Random Happenstance

This wasn't one I had scheduled out into the future, but it actually may have come up a few times, so now's good! From 1988, Warlord #131, "Vengeful Legacies" Written by Michael Fliesher, art by Jan Duursema.

Coming up on the end of the series, this issue wraps up a storyline that had been running here-and-there since Secret Origins #16: back when he was a kid, Travis Morgan kicked the tar out of a bully, impressing the girl that would later become his wife. Travis would go on to become an Air Force pilot, get shot down on a spy mission over Russia, and end up in the lost land within the earth (sort of) Skartaris; where he would have adventures for years. And that bully, Danny Maddox? Somehow, he defected to the Soviets, and was the pilot that shot Travis down! But since it wasn't a clean kill, Maddox got sent to the gulag, and was there until meeting Mariah on an ill-fated visit to her home country. Maddox and Mariah eventually escape back to Skartaris, where Maddox puts on a friendly face but is secretly ecstatic at the chance to get revenge on his "old friend" who he felt was responsible for everything wrong in his life.

I don't have the previous issues right next to me--I've definitely bought this issue a few times, but it may be in some other collections--and I can't remember how "o glorious Ma-dux" was in charge of some little kingdom here: I'd guess by waving a gun around. He was also with Mariah, although he hits her, and was keeping her in the dark about drugging Travis and torturing him. He maybe had too long to think about that and can't settle on one, as he has Travis buried up to his neck under the hot Skartaris sun, but then digs him up to go inside to the dungeon/torture room set-up. He's going to have Travis dipped in boiling oil, and for good measure, has taken a headband from Travis's recent friend Aoife, since it resembled a device he found on a "weird aircraft," and figured it was a key. (Skartaris was full of weird technology like that, that the locals had no inkling of how to use.) Mariah tries to rescue Travis, but is caught.

But before that, an interruption: one of DC's Bonus Books! These were 16 page free stories, and the GCD notes this as #6: over the years, we've seen the Atom one with Jim Balent, and, um, Dr. Light getting the business from Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. We really need to dig up Detective Comics #589, though: that was the first issue I read with Norm Breyfogle, who was very much 'my' Batman artist as a kid! This story gave Jennifer Morgan the lead, but is better known for early work from Rob Liefeld! ("Growing Pains" Written by Steve Wilson, art by Rob Liefeld and Jeff Albrecht.) Jennifer tries to save a young orphan boy after she finds him robbing a old man's corpse: palace guard Masaq says that's probably not a good idea, but she was at heart an American girl and had to try; remembering trying to save a stray kitten when she was a kid. Both the kitten, and the orphan, betray her since they were both little murderers; with the kitten taken away by animal control, and the orphan running in front of a horse and getting trampled after he had been exposed. Jennifer still cries over both of them. (I thought this was a good effort from Rob, although...man, it's still kind of iffy. And he already had more work lined up at DC!)

Back to the main story: using the headband-circlet, Maddox activates the machine, and gets a holographic message from Garn Daanuth, the bad guy from Arion! Duursema had been the co-creator and regular artist on that title, maybe for the whole run? I've been putting it together out of the quarter bins and will read the whole thing when I do! "Garn" was long dead, but still pissed: this machine, and its power, was for his descendants and followers; and the chained-up Aoife hears the message as well. The sorcerer had sent colonization ships out after Atlantis sank: one crashed, with only a baby survivor. The priests wanted to kill it, but a soft-hearted executioner instead puts the baby adrift, where it was later found and raised by Viking-types; with the circlet passed from child to child, eventually to Aoife. As "Garn" prepares to destroy the city for trying to steal his power, Aoife is able to use it to free herself, then saves the others. Morgan once again kicks Maddox's ass, although not as thoroughly as readers probably would've liked, the circlet is returned to Aoife, and she's able to save the city, even if "Garn" doesn't really approve. (Even his hologram recording was evil! That's the sign of a quality baddie.)

As Aoife prepares a small boat for their departure, Morgan says goodbye to Mariah, who was staying with Maddox, saying she loved him. I'm at a loss to express how much that sucks; Mariah deserved better, and Maddox deserved a shallow grave. (Mariah was a Russian saber champion, held her own in Skartaris for years, and still gets slapped around by this rat?)  Still, Morgan isn't worried about Maddox: not only was he taking away his guns, hadn't he kicked his ass like three times over several decades? Maybe he'll try again when they were senior citizens...We don't see Maddox in the Mike Grell relaunches, I think he put Mariah back with Machiste. (So many 'M' names!) Grell might have ignored any continuity that wasn't his...There were only two issues left, and the subplot pages hint at it: Jennifer feels a mystic disturbance caused by current big-bad witch Khanthaiti, and Shakira is teleported away from a threesome. (She hadn't been seen in the book for a bit, and this was the quickest way to get her back!) 

I appreciate the effort in trying to introduce new characters to a long-running title like this--especially one with a fairly big supporting cast already--but I get Maddox confused with Redmond, the rogue CIA agent with a grudge that also followed Travis to Skartaris. So out of like four people from the surface world that made their way there, half of them did so just out of sheer hate for Travis, who barely remembered them. Still, this was a tough row to hoe: sure, you don't want to just bring Deimos back yet again--which Mike Grell would!--but it's like trying to replace Skeletor or Shredder, with the hero's old bully...