Continuing our kinda-sorta but not really ongoing blogging of the entire series at about an issue a year, we're up to 1982's Warlord #54, "Sorceress Supreme" Written by Mike Grell, with uncredited script by Sharon Grell, pencils by Mark Texeira, inks by Mike DeCarlo. (We're writing this post in November 2017, hope we and everyone else are still around to see it posted!)
At scenic Castle Deimos, the witch Ashiya has been disguising herself as Travis Morgan's first wife, Rachel; the mother of his daughter Jennifer. It's part of her plot to train Jennifer in the mystic arts, while Jennifer trains Ashiya in the ancient Atlantean machinery. Jennifer seems to be losing interest in training her "mother," though, and may have seen through her disguise. When Travis, Tara, and Shakira return to the castle, Ashiya greets them as Rachel, then zaps the stunned Travis with a mystic blast, and drops the portcullis (hope this link is still good in six years!) on Shakira and Tara: Tara is trapped outside, while Shakira is pinned underneath in her cat form!
Enraged, Travis fights his way to Ashiya, who is forced to reveal her true form, a withered hag. Jennifer hits Travis with a mystic blast to stop him from killing Ashiya, but not to save her...
While Ashiya is still more powerful, Jennifer is able to maneuver her into position to be fried by some of the ancient machinery. Travis has to reassure Tara, why he was drawn to "Rachel," and while he's glad to see his daughter again, Jennifer knows her studies aren't complete yet, and she will have to stay at the castle...for now. She would be back fairly soon, around #65. Also this issue: the conclusion of the Paul Levitz/Tom Yeates back-up feature "Dragonsword," probably my least-favorite of the various back-ups.
This wasn't the first issue with it, but I have to wonder if Mike Grell designed Jennifer's green outfit, or if Mark Texeira did. Even though Grell seemed to be winding down his involvement with the book, I do think it was his. Still a nice outfit, although I don't know if I love her headgear when it looks like antennae.
2 comments:
Hello from 2023! Wow, the things you worry about in the past seem so insignificant when you look at the worries of today (and so on and so forth ...).
I'm pretty sure Mike Grell planned out Warlord well in advance (like you do with Warlord posts apparently), so a lot of Jennifer's storyline and outfits had already been designed by the time he started stepping away.
Dragonsword's not the worst Warlord back-up, but it's far from the best too. The OMAC back-ups were definitely my favorites- would have liked to get more of them or maybe even a revival of the old title. They did that with a bunch of 70's Kirby titles, and a few other Warlord back-ups got their own series or at least limited series.
@H: Brother you are so right about the 1st thing you mentioned.
What's up from the fantastic, futuristical, more & more fascist world of 2023. God I miss 2017 more and more. Simpler times, simpler times. *SIGH*
Anyhoo, I'd defintiely say based off his design work on LoSH, Grell designed Jennifer's green outfit, especially the antenna part, which reminds me of the White Wytch from LoSH.
Mark Teixeira artwork from here is so drastically different from the style of drawing he'd later showcase so prominently in the 90's & onward, as this style looks like a straight copy of Grell's.
Expanding upon H's comments about DC reusing many of Kirby's 70's characters, they really should've, but I see only so few really seemed to remain financially viable, such as the New Gods (to varying degrees) & The Demon. OMAC just feels like a concept that should've worked out a lot more than it did. Not sure if DC wasn't interested in the core concept enough or did know how to slightly alter it to fit their style. The update it received in '05 was ok, but it definitely made me miss the original Buddy Blank character. He felt, as imagined & laid at by Kirby, that he was a combo of Captain America and Captain Marvel. Shame that version never got the love it should've.
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