decapitation. The artwork that has illustrated Sonja’s numerous adventures over the decades is graphic in the depiction of the heroine’s violence, and the stories cleave to an eye-for-an-eye barbaric code of justice and few who cross Sonja live to tell the tale. Her mission in life, such as it is, is to kill the murderers of her parents and to overthrow the evil sorcerer Kulan Gath, whom the bandits served.

Unfortunately, for me, Sonja’s violence and fixation on revenge and combat, makes the character less attractive or interesting than other, more subtle, comic book heroines. Despite in more recent years her stories being authored by female writers, including the peerless Gail Simone, Sonja often seems to be just a female Conan, but without the latter’s thoughtfulness and sensitivity. Perhaps this is also due to a Marvel worldview, which is more comfortable with retribution than justice, as well as the barbaric sword and sorcery genre from which Sonja emerged.

In the page featured, the extraordinarily lucky pirate Gob, has actually been taken prisoner by Sonja, despite having tried to kill her. Whether or not Gob retains his head for the whole of this adventure is anyone’s guess…

Sources: Red Sonja Wiki and ReadComicsOnline

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Marvel Feature #3 ‘Balek Lives!’ (1975) by Bruce Jones, Frank Thorne and Petra Scotese. Edited by Roy Thomas. Cover by Thorne.

Marvel Feature #3 Red Sonja (1976), cover by Frank Thorne

[vincentvega0721]

Marvel Comics' Red Sonja first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23 in November 1972. Roy Thomas and Barry Smith created the character, who is a skilled swordswoman and martial arts expert with supernatural fighting experience. Red Sonja is also known by the aliases She-Devil of Hyrkania, Scarlet She-Devil, and others.

[racefortheironthrone]

So would Conan be more of a Bronze Age setting than Medieval? I know Howard & other pastiche writers like to mix & match cultures & eras, so it's not really period accurate, but the kings Conan runs into have palaces and armies and even he seems to have more of a government as king of Aquilonia. Does it matter that Aquilonia is clearly France, Vanaheim & Asgard are Scandinavia, and Zamora is Spain etc?

It’s complicated, not just because Robert E. Howard liked to mix and match, but also because he had some very odd ideas about the cyclicality of history. If we’re going to get technical about it, Conan the Barbarian is a pre-Bronze Age setting; as the quote goes:

“Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."

This is Howard’s whole idea for the Hyborian Age: Atlantis was a real, advanced (albeit decadent) civilization, it was actually destroyed, and then mankind fell into barbarism. Gradually, new civilizations emerged and flourished and what Howard writes about as the Hyborian Age comes to pass, although it too is doomed to be destroyed in the literal biblical Flood, and then eventually what we call the Bronze Age would eventually emerge.

This is why Howard always traced his maps onto maps of the Mediterranean- in his mind, all of his stories were real history accessed through past life regression (at various times, Howard thought he was the reincarnation of Conan, and also of Celtic warriors, which he remembered in dreams) a sort of eternal palimpsest, with similar nations known by different names, various racial types existing by different names in various ages, and technologies like iron and steel rediscovered again and again.

I’m telling you, fantasy as a genre was really weird until they realized they could just make all of it up without having to tie it back to the real world.