Random Happenstance

I bought a big stack of fifty-cent Warlord comics the other day, and we'll blog one right away rather than scheduling it for years later. It's an issue I've read about half of dozens of times, but didn't remember the rest! From 1976, Warlord #3, "War Gods of Skartaris" Story and art by Mike Grell.

USAF Lt. Colonel Travis Morgan hasn't been in the underground world of Skartaris long, but is making headway raising an army to face the usurper Deimos and save savage queen Tara. Although he claims to have come as a liberator, fellow former gladiator Machiste knows there's more to it: it wouldn't be that difficult to free Tara, if that was Morgan's only goal. And while Morgan does want to bring USA-style freedom to the people, he also admits freely to loving the fight: he was an adreneline junkie from the start. (Also, he's going to re-install Tara as queen; it's not like he was gonna set up elections or anything.)

The portion of this issue relating to Deimos (and recapping the first two issues of the series and First Issue Special #8) are reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #10, which I've had for years and is one of my favorite single books. But, the rest of this issue is a side-quest, that still has some minor importance for the book: Morgan chases a unicorn, even though Machiste assures him he'll never be able to catch it. He gets jumped and captured by lizard-men, some of the curious throwbacks scattered about Skartaris, and taken to be sacrificed at their new temple: Morgan's own crashed SR-71!

A colossal serpent shows up--apparently not related to the planned sacrifice--and eats a couple of the lizard-men. Machiste arrives to save Morgan, but his horse gets eaten; so to save them Morgan gets his survival kit from the plane, which included the .44 Automag he would use the rest of the series. There also appears to be a lot of ammo, but would those have been standard USAF issue? I don't think so. The .44 doesn't finish off the serpent, either: Morgan has to kill it with the plane's ejector seat, which blasts through the roof of the serpent's mouth like a rocket.

Machiste just wants to collect on Morgan's wager, for falling to catch the unicorn. But, they don't have time to look around, so Morgan doesn't get a look at the high-tech map room just around the corner. He may return to the plane to pick up ammo more than once, but I know we see him visit it in #102. I think another cult is using it for sacrifices then, and I think it's a popular make-out point, too.