Warlord Wednesday: Sins of the Father...Fate of the Son"

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Sins of the Father...Fate of the Son" (part 1)

Warlord Annual #4 (1985)

Written by Cary Burkett; Penciled by Pat Broderick; Inked by Bob Smith.

Synopsis: A group of Bog Men looking for mates attacks a group of Shamballan refugees making their way to their Queen’s camp. This proves to be a miscalculation, as the refugees are being guarded by Travis Morgan, the Warlord.

Meanwhile, Ashir and Jennifer have become convinced that Tinder stole the gem contained the essence of the Evil One from the locked chest in which Jennifer had placed it.  She casts a spell to find him, but when they locate the boy he doesn’t have the gem. They realize that Chakka—Tinder’s too smart simian friend—must have it.

Morgan is relating to his wife, Tara, his recent adventures when their interrupted by a cry—a cry like “a mixture of animal pain and evil personified.”  He runs toward the caverns it came from, but Jennifer, Ashir, and Tinder have already beat him there.

They find Chakka hunched over the gem.   He turns:

The Evil One has Chakka and he transforms the poor creature’s body into a hooved, demonic form.  Jennifer’s magic is ineffective and is Morgan’s sword.  The Evil One remembers Morgan from his last defeat.  Last time, his link was a relatively easily destroyed book, but this time it’s a gem that he places in his forehead to keep out of their grasp.

He uses his power to stick our heroes to the ceiling, planning to toy with them later—if they don’t starve before he returns.  Using her magic jewels and the powers of concentration of the entire group, Jennifer is able to free them.

But one can they possibly defeat the Evil One?  Jennifer has been reading some old scrolls Faaldren brought her from Castle Deimos, and she has an idea.  It turns out the Evil One had an earlier incarnation than the one they destroyed previously.  An incarnation that subjugated that era of the Age of Wizards, until:

The three came together and used their skills to forge a magic sword:

Baroth, last of the legendary Dragon-Lords, used the sword to slay the Evil One.  In dying, the Evil One cursed the sword so that any wielding it would eventually be dominated by bloodlust.  The blade became known as the Hellfire Sword….The Hellfire Sword Morgan chunked into a lake back in issue #43, lest it dominate him!  A woman’s hand had reached up from the lake and taken the sword.

They need it back. Luckily, Jennifer has an idea where they might get it.  Tara is worried the curse will return, but Morgan points out they don’t have a choice.  Jennifer transports the two of them away with her magic.

TO BE CONTINUED

Things to Notice:

• Morgan and Shakira are riding the tricorns they got in the previous issue.

Notes:

The Age of Wizards we see in this issue seems more cod-Tolkienish than the more Wizards-esque Age of Wizard Kings from the Grell issues.