Empyre: Savage Avengers (2020 series) #1

Conan got stranded in the 21st Century at the end of the Avengers: No Road Home limited series. He then found himself in the Savage Avengers series in the Savage Land fighting his old Hyborian enemy the sorcerer Kulan Gath. This ongoing battle has involved him with various heroes and Dr Doom, who abducted him from South America to Latveria in #7 and then the pair of them with Dr Strange fought Kulan Gath in Egypt. At the end of #10 Doom sent Conan back to SA.

Now the Cimmerian has made his way up to Mexico City where he's watching a Lucha Libre wrestling match. But he gets bored and starts his own fight in the audience. However all the fighting stops when the root of a giant tree smashes through the ceiling. The root is a support for a Cotati warship (ie a giant tree), and its mobile plant inhabitants have decided to convert the City's population into fertiliser before continuing on to the main battle in Wakanda (see Empyre #3). Conan thinks they are minions of Gath. He saves a food street-vendor from some Cotati but is struck by an arrow which is presumably poisoned and renders him delirious.

He experiences a vision of Atali, the Frost Giant's daughter, who he tried to rape in a tale in Savage Tales #1. She claims to have had nightmares about him since then, but the now genuinely giant-sized girl will now have her revenge and is about to swallow him ...

... but Venom (Eddie Brock) pulls him back to reality and greets him. Conan and Venom fought the wizard together in #1-5 (although the symbiote was independent of any host then so Eddie must be relying on *its* memories). Now Venom thinks they should team up against these invaders. Conan seems to have lost his weapons so Venom gives him a parking meter to use as a cudgel. And they begin despatching Cotati.

Conan's fight spills into a club whose patrons haven't noticed the mayhem outside. But Venom calls him back out with a plan. He's stealing a tanker truck full of petrol and wants Conan to cause a diversion. The Barbarian spots a farmer mowing down plant-people with a combine-harvester. A Cotati fatally stabs the farmer but Conan whacks *him* and promises the Mexican revenge if he'll show him how to work the machine. And he starts mass slaughter.

Then Venom and the truck show up. Eddie drives at high speed up over some parked cars which launches it into the air as he leaps out of the cab. (Eddie possibly gives it added momentum with Venom's strength.) And the petrol tanker flies straight into the 'mouth' of the tree (where tendrils had been dragging people) and explodes, destroying the whole tree-ship.

Conan leads his partner to the stall of the man whose life he saved earlier and they both get a free meal.