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...
5 comments:
There's a Spider-Man comic where he gets thrown through the air because he wasn't watching his back or something, and his caption boxes say, "In my defense, I've taken a lot of hits to the head."
I imagine that applies just as much if not more for Travis. Lucky he can remember which end of the sword is the pointy one.
Quick! Someone tell Spock some weird blond chick from a cannabilistic cult is trying to appropriate his culture by incorrectly flagging the Vulcan greeting.
before: "The more highly advanced the civilization, the more savage they become!" I hate how much this applies to us now in the modern day 😩
Anyone else feel like Grell might’ve borrowed some story elements from HG Wells’ Time Machine?
Good point. I definitely feel like both Peter & Hal are co-presidents of the CTE club at this point.
Vinnie Colletta inks over Grell's pencils were so special, akin to his old Tales of Asgard style.
I guess Grell is fortunate Colletta didn’t do a rush job on his work as he’s known for having done on other artists’ work 🤷♂️
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