I don't intend to blog all of these either, but we'll see...

The other day I wrote another Warlord post and scheduled it for 2029 or something, which admittedly seems optimistic as hell; but I keep setting them up to run a couple a year. I didn't blog the back-up features though, possibly because we could be in the Barren Earth by 2029, the way things are going...Better do this now, then: from 1984, Warlord #79, "Slave Market" and Warlord #80, "Pursuit" Written by Gary Cohn, art by Ron Randall.

We're up to episode 14 and 15 here: the serial would continue until episode 23 in Warlord #88. I was going to say it was more than half over when I started reading regularly with #83; except that's not quite right: there's a memorable bit of body terror in #73 that we might have to come back to sometime. Jinal and her companions Skinner and Renna have been captured by slavers; where they meet Yisrah, a chatty "travelling shaman." Skinner notices Yisrah may be more than he seems, as he lets slip a clue about the Old Ones' floating city, D'roz. At a slave auction, the four are rescued by their Harahashan (lizard-man) ally Barasha, and when the slavers pursue them (like the title) they ride into a massacre.

In the wrecked slavers' tank, Jinal tells Yisrah she plans for him to find D'roz for her, as the shaman finds her weapons. Maybe not as bumbling as he seems, though. With this post we've blogged six of the twenty-three chapters; but I keep meaning to come back to the mini-series, too.
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Like I said, nothing but respect for MY president.

I mentioned this issue on Twitter the other day, but wasn't going to blog it right away, even though I love it and had a hard time finding a copy in the quarter bin. (I totally still have my old one, but still!) But let's jump in anyway: from 1984, Warlord #84, "Hail to the Chief" Written by Cary Burkett, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Dan Adkins.

I was going to hold off a bit since this was towards the end of a multi-issue time-travel storyline, ranging from the present New Atlantean war in Skartaris, to a post-nuclear war America in 2303, to ancient Atlantis. But we're getting ahead of things there: in 2303, after the suicide of the president, who had been the pawn of a traitor trying to consolidate power, Congress proclaims Travis Morgan the new President of the United States! A surprisingly sheepish Travis asks "Why me?" and is told post-nuke communications make an election unfeasible, but his leadership had been proven. Travis balks at accepting, but Shakira tells him he's the only man for the job. (His tantrum and her ensuing pep-talk are the second and third pages of the issue, pushing the title's traditional double-splash pages back to four and five!) Travis is immediately swamped with duties (and a tailor pushing a new wardrobe!) and has to chase them out of the Oval Office at swordpoint...

After a visit to the present to check in with Jennifer Morgan and Tinder, we cut back to several weeks into Travis's presidency, and it's not going well: the nuclear war had damaged earth's ecology behind any repair. Frustrated at having to manage it, Travis has the idea to stop the nuclear war before it occurred, and checks with his friend Dr. Reno. Reno explains maybe, in theory, the timeline could be altered, but there's no guarantee of a better tomorrow. Still, it was more doable than Travis could have guessed, since they already had time-travelling ships, in a cavern deep below a mountain in Utah...that sounds very familiar to Travis. Reno realizes the time-travel experiments there may have caused a "time-stasis field," cutting the mountain off from regular time, or else those ships would have been used during the nuclear war.

Reno, Travis, and his companions Shakira and Krystovar head to the mountain; where Reno explains the situation to the scientists that had only lived two years while centuries passed on the surface. Below the mountain is the cavern, which Travis had first seen at the start of the storyline in Warlord Annual #2. They plan to use the flying-saucer style time ships, to change history...!

Also this issue: another chapter of the Barren Earth, in which Jinal and her friends are taken to visit the embassy of the Old Ones, which has technology far beyond what she had expected. Indeed, the Old Ones may have been responsible for the earth's most recent inhabitants, the lizard people and the "mushroom folk" the Mulge. Jinal petitions the Old Ones' speaker for them to help her unify the planet against the alien Qlov, but as the speaker shows her images of some Qlov stranded like she was, he asks why they should side with her? To Jinal, they're obviously the bad guys, since their war had gone on for years; but the speaker tasks her with capturing one of the Qlov for questioning...(Story by Gary Cohn, art by Ron Randall.)

Although I would pick up most if not all the back issues eventually, this was the second issue of Warlord that I know I bought: I had #66 first, but can't remember how I got it exactly; but I read Warlord off the racks from #83 to the end.




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Pirates=Still Jerks.

Years ago, we checked out an issue where King Conan's wife Zenobia was stolen by pirates. But Zenobia wasn't a hardened warrior, like Tara from the Warlord, that would never happen to her...oh, wait, we're doing this? All right...from 1984, Warlord #87, "Bargain with the Devil" Written by Cary Burkett, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Rich Buckler.

Travis's ship, the Wind Shadow, has sailed into the midst of a pitched sea battle. One of the participating ships is a New Atlantean vessel, and thinks Travis is reinforcements; he's not, his forces are at war with the Atlanteans and captured that ship. Travis and his crew take the Atlantean ship, which was carrying captured slaves; but then they get a call--a shout, literally--from the other ship, the pirate vessel of the dread Hawkins the red-hand, Cap'n Hawk, the scourge of the Skartarian Seas, otherwise known as the Sea Snake! Travis has never heard of him, and isn't that impressed; but wonders if he can't use the pirate against the Atlanteans.

The Cap'n isn't adverse to making a deal with Travis, but wants an ace up his sleeve, and has his men kidnap Tara while he and Travis are hashing out the details. He'd planned on keeping her as insurance, with a bit of ransom for good measure, figuring Travis wouldn't dare attack while they held her. Yeah, not so much: Travis has himself launched at the pirates by catapult, then shoots Hawk's sword with the always-handy .44 Automag! Not to be left out, Tara gets to slug Hawk as well.

Hawk graciously decides to let Travis and Tara go, after all, he was merely, um, testing them, to insure Travis was the legendary Warlord. And he was still down with rescuing slaves for sacks of gold, so Travis did win an ally. A slimy, untrustworthy bastard of one, but still.

And also this issue: another installment of the Barren Earth, in which the captured bug-headed alien Qlov seems far less threatening when it repeats the word "Qlov!" excitedly. And seems to be wearing slacks. ("The City in the Sky!" Written by Gary Cohn, art by Ron Randall.)
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I mentioned some time back that I appear to be blogging an issue or two of Warlord a year (and blogged another proper issue and that crappy Convergence since!) and it's not really intentional, but why not hit another one now? From 1984, Warlord #77, "Let My People Go!" Written by Cary Burkett, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Dan Adkins.

Shamballah and neighboring Kaambuka have been invaded by New Atlantis--this Atlantis being unrelated to Aquaman, Namor, Spongebob, or such. But while Travis had a flashback to old Atlantis some issues back that made it seem OK, the New Atlanteans are monstrous. Sometimes literally: most of their officers were mutated Beast-Men...which, with few exceptions, mostly looked like regular medieval-style troops but with like a bear head or something. A little low-end, but probably perfect for action figures, not unlike the Warlord figures advertised this very issue! (I don't think the Beast-Men were specifically intended to become toys, because I don't think they did; although there's any number of He-Man knock-offs with the big muscley body and a beast-head!)

While supporting characters Shakira and Scarheart rescue Kaambuka's King Ashir, Travis and Tara share a moment at the lake: this war is horrible by any measure, with war crimes and atrocities and refugees and death, and it is about the best of both worlds for the Warlord. He gets battle, without having to leave his wife, and that's a win-win for him; even if Travis isn't going to examine that too closely. They're interrupted by the bard Graemore, Tara's childhood love; and Travis suspects him of swiping the odd metal cartridge stamped "U.S.A.F." that he had found in a mysterious cavern of weapons. The reader sees an odd, hairy hand take it, though.

Elsewhere, a New Atlantean force attacks a seemingly undermanned castle, only to be driven away by giant monsters. The castle formerly belonged to Deimos, and is now the home of sorceress supreme Jennifer Morgan, who spooks the troops with illusions, but now wants to find out more about the invaders. Later, Travis rallies his forces to attack a New Atlantean slave caravan, freeing the slaves and then capturing a galley. Next, Travis and Tara plan to sail to the cavern of weapons...which of course is not going to go as plan, but there are some big detours coming! Which is probably why the New Atlantean invasion would go on until the somewhat underwhelming finish in issue #100.

Also this issue: Episode twelve of "The Barren Earth!" While Jinal has lost all of her stranded shipmates from the first episode, she has fought hard to survive, made friends among the native humans, and forged some allies between different races. Still, the threat of the alien Qlov lingers overhead, so her discovery of a working Federation space cruiser is a godsend. That of course is taken away before the end of this chapter, by mysterious hooded types who remotely control the ship and destroy it. I absolutely wouldn't blame Jinal for being a little discouraged at this point, but she realizes somebody had the power to control her ship, and it may be time to look for them...I wish DC would relaunch this one, but I already know it's not "meat-and-potatoes" enough for their current business plan.
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Oh, no, after 2000 years, I'm sure they're still fine...

This was a hole in my collection that I finally picked up, at the Spokane Comicon: Warlord #63. The main story doesn't move the plotline much, and a Masters of the Universe insert in the middle doesn't help. But, this issue features the first installment of The Barren Earth backup, "Stranded!" Written and co-created by Gary Cohn, art and co-created by Ron Randall.

Several thousand years in the future, earth's sun has become a red giant, which I'm pretty sure would just destroy earth outright...anyway, humanity has long colonized other worlds, but is currently at war with the insectoid Qlov. An expedition ship is sent to the outpost on Earth, which young crewman Jinal lampshades points out hasn't been visited in two millenia. "We can assume that they've gotten a bit rusty," the nameless captain admits.

Nameless? Yeah, he won't last out the installment. A Qlov battle-globe attacks, overpowering then boarding the ship. The humans fight valiantly, but are outnumbered and outgunned. The captain announces self-destruct, and manages to take out the Qlov ship; but out of a crew of 360, only six escape. (That we see; there could easily be a Lost-style whole other batch of crewmen escaping just off-panel. I don't think there is, but even so.) And one dies when the shuttle crash-lands, when Jinal gets her first glimpse of the desert of the Barren Earth...

...and she hasn't even hit bottom yet. Although Jinal mentions "being from a frontier world," as justification for her sidearms and the fighting skill she would display later, here Jinal seems like a redshirt ensign after the rest of the bridge crew, away team, everyone else is killed. Of course, she does have a lightsaber-y thing...

I still wish the Barren Earth would be collected--I've mentioned it before, but while it's a solid-if-standard adventure serial in the pages of Warlord, the follow-up limited series Conqueror of the Barren Earth takes a bit of a weird turn: how far is Jinal willing to go, to unite the Barren Earth and fight the Qlov? Pretty damn far, as it turns out...
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