It's true what they say, with a big winged helmet, comes great responsibility. Wait, that's not it.

Still, here's a rock-solid issue, in the middle of a longer storyline, tying into an old story, with great art and interesting monster design. From 1985, Warlord #90, "Demons of Days Past" Written by Cary Burkett, art by Rich Buckler.

In sunny Skartaris, Travis Morgan was feeling a bit gloomy today: the war against the invading New Atlanteans and their Beast-Men was not going swimmingly, and in the previous issue he had caught an earful, accused of constantly running off to play hero rather than put in the work to build on the dreams he'd inspired. Which, of course, was brutally, devastatingly accurate; no notes. Travis wishes he could bag out, explore Skartaris, get away from everyone that was counting on him; when he is approached by a weird old man. Real Merlin type. The geezer advises, Travis was facing a choice: try and build a kingdom, based on fairness and justice; or keep performing individual deeds of heroism and valor that were good but maybe didn't add up in the long run. Travis notices the old man didn't have a reflection...which is weirdly not brought up again, and later he thinks he might've dreamed that. Or been out in the sun too long, it didn't set there...

Meanwhile, another long-running subplot continued, as Jennifer Morgan frees Tinder (secretly her younger brother, which no one knew, so keep it under your hat) and his weird cave-monkey friend Chakka from the thrall of the gem of the Evil One. Taking the gem for study, Jennifer does advise Ashir against pocketing any of the pile of gold there, as it was almost certainly cursed...

But, her dad was also about to head out for some gold, needed for the war effort: their new base was near a certain pyramid, the ruins of Shaban D'aba. Which was from a million issues ago--oh, all right, it was from Warlord #31, and one of my favorite stupid posts here: "Dear Tara." Speaking of, today Tara decides she's not putting up with Travis's nonsense and opts to go with him on this one. This does of course involve a dinosaur attack on the way there, because this was Skartaris and you had to expect this sort of thing, the unexpected and all that.

This pyramid was from back in the "Wizard World" days, and was basically a vault to keep the wizards' gold away from the Evil One, who since we've brought him up twice: yeah, he was coming back soon. Travis had found the secret entrance by accident and didn't think anyone else could get in, but they're surprised when some local villagers are dropping off a sacrifice, which appeared to be baskets of fruit and a dead horse. The head villager advises them to get clear: sometime back, some asshole freed some demon from the pyramid...Travis doesn't have long to feel bad about that, as Tara asks him how he killed the demon-bird that flew him away--you know, it is legit touching that she believes that story, especially since Travis came back with Shakira after that one. They're interrupted by the demon at hand, a lion-headed, multi-hooved thing. Biblically-accurate demon!

When their weapons don't do any good, Travis and Tara retreat into the pyramid, but the demon turns into smoke to follow. Grabbing an ax, Travis grits his teeth and gets ready to go down swinging, telling Tara he loves her. Tara, on the other hand, keeps her head, and spies a bottle and stopper, with the same symbol on it as the demon. Hoping the wizards had used it to trap the demon, Travis manages the same, burning his hand a bit in the process. But, it seemed to bring him and Tara closer together again...probably until the next time he goes off on some adventure. Oh, and for good measure--well, sort of good measure? I'm not sure it helped this book any, but the Monitor from Crisis on Infinite Earths makes an appearance, watching Travis and Tara from his satellite. Pretty sure they didn't have much idea what was going on there, but it would cue up a recap of Travis's origin next month, with some new wrinkles. Read more!

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...

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A pleasant side effect of having been at my job about as long as I've been at this blog, is that I do get a fair bit of vacation time; so I took a little extra time off last week. Which somehow didn't translate into getting any posts done: I couldn't tell you when I wrote, or rewrote, that Warlord post from Friday, but it was scheduled for next year or later and I had to move it up. But, somewhere in that time off I picked up a spare of the next issue, the conclusion of the "Morgan's Quest" storyline! From 1987, Warlord #116, "Revenge of the Warlock" Written by Michael Fleisher, art by Ron Randall. Cover by Mike Grell.

Tara is gracious enough to accept Mariah's apology, for trying to steal her husband with magic; again, it's ambiguous if most of the cast here was monogamous, but okay. Still, Travis's quest to find a cure for his daughter Jennifer, who had been magically aged back in #100, had come up short. While Jennifer seemed too old to stay awake or even move anymore, Travis was distraught. Meanwhile, in the nearby kingdom of P'thun, the wizard that gave Morgan the info at the start of his quest, Muldahara, uses a magic wand to murder the king and takes over. We mentioned Muldahara, possibly not by name, in an earlier post about the Quest, as "a lisping, scheming, effete fat ponce; that was (even) a little offensive back in 1985." I suppose they might have wanted to avoid just doing Deimos again, though. Tara had a spy in P'thun, though, who reports back; and Travis realizes there was something fishy about Muldahara: he had retrieved some mystic doodad for the wizard, to get the quest details, and perhaps felt responsible. He storms off, telling Tara he was in a bad mood and didn't want her to see it; leaving Tara wondering how much of that she was willing to put up with.

While being bathed in "costly unguents"--well, if that's your thing, I guess--Muldahara has a little flashback: he had seen a local demigod-statue-creature-thing give Jennifer the zap that aged her, then used Travis to get the gems that were the statue's eyes, and transferred those to his magic wand. So, the whole Quest was a red herring? I wonder if that was planned from the start. Travis finds the way to P'thun now has a massive hedge maze, but the magic ring he got in #114 and used to see through Desaad's illusions helps him, for about three seconds, until Muldahara sets a hedge monster on him. Then, yay, new subplot! Gotta be an improvement from the Mariah/Machiste one, right? That one wasn't awful, but maybe as repetitive as the Quest, while Mariah pined for Morgan like the whole way. This was the return of CIA spook/epic grudge holder Redmond, from Warlord Annual #5: after getting more information about the Mayans that emerged from the center of the earth, he realized that sounded like reports he had read about Dinosaur Island, from really old Suicide Squad stories, which is sorta uncharted but the general directions were there. Skartaris was originally a world inside of the earth, but was now more generally accepted as some extradimensional area, accessible from a few places. Like Dinosaur Island! Redmond hits a pterodactyl with his plane and goes down: I took a look at the covers, and I can't recall how long he would be chasing Travis. That plot was also a bit similar to one later with a guy named Maddox, who also hated Travis so much he followed him to another world, which is weird that it happened twice. Two final points: Redmond crash-landing his jet echoes Morgan crashing one in that annual, with even the dialog similar; and he was going to friggin' Dinosaur Island, yet seemed real surprised by that pterodactyl. What did you expect?

Anyway, the issue at hand: Travis realizes he can set the hedge monster on fire, and does. Even through he had a bad rep at the time, Travis still storms past the guards, to confront Muldahara, who is just giddy that he gets to kill Morgan up close. Using his wand, he ages Travis's sword to dust--that sword with the knuckle guard was pretty iconic!--and plays 'tag' with him, zapping him a couple years older repeatedly. Back in Shamballah, Jennifer senses her dad's danger, and teleports there: while frail, she was still "sorceress supreme," and destroys Muldahara's wand. A probably 90-year-old Travis clocks Muldahara, knocking him out; but then he and Jennifer revert to their true ages. So, not only was the whole quest thing pretty much for nothing (aside from dealing with the threats they found on the way in all the sidequests!) Jennifer ends up saving herself!

Meanwhile, a pretty blonde arrives in the city of thieves, Bandakhar. A pretty blonde with super-strength! It's Power Girl, who would hang out with Jennifer until #122. (The book would be refurbished a bit after that with new artists Jan Duursema and Tom Mandrake.) She had recently been established as Atlantean instead of Kryptonian, and somebody probably got handed the assignment of trying to make something of that. I know Power Girl has had some supporting casts since, but I wish Jennifer still got to hang: they were a good team, and Jennifer's classic green outfit is sharp as hell. 

Also this issue: yet another USPS Statement of Ownership. Number of copies sold closest to the filing date: 67,781. Ouch, we saw a Statement for #104, and that's down from 88,462!

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Yet another crossover that's a crossover...because they said so, that's why!

I would've sworn this story came after #116, the end of the "Morgan's Quest" storyline, but nope! One short. From 1987, Warlord #115, "The Citadel of Fear!" Written by Michael Fleisher, art by Ron Randall.

The issue opens with a desert caravan that tempts fate by talking about the recent scourge of the desert...the Warlord? Who has been leading raids for captives, taking them to a "citadel of terror" from which no one has ever returned--okay, first off, it's "Citadel of Fear," it's right there in the title; second, if no one ever returned, how did anyone hear about it? Regardless, during the attack, one caravanner kills himself rather than be taken, leading the Warlord to kill one of his own men in rage.

Meanwhile, much closer to Shamballah, Travis, Mariah, and Shakira have just arrived, their quest to save the magically-aged Jennifer seemingly a failure. More oddly, Travis seemed to have forsaken his wife Tara, now declaring his love for Mariah. Shakira thinks Travis is acting a fool, and rides off...I'm more than 90% sure Travis wasn't 100% faithful to Tara, if that sort of thing was even an issue in Skartaris. Back at the citadel, the "Warlord" marches his prisoners in, then unmasks: she's Y'smalla, a Vashek assassin. And she's using an image inducer-style device, courtesy of her partner here: Desaad! Yes, Darkseid's lackey, from the New Gods Desaad. This issue was a Legends crossover; I have to say it's been a dog's age since I've read that one. Anyway, Desaad has some kind of mission there, but is also enjoying the opportunity to torture peasants and feel their pain--that seems new; I would've thought he'd be all about inflicting pain but not receiving it; unless I'm misremembering. (Y'smalla got an entry in an Who's Who update, shortly after the Watchmen entry, but that probably makes her one of the better-known Warlord bad guys. Check after the break!)

Travis and Mariah ride into a village, that had earlier suffered a raid by the fake Warlord, so they're not thrilled to see them. They're captured and going to be burned at the stake, although a rider does take off, to tell Tara. The rider gets there in time to see Tara captured by Desaad, so then has to ride back and save Travis and Mariah. He then takes them to the citadel, where Travis tells Mariah while he doesn't love Tara anymore, he still has to save her. That's not entirely true, though: Mariah knows Travis only loves her because of a magic amulet, and is feeling more than a little guilty about this. In the Citadel, Desaad had planned on killing Tara, in front of all the captives, as Morgan, to further break them; but with Morgan coming Desaad has to think quickly and create a different illusion: Tara getting fed grapes by loincloth-clad hunks.

Still, Travis sees through the illusion, with another magic item, a ring I'm guessing was from a prior issue even if I don't recall it right this second. Desaad knows when it's time to bail, and skips out as a huge chunk of machinery is about to crush Tara and Mariah, with Travis only having time to save one! Knowing she'd never be able to live with herself, Mariah tosses the amulet into a fire, freeing Travis to save Tara. Luckily, even though they weren't close, Shakira had stayed nearby, and helps Mariah get clear. Tara and Morgan are reunited; while Desaad consoles himself with the thought that he had damaged Morgan's legend, and Y'smalla was still out there...

Warlord had a Crisis crossover around issue #91, but I don't know if readers were clamoring for the book to be part of the DC universe. This wasn't the last time the New Gods would come up, either. After the break: how about I blog the same damn comic twice, because I found it in the quarter bin, and didn't think I had done it already since it was scheduled for seven years from when I originally wrote the post?

Because it amuses me, and because I didn't want to have a solid week of Warlord posts, I've scheduled them out to 2030; but let's sneak one in now! From 1987, Warlord #115, "The Citadel of Fear" Written by Michael Fleisher, art by Ron Randall.

A desert caravan of merchants is almost safe and dry, when the scourge of the sands attacks--the Warlord, "and his blood-mad horde!" Riding his traditional armored black steed from back in the Grell days, Warlord wants prisoners, even killing one of his own men for letting a merchant kill himself to avoid "the citadel." Meanwhile, near Shamballah, the Warlord and his companion Shakira and his new girlfriend Mariah--wait a minute! That's not right...Travis wonders what their next course of action will be, since he still hasn't figured out how to save his daughter Jennifer, or how to tell his wife Tara he was with Mariah now. We'll probably get to the previous issues eventually, but Mariah has accidentally-on purpose used some kind of love amulet to make her long-time crush way too devoted to her. Shakira, seemingly far more chaste than I would've ever guessed, calls Travis on it, then takes off in a huff.

Back at the aforementioned citadel, as captives are shuffled off to the dungeons, the 'Warlord' makes a report to none other than Desaad of the New Gods! Under an Apokoliptan disguise, Y'smalla of the Vashek Assassins was greatly enjoying the opportunity to destroy the Warlord's good name; while Desaad had some mission going (maybe even a plot against Darkseid!) but was mostly just enjoying torturing captives, and experiencing their pain as well. Y'smalla knows he's a nut, but she was getting what she wanted, so...Long-time DC readers may actually recognize her from the house ads for Who's Who Update '87! Bottom left corner!

Travis and Mariah ride into a trashed village, and are immediately attacked by the villagers, who are confused why the Warlord would return without his horde, but are more than willing to have them both burned at the stake. A lone rider leaves to get his queen, but Tara has her own hands full, as she's visited by a disguised Desaad, who captures her. The rider goes back to free Travis and Mariah, and leads them to the citadel; where in front of his collected prisoners, Desaad plans to torture Tara to death under the guise of the Warlord, which should kill his reputation throughout Skartaris.

Travis pushes hard on the way to save Tara, explaining to Mariah that he still felt he owed her that; while Mariah feels like dirt. Desaad tries a bit of trickery first, with an illusion making it seem like Tara was just at a really hedonistic spa day, but a magic ring from a prior issue lets Travis see through it. Well, Desaad figures he's probably done enough, right, so time to split; as falling machinery is going to crush Tara and Mariah, and Travis only has time to save one of them! Knowing she would hate herself, Mariah tosses the amulet into a fire, to free Travis to save Tara, while the returning Shakira saves Mariah. Shakira did that sort of thing a lot: leave, then come back like she couldn't trust her friends not to die without her constant guidance. Reunited, Travis kisses Tara, while Mariah wonders if it's better to have loved and lost, and Desaad takes his leave of Skartaris, wondering what damage he might have done to the legend of Travis Morgan...Look, they had to justify the Legends crossover somehow! 

The next issue would be the conclusion of "Morgan's Quest," which had been running since #101: so many side-quests! Poor Jennifer had probably spent at least a couple months as a 100-year-old woman, but hopefully we'll blog that one someday. Maybe even someday before 2030, but no promises!

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Maybe if I bump it up to three a year...

There were 133 issues of the original Warlord series (and 6 annuals!) and while I've joked about blogging an issue or two a year, we're still maybe not quite a quarter through the series! (Do I even have all of them? Um, well...) I don't plan on covering every single issue, but today we'll do a quick one with a checklist of the others we've seen so far! From 1982, Warlord #52, "The Sorceress' Apprentice" Written by Mike Grell (with uncredited scripting by Sharon Grell), pencils by Mark Texiera, inks by Mike DeCarlo. This was the first issue with the main feature not penciled by Grell!

Travis had ended up in the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and was working his way back to Skartaris; in bloody fashion. Admittedly, it's not like the Russian troops would listen to him or believe him even if he spoke Russian, but he's just tearing into them. Jacking a helicopter, Travis begins a long trip; while back at Castle Deimos, his daughter Jennifer was still mostly catatonic, severely traumatized by Deimos. The witch Ashiya sees something in her, though: Jennifer understood machines (at least, better than Ashiya did) so the witch wanted her help with the ancient Atlantean machines in the castle. In return, she would teach Jennifer magic.

Ashiya takes the form of Jennifer's mother, Travis's first wife; to gain her trust. The two begin teaching each other, even if Jennifer's protector Faaldren doesn't approve. He's never a major character, but I forget Faaldren's deal: from Ashiya's threat, I think he was a lizard or maybe a snake, turned into a man. Very Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, but she just needed some muscle, someone to open jars and clean the gutters and so on.  Meanwhile, Travis nearly gets back to Skartaris when he runs out of fuel and crashes the helicopter, but is greeted by a pleasant surprise: Tara and Shakira! Who normally wouldn't travel together, but it was too cold for Shakira to change out of her "fur coat!"

Also this issue: back-up feature "Dragonsword," written by Paul Levitz, art by Tom Yeates. It...it's not one of my favorites.

Annual #5

#133

#128

#121

#111

#104

#100

#95

#93

#87

#84

#79-80 (The Barren Earth features.)

 
#77

#66

#63 (The Barren Earth feature, anyway.)

#60

#54

#50

#48

#46

#42

#41

#40

#39

#38

#37 (The OMAC back-up.)

#35

#31
 
#27

#26

#23

#22

#17

#4

#3

#2

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"There's a lesson here somewhere," he said for the fifth time.

So I've been blogging Warlord comics randomly for years, which means I've not been reading them in any particular order; which makes it mildly annoying when a plot is repeated, or Travis doesn't learn a lesson; whether or not this is the first time it's happened to him. From 1979, Warlord #23, "The Children of Ba'al" Written and penciled by Mike Grell, inks by Vince Colletta.

Bathing in a river, Travis hears people nearby, and finds a group of blond, pretty youngsters; right before they're attacked by green-skinned brutes. He rushes to their defense, even if the blonds seem unwilling or unable to stand up for themselves. After the fight, he's a little upset they didn't try to help him out, and they give him the Vulcan hand salute.

Travis is mildly impressed the "Children of Ba'al" have managed to build a peaceful, egalitarian society; but dismayed that they won't fight back. Taking the fight to the green "Orms," one girl accompanies him, and together they knock out the artificial sun of the Orms' underground city. He remarks that he's seen it before: "The more highly advanced the civilization, the more savage they become!" And sure enough, Travis gets clonked on the head, and set up to be the sacrifice...to Ba'al! Oh, and they're cannibals. Well, at least that's not wasteful.

Luckily, Travis is saved, by the Orms, who don't hold a grudge or anything. In fact, they had a bit of a chuckle at his dumbassery; but did have to wipe out the Children of Ba'al: they were merely annoying before, but if Travis had taught them to fight, they would've been dangerous. The Orms send him on his way, with a passing comment that might indicate they were cannibals as well, or that they had a pretty good sense of humor. Either or.

This was a fairly standard plot for Warlord...and probably any other sword-and-sorcery adventure comic you choose to name: the hero sides with a pretty face, gets double-crossed in short order. Warlord #48 has a good example, so does the awful Warlord #10 (third series). He'll learn eventually...
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"Morgan's Quest" continues, sidequest by sidequest, in today's book: from 1986, Warlord #111, "Terror of the Inland Sea" Written by Michael Fleisher, art by Ron Randall.

An off-note from the start: Morgan calls Shakira "youngster" in conversation, which is weird and off-putting: white hair notwithstanding, Morgan wasn't necessarily old, and Shakira was mysterious as hell and may very well have been far older than him. It's also just a weird thing to call someone, right? Still, Morgan and Shakira are on the verge of making some headway this issue: they got flying jet-belts the previous month, and were gaining back some ground. The belts immediately go out, and they're dumped into the water, presumably the inland sea mentioned, where Shakira is immediately grabbed by fish-dudes. Morgan is unable to save her or fight his way to the surface, and blacks out. He wakes up in the underwater city of Arscana, which had been founded by escaped Atlantean slaves, was protected by a force-field that might've shorted out their jet-belts, and is a completely different underwater city than the one Shakira was taken to, Balskrak. Morgan has to fight his way out, since the Arscanans thought he might have Atlantean ties and rat them out; which could be a subtle continuity nod: his helmet was old-school Atlantean.

Meanwhile, Shakira is going to be sacrificed to the Balskraks' monster, Kraarg; but escapes...to the harem, where she is scheduled to be turned into a water-breather. Travis steals an underwater sled, but is immediately captured when he gets there, and he's going to be the sacrifice. Still, as a man he had least had the opportunity to defend himself against the giant crabby thing, which he does, killing it in two-and-a-half pages. Shakira helps him escape, and although they have to share their single mini-aqualung thing, they get out of there fairly easily. I know they would be sidetracked again soon enough, since the quest ran until #116, but #112 had a Mike Grell cover that didn't hint at what specifically was next.

There is some movement on another front, though: Machiste and Mariah finally finish their quest, as Machiste kills the hell out of the attempted usurper to his throne. (Brutal gutpunch from his mace hand, then Machiste throws the guy out a pretty high window.) In the panel above, he mentions being "sick and tired of hearing about how much you miss Morgan, Mariah!" and I can't tell if that was a hint that their relationship was going south, or a nod to the somewhat repetitive situations they found themselves stuck in. Mariah was from the surface world as well, though; she probably should've had a sidearm like Morgan...Anyway, I'm writing this on a very hot day in 2018, so I hope we're all around when this posts!
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I can't tell if it's more or less cliche for the arranged bride-to-be to be beautiful or not...

By the time I started reading Warlord regularly, King Aram Al Ashir was relegated to the lower tier of the book's supporting characters, behind Rostov the Werewolf and Mongo Ironhand. But I did pick up more of his appearances much, much later; like today's book! From 1980, Warlord #40, "The Brotherhood of Death" Story and pencils by Mike Grell, inks by Vince Colletta.

Morgan and Shakira arrive in the kingdom of Kaambuka, where Morgan's friend Ashir has recently taken his crown, and immediately regretted it. Surrounded by enemies within his royal court and outside it, he was also looking down the barrel of a more horrible fate: marriage. It's a marriage of state, and Ashir is positive it's going to be to a beast; Travis tries to encourage him by pointing out maybe he'll be killed first. In that vein, Ashir suggests a royal hunt before the wedding; which is more dangerous than usual even for Skartaris, since a hooded figure plants a mystic talisman on Ashir that makes a saber-tooth tiger go after him.

Later, back at the castle, Morgan, Ashir, and Shakira are ambushed by Ashir's own royal guard; and kill the hell out of them. Ashir notes maybe there's a bit more resentment towards him than he'd expected, but is thrilled to have enemies. It is something to do. But his spirit is crushed again by the announcement of the arrival of his bride--who, surprisingly, is beautiful.

Since it's Tara, Morgan's wife! EDIT: Good news, we blogged the next issue earlier this year, when I was all mad at Danger Street. Which is still running? Ugh, I'm not checking back in on it.

For a change, the back-up feature this issue ties into the main story! Machiste and Mariah are still in the distant past of "Wizard World," but might be able to return to the present since Mongo Ironhand just found the Necronomicon! Which is immediately stolen by a rival wizard, Zaargon. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't turn out the way he wanted, but that would take about 26 issues to wrap up!
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Shakira might have the most risqué line of that year there.

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.
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I don't know when this post will go up, we'll see if I'm still mad: I just read a couple issues of Tom King's Danger Street, and I don't say this very often, but to hell with that comic. It features all the characters from 1st Issue Special...because they were all in that; that's about all they have in common. Travis is pretty much unrecognizable: he, the 70's Starman, and Metamorpho are going to use Doctor Fate's helmet...to summon, then murder, Darkseid? So they can get on the Justice League? What the--?! I tried to be charitable, and just suggest it wasn't for me; but I dislike it much more than that.

To get that taste out of my mouth, back to the classics: from 1981, Warlord #41, "The Pit" Story and pencils by Mike Grell, inks by Bob Smith. 

In scenic Kaambuka, Travis and Shakira have got sucked into the local palace intrigue, with the thief-turned-king Ashir. He's got an arranged marriage coming up that he's not looking forward to, until he gets a gander at the bride: from neighboring Shamballah, Tara! She's attacked by assassins about as soon as she arrives; but while Travis dispatches them soon enough, Tara pretends not to know him. This was their first meeting since the death of their son, so I thought she might be mad at him, but this wasn't that, nor did she seem bent out of shape by the introduction of Travis's new "constant companion," Shakira! Who takes Ashir aside, then ditches him to chase a mouse; while Travis sneaks up to Tara's chambers, but is seen by a goon. Tara explains, her "council of elders" pushed the marriage on her, since the Theron army was threatening them. (Cue "War on Thera" joke again, even if the spelling changes somewhere there.) Travis thinks he can talk Ashir out of the wedding. Or stab him. Geez, man.

As a cat, Shakira overhears the plot against Ashir, with the unusual appearance of her racing away with a mouse in her mouth; and Tara and Travis are attacked by more assassins. Who aren't very effective, and Travis's Hellfire Sword defends them against a spell, but they get knocked out by a glass full of "the black lotus!" which has been putting fantasy characters under for years. The head bad guy has them hung over the titular pit, which has an orange blobby thing in it; which seems like a creepy thing for Ashir to have in his basement but maybe it came with the place? While the bad guy tries to talk the nobles into joining him, Shakira has brought Ashir, who puts an arrow in his head. Ashir realizes Tara was Travis's...wife? Girl? Steady? It's not handled well: they talk about Tara like she was Travis's property, like a horse; she clocks them both and they had it coming. Fuming, she tells Travis now she "must be won!" Travis resolves to do just that, which involves more stabbing and less flowers than you'd expect, in the next issue.

Also this issue: another "Wizard World" strip with Machiste and Mariah, "The Book of the Dead, part 2" Story and art by Mike Grell, inks by Vince Colletta. This does include a creepy little Gollum-type, who would upgrade himself to the Evil One later. Trying to think of a name for it, when self-improvement is purely for evil...

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