Appearing in "Time is the Sharpest Edge"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Deathlok
- Devil Dinosaur (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Kardath's Hammer (Mentioned)
- Champion of Yusan (Mentioned)
- Daredevil (Matt Murdock) (Referenced)
- Kal-Urr the Cutthroat (Mentioned)
- Avengers (Referenced)
- Harrison Thompson (Mentioned)
- God (Yahweh) (Mentioned)
- Cult of Set
- Set (Mentioned)
- Thulsa Doom
- Kull (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
- Nemedian Chronicles (Referenced)
- Conan's Sword
- Lightforce
- Darkforce
- Cloak's Cloak
- Daredevil's Suit and Sai
- Black Knight Armor
- Adamantium (On Weapon H's claws)
Synopsis for "Time is the Sharpest Edge"
Sent ten thousand years back in time to the Hyborian Age, Conan, Dagger, and Anti-Venom find themselves in the middle of a slave revolt waged by the Rabirians against their Zingaran overlords - later recorded in the Nemedian Chronicles. Forming a bow of Lightforce energy, Dagger rains arrows of light down on the hostile warriors. His symbiote sent into a berserk state, Anti-Venom tears into soldiers with his fangs and claws; while Conan's Atlantian steel sword cleaves through flesh and bone.
Elsewhere, Deathlok treks across the ocean floor, trailing startled fish in his wake.
Regrouping, the Zingarans incapacitate Anti-Venom with flaming arrows, overwhelm Dagger's light constructs, and snare Conan in a net. Noting that he thought Conan was dead, the commander of the Zingaran warriors says that he will be soon enough given the bounty on his head.
Daredevil and Cloak find themselves in a gladiator arena called the Pit of Blood and Sorrow, where they are mistaken for an eldritch sorcerer and a demoness. The ruler orders his men to introduce the uninvited guests to their undefeated champion, Devil Dinosaur. Alarmed, Daredevil tells Cloak to teleport them away, but Cloak says the time-travel has interfered with his Darkforce powers. Pulling out her sai and sneering at Cloak for being less than useless, Daredevil lunges at the charging theropod. For a moment Daredevil contemplates killing it... but then remembers the original Daredevil's defiance of his assassin training and realizes she cannot fall back on her old ways, instead using her sai to trip Devil Dinosaur - to the amusement of the crowd. However, Devil Dinosaur breaks free and lunges at her, Cloak opening a portal to the Darkforce Dimension and trapping it inside before passing out from the strain. As Daredevil tries to wake him up, they're quickly surrounded and apprehended.
In a nearby port city, Deathlok hides his undead cyborg visage under a hooded cloak. Accosted by a trio of thugs, Deathlok effortlessly kills two of them before terrorizing the third into giving him directions to the nearest blacksmith. Working the forge using knowledge from his quantum database, Deathlok smelts a large but crude firearm -- feeling a small measure of satisfaction at a job well done.
In the Crooked Stairway mead hall, the Black Knight and Clayton Cortez crash-land onto the table of Zingarans. Furious at their meal having been disrupted, the Zingarans attack them and Clayton discovers his Gamma powers aren't working properly. Extending his Adamantium claws, he and the Black Knight trade barbed remarks -- Dane transforming the Ebony Blade into a mace and shield. Outnumbered, the two of them flee, leaping out a window. Desperation triggers Clayton's gamma core, but rather than transforming into his usual grey-skinned Hulk-like form he transforms into a red-skinned Harpy -- catching Dane in his new talons.
Imprisoned in the Zingarans' fortress, Conan blames Dagger for their defeat, causing her to fire back that at least she's willing to selflessly help others and has people who watch her back. Conan mockingly asks if she's referring to Claok, sneering that he's probably dad by now, but as Dagger furiously accosts him Flash Thompson wakes up and tells them to stop fighting. With his symbiote still sporting a fanged maw, Flash apologizes and says it's still riled up from the time-travel. Dagger is horrified that he's missing his legs, but Flash assures her it's an old war-wound from before he became a symbiote host. Dagger uses her powers to pacify Agent Venom's symbiote and he properly introduces himself to her. Abruptly, Cloak and Daredevil are thrown into the cell, Elektra assuring Tandy that her partner is merely unconscious. As Conan sneers that he was right, Dagger tackles him out of the way as Deathlok blows a hole in the wall, still intent on killing Conan for crimes against the timestream. Conan and his new allies face-off against the undead cyborg once again, Elektra using her sai to garrotte him as Agent Anti-Venom manifests arm-blades to cut him down. Deathlok throws them off with a blast of energy, but before he can attack them the Black Knight and Weapon H arrive. Tapping into his gamma batteries, Deathlok rises and sneers that he's humbled them both before.
As the battle shakes the building to its foundations, Agent Anti-Venom snaps at Cloak to wake up and do something. Regaining consciousness, Cloak exclaims that he can't hold it back any longer and unleashes the Devil Dinosaur, which charges headlong at Deathlok and tramples him. Conan, Daredevil, Cloak, Dagger, Agent Anti-Venom, the Black Knight, and Weapon H -- restored to his Hulk form -- take advantage of the chaos and escape in a rowboat. Removing her mask, Elektra asks what's troubling Conan, noting she thought he would've been pleased about retrieving his original sword. Conan grimly asks how she can smile knowing that Deathlok is hunting them with strength beyond that of a living man. Elektra replies that Deathlok is not a living man at all, telling Weapon H to set a course for the southern coast and that she has a plan to get them all home.
In a temple to the eldritch serpent-god Set, a group of cultists discuss Conan's return and celbrate the coming of the Stygian Prophecy, which will enable Set to be reborn and reclaim dominion over the world. To facilitate their capture of Conan, the cult reanimates the undead necromancer Thulsa Doom, the lich declaring it is time to usher in the Age of Set.
Solicit Synopsis
THE HYBORIAN HUNT CONTINUES!
Stranded in the distant past, Conan must enlist a team of Marvel's most savage super heroes if they hope to withstand the dangers of the Hyborian Age! But even if they can survive a barbaric new era filled with fearsome threats around every corner, the Savage Avengers still have to contend with the cybernetic soldier stalking Conan across the timestream…DEATHLOK THE DESTROYER! And if that isn't enough — what happens when an even deadlier enemy sets his sights on Conan? Plus…did we mention the dinosaur?!
Notes
- Anti-Venom's symbiote is said to have the cleansing touch of the first two Anti-Venom symbiotes, despite it being a symbiote-dragon rather than having been altered by the Lightforce. It is also portrayed as being vulnerable to flames, despite even symbiote-dragon offshoots like Tyrannosaurus being resilient to flames as hot as burning napalm.
