Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Wednesday Comics: Storm: The Battle for Earth

My exploration of the long-running euro-comic Storm, continues. Earlier installments can be found here.

Storm: The Battle for Earth (1980)
(Dutch: De Strijd om de Aarde)
Art by Don Lawrence & Script by Dick Matena

Leaving their doomed world, the Azurians set about conquering planets throughout the galaxy. One of those worlds was Earth. They wiped the minds of the conquered survivors, destroying civilization and returning humanity to barbarism. They cultivated spies among the surviving humans to ensure their technological knowledge rose above a certain level.

When Storm arrived in their time and discovered what they had done, it had the potential to disrupt their plans. They had no choice but to hunt him down and destroy him. So far, that's proved difficult. Despite their advanced sensors, they have been unable to locate Storm and Ember.

An Azurian patrol finds a hidden entrance in the wall of a ravine. They enter it and discover an ancient ruin where they're set upon by barbarians. Though they have superior weapons, they're overwhelmed by the human's numbers.


The captive Azurians are taken to an audience chamber to the human's leader, Mordegai. The blue men confirm the story of their other prisoner's: Storm and Ember, by calling out Storm by name. The warrior, Balder, still isn't convinced they shouldn't kill Storm. He hasn't trusted the two strangers since they found them at the entrance to their cave. He doesn't believe Storm's story that their cave is actually a bomb shelter built to protect human's against the Azurian onslaught.

Mordegai has had enough of Balder's lip and sends him away. Mordegai apologizes for Balder, explaining that they have had to fight many other tribes that have tried to invade their caves. Storm points out that it didn't take long for the Azurians to find them. Others will follow.

Storm has a plan. There must be a power generator and equipment in this shelter, perhaps ones that have never been used. They may be able to use them to make weapons to fight back against the Azurians. Mordegai agrees to the plan. With the help of his people work begins.

TO BE CONTINUED

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