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!

Read more!

If you ask me--and you probably shouldn't--comics numbering really went to hell when they changed it for the annuals. Amazing Spider-Man Annual ended with #28 in 1994, the next one would be Amazing Spider-Man '96 two years later. I thought DC had gone with that year-numbering for a while, but instead they went a bit intermittant with theirs. Both of them have probably reset more than once by now, but I think letting the numbering run would've given more of a sense of continuity. Even if the continuity had been jettisoned. Where was I going with this? To a Warlord Annual, apparently! From 1986, Warlord Annual #5, "The Uxmal Encounter" Written by Michael Fleisher, art by Adam Kubert. (All the art, pencils, inks, colors, letters! You don't see that anymore.) Cover by Mike Grell.

In scenic Uxmal, a remarkably tackily-dressed tourist is surprised, and abducted, by what might be an Mayan warrior. Pre-internet, I wonder if it was tough to put together artistic references for something like this. I mean, that outfit is an abomination...anyway, a week later, in sunny Skartaris, Travis takes a brief ride while Shakira puts breakfast together, and is promptly ambushed by "Mayans--?! On flying platforms?!!" Which is weird even for Skartaris, although how Travis recognized them as Mayans is anybody's guess. Travis gets zapped with a ray-gun and captured, taken to a surprisingly robust Mayan city. Even flying overhead, he can spy the tourist's loud shirt, as he catches a bit of the lash in a work gang. Although they had lived in Skartaris for probably generations, the Mayans were just now finishing their tunnel to the surface, for...reasons, I'm sure. After a massive word-balloon/exposition dump (I shouldn't throw any stones, but my god) the head priest-type activates a type of solid holographic projection that Travis recognizes from early issues; this time as Kukulkan, with the tourist as a possible human sacrifice.

Travis has to get his arms, tied behind his back, over his head; which looks painful as all get out. He succeeds, partially because an overseer snags him with a whip and inadverantly helps him. After a brawl, Travis manages to get a ray-gun, and shoots the priest's staff, causing "Kukulkan" to vanish. Travis tells him he could've just as easily shot him between the eyes, but the priest still has the numbers, and tells him if he can survive "the path of penance" anything he might ask for will be his. Travis doubts that, but didn't have much choice if he wanted to save the tourist; but should've trusted his gut: the priest is full of crap, Travis is jumped, and lobbed into a well. The head priest and overseer gloss that over with the rank-and-file Mayans, covering each other; but they seem to be putting something over on them. Back in Uxmal, the cops are still looking for missing tourists, and suspect "Columbian" drug traffickers got them. They are then shot up by the flying platform Mayans: a copter gets a few of them, but is lasered down eventually.

Down in the well, Travis is stuck until someone lowers him a rope: the overseer, who wants the secret of the head priest's staff. The head priest then shows up, pissed at the potential double-cross, and they tear into each other; obviously a grudge match. Travis bails and gets the tourist, but is surprised that the head priest was the winner, and still after them. Stealing a flying platform, they head up the tunnel, although they do laser some rocks down upon their pursuers. On the surface world, the CIA and KGB both peak their ears up at the reports of laser weapons in Uxmal, and send operatives; while Travis swears the tourist to secrecy and sets him on the road to safety. Travis is flying on the platform and considering how to get explosives, when he gets shot down by the CIA. Look, he fit the description, OK?

Probably concussed even with his helmet, Travis is then drugged up and questioned. While he doesn't give them anything, the CIA does find something interesting: he's one of theirs, USAF Lt. Col. Travis Morgan, presumed KIA for maybe ten years, now considered a possible turncoat or defector. Head spook Redmond is only given 24 hours to figure out what's going on, or he's fired; so he has agent Carolyn pretend to free him, to get him to Air Force intelligence, but just to give him some rope. They escape in an F-15; a development greeted with interest by the KGB as "game plan Janus." Travis and Carolyn quickly find the Mayan air force equivalent, now in plane-like fighters instead of just the platforms. Unfortunately, the Mayans were not well trained, nor had they, as Travis notes, "invented the parachute." With missiles and an experimental sonic weapon, he shoots down the lot; but is then threatened with a hypodermic by Carolyn, a Russian double-agent! Travis ejects her, then just manages to land the jet. He's still not out of the woods as the jet is about to catch fire, and the Mayan priest is waiting to blast him if he comes out.

Launching the drogue chute, Travis knocks the priest off the cliff; then repairs the priest's flier enough to get back to Skartaris and Shakira: it's unclear how long he was gone, exactly, but time is sketchy in Skartaris anyway. Meanwhile, the CIA and KGB still don't have all the pieces, but Carolyn manages to keep herself out of the gulag since she could maybe still get the sonic weapon, and Redmond swears to keep following this story. I think he would get to Skartaris eventually, but would be turned into a monster for his trouble. Well, that'll happen, yeah. 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...

Read more!