Warlord Wednesday: Teen Titans in the Lost World

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"The Lost World of Skartaris (Part 1-3)"

Teen Titans (vol. 2) #9-11 (June-August 1997)

Story and Pencils by Dan Jurgens, Inks by George Perez

Synopsis: Prysm, one of the Teen Titans, is running through a jungle from a tyrannosaur when Travis Morgan comes to her rescue. Against his better judgement, Morgan decides to get involved and asks her who she is and how she got here. She doesn't remember. Morgan lets her accompany him on his search for his daughter.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Titans are flying over the Arctic looking for Prysm. She was critically injured and Argent (a teammate) tried to revive her with her energy powers. Prysm revived alright--then flew off. They tracked her to the North Pole, but they run into a fierce storm. Their plane goes down but instead of crashing, they glimpse dinosaurs and jungle through the clouds.

The Titans walk away from the crash, but they're attacked by a group of warriors. Their powers allow them to hold their own, but they're in danger of being taken down by sheer numbers. Then, the leader of the warriors appears:

Morgan and Prysm have troubles of their own. A gigantic cobra emerges from the ground. It shoots blasts of energy from its mouth, knocking out our heroes. The snake's mistress emerges:

Normally, the Warlord would be quite a trophy for Motalla, but Prysm is worth even more!

The other Titans are taken back to Shamballah by Tara and her troops, though they have to combat a horde of stampeding triceratops on the way. The Titans convince her that they don't know Morgan. She tells Argent about the strange sky city now floating above Skartaris and how their are attacks by giant snakes when it appears.

Morgan, Shakira, and Prysm wake up in some high tech room. Motalla enters and allows them to believe she saved them from the snake. She tells them their are in the floating city of Timmanis. Motalla tempts Prysm with the promise of making her human again--and takes over her body. She drops Morgan and Shakira through a trap door.

The other Titans (in their new Skartarian outfits) fight the strange snakes appearing throughout the city, but the snakes neutralize their powers and they're taken captive. They wake up in a smelly dungeon...

The Titans free Morgan and Shakira--only for all of them to get blasted by Motalla with Prysm's powers. Cody in particular gets blasted out of the city, while somewhere close by, a now-human Prysm daydreams about finally being able to have a relationship with him.

Cody flies through Prysm's ship like a cannonball before crashing into the ground. Luckily, he's able to catch Prysm as she falls:

After he chastizes her for her selfishness, the two run into Tara and Tinder. They suggest the two Titans take a pteranodon ride back to the sky city.

Meanwhile, Motalla is beating Morgan and the Titans pretty soundly. The Atom riding Shakira manages to escape and find Motalla's mysterious power source:

Adding Jennifer to the mix starts to turn the tide for our heroes, but only the timely arrival of Prysm wins the day. Jennifer is able to reverse Motalla's theft, and Prysm is back to her previously self. Motalla ages to a crone for her trouble.

Evil defeated, The Titans prepare to return to Earth through a portal Jennifer creates for them. Prysm (still down on her inhuman form) considers staying in Skartaris, but ultimately decides to stay with her teammates.

Things to Notice:

• Dan Jurgens returns to the character that launched his professional comics career. 
• Morgan initially thinks the Teen Titans is the name of a rock band.
• Skartarian fashion must be really appealing. Every time a superhero winds up there, they adopt it pretty quickly.

Where it comes from: 
This crossover doesn't reference a any old Warlord stories in particular (other than the existence of a sky city), but does get the characters and their relationships right. The pony-tailed guy accompanying Tara is pretty clearly meant to be Tinder, though he is never named in the story.

Warlord Wednesday: Endangered Species

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Dragon Country" / "Empty Quest" / "Menu for Disaster"

Green Arrow (vol. 2) #118-120 (March 1997-May 1997)

Written by Chuck Dixon; Pencils by Dougie Braithwaite, Inks by Robert Companella

Synopsis: Connor Hawke, the then-current Green Arrow, receives a black and white photo that looks like his Oliver Queen, his father and the original Green Arrow, in the jungle. His friend (an ex-government agent of some sort) Eddie recognizes the mountain in the background as in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia. The two head out to see if Oliver Queen is still alive.

The two get help from some of Eddie's old criminal contacts and wind up parachuting out over the jungle in the Shan State. Connor saves a girl from what appears to be a velociraptor but gets captured by the a Kuomintang-descendant Generalissmo.

The Kuomintang take him to where they've got another "dragon-slayer" captive; a man who looks a lot like Oliver Queen. Connor stages an escape attempt. It fails, but Eddie and some allies show up just in time and turn opium-addicted velociraptors on the Kuomintang through the use of torches impregnated with opium.

Freeing the other captive, they discover his true identity:

They take Morgan to a hotel to recover. He tells them about falling through some weird portal in Skartaris after chasing a pack of raptors than stole his meal. He plans to head back to Skartaris as soon as he's fully recovered. Connor and Eddie leave him, and get into further conflict with nefarious types after an American woman they erroneously believe to be a CIA agent. A Green Arrow's work is never done!

Things to Notice:

• In the flashback sequences, Morgan is wearing the armor he wore in the Warlord mini-series.

Notes: 
This barely qualifies as a Warlord appearance. He really doesn't have much to do in the story. Still, it does reference the events of the previous crossover with Green Arrow, back when Oliver Queen was alive.

In the story, Eddie refers to "smack-fields." "Smack" is a slang term for heroin, but there aren't any heroin fields; it's a synthetic product made from opium. The fields are, of course, the opium poppy (papaver somniferum).

Warlord Wednesday: Justice League

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Doomed" / "Sword of the USAF" / "Godwar!"

Justice League Task Force #34-36 (May-July 1993)

Written by Priest; Pencils by Ramon Bernado, Inks by Anibal Rodriguez

Synopsis: Returning from an adventure in space, the stolen shuttle carrying the Justice League Task Force (like the Justice League but 90s EXTREME!) crashes in Skartaris. They accidentally disrupt the attack of a group soldiers working for a wizard named Eballum. The soldiers need to collect talismans for the wizard to save their people from the hordes of Devvar.

The Justice League just need a way back to Earth since their shuttle exploded. Martian Manhunter figures a new arrival can help them with that:

The next issue begins with most of the League helping Morgan defend the village from raiders. They don't agree with Morgan's bloody tactics, but tells them things are different in Skartaris and they wouldn't be having to do this if they hadn't killed the barbarian leading the search for the talismans with their shuttle. Morgan also settles up with the Ray, for trying to keep him from killing a guy:

The Ray flies off to find this guy Quantum who is the leader of the bad guys his own way. Meanwhile, the Manhunter acquires the "Eye of the USAF." It turns out there's an ancient technology cache beneath the village that Quantum wants to get his hand on, and the "Sword of the USAF" Eballum plans to use to save the village is actually an ICBM that fell into Skartaris.

Eballum fires the missile and Ray (tricked and then possessed by the evil sorceror) attacks leading Quantum's hordes!

While the rest of the our heroes are in battle Triumph flies after the missile to try and stop it. He doesn't seem to be able to, until Martian Manhunter clues him in about Skartaris's sun being just a "ball of flame" held in places by strong magnetic forces. Triumph is able to fly closer and harness those magnetic forces to bolster his powers. The MIRV releases it's warheads. Triumph stops all but one!

Manhunter manages to use his telepath to force Quantum to change back into matter from Ray's light-form. Morgan comes in swinging a sword at Ray's throat scaring Quantum into fleeing back to his on body. It was a ruse, though, and the sword just touches lightly on a bewildered Ray's neck.

The one warhead doesn't explode. It turns out their were all dummies. Eballum, however, loaded them with "tainted fertilizer" which only serves to make Quantum and a few dinosaurs really nauseated.

Morgan takes them to the underground sub-shuttle station.The Justice League bids the Warlord good-bye and heads back to the surface.

Things to Notice:

• Morgan recognizes Martian Manhunter. Perhaps from their participation in Crisis?
• This is the only Warlord-containing comic with a blatant reference to a Janet Jackson song.

Where it Comes From: 
Priest seems to have read some old issues of Warlord--or at least done his research before writing the story. He has Martian Manhunter and Morgan discuss Grell's hollow earth explanation versus the later "alternate dimension" retcon. He utilizes the sub-shuttle to Peru to get the Justice League home that first showed up in issue #5.

Unfortunately, the artists don't seem to have seen any of them. Morgan wears much more elaborate armor than he ever wore in the series. The Atlantean sub-shuttle looks more like an urban subway train, complete with graffiti.

Warlord Wednesday: Ballad Part 6

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Ballad Part VI"

Warlord (vol. 2) #6 (June 1992)

Written by Mike Grell; Art by Dameon Willich and Tim Burgard

Synopsis: The army of Shamballah, led by the Warlord, is at the walls of Thera. They’re soon taking heavy casualties from Deimos’s undead hordes—and every time one of the Shamballans falls, they rise to fight for the other side!

Deimos, in his statue form, strides forth into battle. He unhorses Petrus and grabs him. Morgan shoots Deimos, but the bullet ricochets off. He can only watch in horror as:

The old veteran is dead.

Realizing there’s no way they can win, Tara orders a retreat. In their camp they notice that the land around them is dying as Deimos’s power rises. A column of troops arriving at the camp raises their spirits a bit: It’s the combined armies of Kiro and Kaambuka, led by Machiste, Mariah, and Ashir.

Morgan greets his old friends warmly, but tells them there’s nothing they can do. His army of thousands was winnowed down to a handful. Everyone expects him to do something, but he doesn’t want to lead more people to pointless deaths. Morgan leaves the tent, but Tinder follows him. “You can’t turn these people away,” the minstrel says. “They came for you.”

Morgan walks off alone. As he stands brooding, Jennifer appears. She tells him there is a way to defeat Deimos, but he has to be willing to sacrifice himself. For a daughter, she speaks a bit unkindly, telling him “it ought to be an easy choice” and since he’s never been one for hearth and home “surely it will be no loss.” Morgan says he’ll do whatever must be done.

Later, when he tells the others, Mariah and Tara protest, but he convinces them it’s the only way. Tinder is sent as a messenger to Deimos, who agrees to meet Morgan at the appointed place.

Morgan and his troops arrive at the place beside a lake looking defeated. When Morgan presents himself, Deimos gloats that the weakness of mortals—their fear of death—makes them eager to surrender Morgan, even as before they had been eager to follow him.

Morgan dives into the lake. Enraged, Deimos orders his troops to slaughter Morgan’s friends, but before they can act:

The battle is rejoined, but this time the outcome is different. Morgan buries the hellfire blade in Deimos’s chest:

Deimos’s troops quickly decay to dust. Our heroes are victorious.

Sometime later, Tinder is playing his lute in a garden, when Queen Tara approaches. Tinder says he came looking for Warlord the legend and found the man—but now with the nations united under one banner, everything Morgan spoke of can become a reality. The promise of the legend can be fulfilled.

“I think not, “ Tara replies. “He has already left.”

Tinder smashes his lute in disappointment.

Things to Notice:

• All the characters are wearing more armor than they used to wear.
• Ashir returns to the Warlord saga for the first time in about 7 years (issue #96).

Where It Comes From:
And so the limited series ends the way everyone but Tinder seems to know it would with Morgan running out on responsibility once again.

The use of the hellfire sword here suggests again that Grell may be ignoring events in the original title after he left, but as before it's inconclusive. Worried about the effect that wielding the hellfire sword was having on him, Morgan tossed it into a lake(apparently the lake in this issue) back in issue #43. That was the last we saw of it until the Cary Burkett penned Warlord Annual #4. There, Morgan is forced to reclaim it from the Lady of Lake in order to use it against the Evil One.

Jennifer is last seen with the sword at the end of that story so we don't know what became of it. Perhaps, she tossed it back into the lake at some point? If so, Morgan had a lot easier time regaining the sword this time around than he did when he was forced to fight the King of the Undead in annual #4.

Warlord Wednesday: Ballad Part 5

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Ballad Part V"

Warlord (vol. 2) #5 (May 1992)

Written by Mike Grell; Art by Dameon Willich and Tim Burgard

Synopsis: The skies over Skartaris turn crimson, and all its people gaze upward fearfully. A skull-faced visage appears and intones:
“Bring me Travis Morgan or I shall cast a darkness upon the land unto the end of man.” Tara recognizes the voice if not the face: Deimos.

Tara points out Deimos will have to look elsewhere for Morgan; he tends to stay far from responsibility. One of her servants informs her that Morgan was sighted in a tavern called the Golden Acorn in the city today, despite her orders that he be barred from entry. The guardsmen who tried to enforce her will should recover. Tara’s not surprised he’s back: Adventure will always summon when nothing else can.

Tinder heads off to the Golden Acorn to meet his hero. As he’s climbing the stairs to its entrance, he’s surprised when the black cat in front of him with a mouse in its jaws turns into:

Tinder recognizes her from the stories. He asks if Travis Morgan, the Warlord, is there. Shakira comments that he speaks as if they’re the same person, then adds: “The Warlord is what they have made him. Travis Morgan is..well…See for yourself”:

Tinder approaches. Morgan snaps awake and grabs Tinder by the throat. He points his pistol at the startled minstrel and demands to know who sent him.

Morgan asks “Why?” Tinder tells him that they met once before and Morgan had told him incredible stories of the world he came from. Morgan says he doesn’t remember. He asks what Tinder wants.

Tinder replies that he wants to meet the legend. Morgan tells him that being a legend isn’t all it’s cracked up to be: You've always got to prove it to someone, and you never get used to “the look”:

Tinder shows Morgan the sky (Morgan replies he thought he had just drank himself blind) and asks for his help. He tells the Warlord that Tara is gathering an army to march on Thera. Morgan is sure she can handle it. Tinder gets angry at him and leaves.

Watching him go from the window, Morgan muses to Shakira that maybe every time one of them comes, he ought to just shoot them and be done with it. He doesn't have the heart for it though; they’re already mourning a hero.

Still, Morgan begins to put on his armor. “So another war?” Shakira asks.

“One’s as good as the next,” Morgan replies.

Later, Morgan rides into the palace grounds in front of the massed troops. He greets his mate and queen with a lame joke, and she breaks his nose as per usual. After some encouragement by Tinder,  Morgan gives a rousing but meaningless speech to the troops:

And they’re off to meet a eagerly waiting Deimos.

Things to Notice:

• As it has throughout this limited, Morgan's outfit appears  a bit more like genuine armor than it did in the actual series. Maybe this is an attempt at a minor retcon?
• Shakira has dark skin in this issue not particularly in keeping with her previous appearances. Maybe she just got a really good tan?

Where It Comes From:
Grell references the first meeting between Tinder and Morgan back in issue #58. Of course, this wasn't actually their first meeting as Tinder is really Joshua, Morgan's son.

Tinder references Deimos death in the darkness and cold along the Terminator. Morgan left Deimos to be devoured by wolves in issue #50. Of course, Morgan had already killed him not once, but twice before. He was also killed once by Tara's faithful dog, Shadow.

Warlord Wednesday: Ballad Part 4

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Ballad Part IV"

Warlord (vol. 2) #4 (April 1992)

Written by Mike Grell; Art by Dameon Willich and Tim Burgard

Synopsis: The stone body housing the skull of Deimos rises as the cultists prostrate themselves and praise him. They tell Deimos they worship him and hate the Warlord. They are ready to serve their god and await his command. Deimos’s first order for them:

Deimos laughs at the idea that he’s a god as he takes the throne, surrounded by the bodies of his would-be worshippers.

Meanwhile, Mariah finds Tinder playing guitar in a garden. She asks if it bothers him, going in search of the legend of the Warlord and finding the man Travis Morgan. She tells him she understands and relates her own story: how she met Morgan and followed him to Skartaris for the promise of adventure. Like Morgan, she fell in love with it and the freedom it offered. Coming from an oppressive society, she was eventually taken in by Morgan’s words like everyone else.

Back in Thera, Deimos infuses his slain worshippers with magical energy. The bodies rise as a zombie army! Deimos has a plan to finally destroy his hated enemy, the Warlord: “This time, the very Sun will run red with blood…and black with fear!”

Continuing their ride to Shamballah, Tinder remarks to Petrus that Morgan seems to hold an attraction to beautiful women. Petrus says except for one—the woman who was a cat or the cat who was a woman. He warns Tinder to be careful around her should they meet her.

They arrive in Shamballah and make their way to the palace. Morgan (predictably) isn’t there, but someone else is:

Tinder is surprised; he thought she was dead. Tara remarks he shouldn’t believe everything he hears. She leads them into the palace. Morgan is seldom there, she tells Tinder. He’s bored by affairs of state and runs off with his mistress. Tinder doesn’t know what to say, but Tara clarifies:

He runs off and then returns. Every time he does, Tara breaks his nose. He didn’t believe her the last time, when she told him if he left to never come back. He couldn’t believe her, because if he did he couldn’t have left. She knows he loves her after a fashion, but to stay would mean a slow and boring death. “And it takes no wizard to forsee that for Morgan death will be anything but boring.”

Suddenly, there’s an earthquake. When it’s subsided, they notice the sun is darker and it’s light redder.

Somewhere, Deimos laughs.

Things to Notice:

• Deimos is pretty ungrateful. No surprise there.
• Despite her cover appearance, Shakira only appears in flashback in this issue.

Where It Comes From:
Grell is perhaps referencing story arc in the original series (#126-133) that had Tara killed. Of course, she was eventually resurrected.

Warlord Wednesday: Ballad Part 3

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Ballad Part III"

Warlord (vol. 2) #3 (March 1992)

Written by Mike Grell; Art by Dameon Willich and Rick Hoberg

Synopsis: The minstrel and the veteran ride into Kiran Pass, a waystation for caravans along the trade routes. They’ve only just arrived when they see a woman on a horse, apparently beset by robbers. The minstrel leaps from his horse to help. He handles himself well, and soon the robbers run away. The woman has missed her caravan to Thera, but the minstrel offers that she can accompany them, as they’ll be passing near the border on their way to Shamballah.

The veteran introduces himself to her as Petrus, and she gives her name as Driana. The minstrel says he’s had many names, but most call him Tinder.

After a night in the wilderness (where the two men tell Driana of their quest to find the truth behind the legend of the Warlord), they bid her goodbye at the Theran border. She says she’s certain she will see them again “in one fashion or another.”

The men ride on to the gates of Kiro. They enter the palace where Petrus demands impertinently to see the king. Machiste enters and the two exchange insults. By the time Mariah arrives, it’s apparent the two are old friends with Pertrus. He tells them the minstrel is seeking the truth of the legend of the Warlord:

Later, the royal couple share stories of the Warlord. Machiste admits that he has always loved Morgan as a brother—but he didn’t always like him. He tells the minstrel how he and Morgan met as gladiators. How they learned kill to avoid being killed—something Morgan both hated and loved. He tells of how Morgan inspired them all with his words about freedom and justice, and how he tried to be the legend they all wanted him to be:

Meanwhile in Thera, Driana arrives at the strange temple we saw last issue. One of the robed acolytes asks about her journey:

Then, she is ready. She lays down upon the altar, a willing sacrifice performing a duty she believes she was born for. After her life’s blood has seeped away unto the sarcophagus she laid upon, something evil awakens. The cultists chant:

Things to Notice:

• The identity of the minstrel is revealed: Tinder, who is in reality Joshua, the son of Morgan and Tara.
• Mariah first appears in this issue in a pose that is clearly an homage to the first time she was seen "in costume" back in issue #7 of the original series.

Where It Comes From:
The old veteran is named "Petrus," a Latin name derived from Greek meaning "rock." It's the source of the name Peter. Perhaps this suggests that Petrus was a "disciple" of Morgan's in the same way Peter was of Jesus, though this Petrus has since become disillusioned.

The first Warlord series ended with Mariah with the abusive Danny Maddox, but she is back with Machiste in this story. This may suggest Grell is discounting events in the series after he left, but it could just be assumed that they got back together since the end of the series.

Likewise, Burkett left Tinder (then still a young boy) in the distant past of Skartaris known as Wizard World. How he got back to the present is unexplained, so this again could be a signal Grell only sees his work on the series as canonical.

A Special Note: Grell's official website reported he's in the hospital with cellulitis. I hope all the readers of Warlord Wednesday will join me in wishing him a quick and full recovery.

Warlord Wednesday: Ballad Part 2

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Ballad Part 2"

Warlord (vol. 2) #2 (February 1992)

Written by Mike Grell; Art by Dameon Willich and Rick Hoberg

Synopsis: A man trudges through the snowy wastes of what must be the Skartarian Terminator. He carries something wrapped in his cloak, something that compels him in his task. In the town of Hazrak, he’s confronted by robbers eager to get a look at what he holds so dear, but he dispatches them easily. Nothing will get in his way.

He arrives at a strange temple. Inside a woman, a priestess, is waiting.

He lays his burden upon an alter and:

Meanwhile, the minstrel accepts the challenge the veteran gave last issue—but only if the veteran accompanies him. The old man agrees.

They’ll need horses for their journey, though, and neither has any coin. The minstrel picks the purse of a passerby. He grew up on the streets and knows how to get by.

After acquiring horses, the two ride to Castle Deimos:

Initially, they are chased from the gate by phantom monsters. The minstrel realizes that he and the veteran saw different monsters and notices the horses weren’t frightened. It’s an illusion, based on fear. They advance again, cautiously, and this time pass through the phantoms unharmed. A man greets them and says the Mistress will see them, now.

She says the minstrel has “come seeking a hero” like she “came seeking a father.” She fears they both will “have to get use to disappointment.”

The sorceress relates how her father (devastated by the death of her mother, perhaps) shipped her off to live with an aunt, while he went off to fight in a war. When he didn’t return, she went looking for him, and found him in Skartaris. Even there he couldn't stay committed to the rebellion he started or the warrior queen he loved. He always needed a challenge: something new to discover, something new to conquer.

He comes and asks for her help from time to time. She never denies him, but she never lets him close anymore.

She leaves the minstrel and veteran with one final thought: “He’s not a bad man,” she says. “Not in his heart…”

After the two have left Castle Deimos, Jennifer Morgan looks into her crystal ball and sees and image of her father. She tells him she misses him. Though of course, there is no one to hear.

Things to Notice:

• On the cover, Grell puts Jennifer in the tiara she wore in her first "in-costume" appearance in issue #54.

Where It Comes From:
Grelle expands a bit here on the details he presented in issue #38 in regard to Jennifer's and her father's pre-Skartarian histories.

The flashbacks in this issue show Jennifer's hair as white in her childhood. This is consistent with her earlier portrayals where it was blonde until she learned magic. (The change in her hair color was never explained in-story.)

Warlord Wednesday: Ballad: Kilt Him A B'ar

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Ballad Part 1: Kilt Him a B'ar"

Warlord (vol. 2) #1 (January 1992)

Written by Mike Grell; Art by Dameon Willich and Rick Hoberg

Synopsis: A lone minstrel makes his way on horseback across the dangerous wilderness of Skartaris to the Terminator and the dangerous “civilization” of an outpost named Hazrak. He takes a gig in a tavern, but finds it ill-suited to songs of love. Finally, he hits on the ballad of the Warlord and that gets the room to pay attention.

After the performance, he’s approached by a grizzled veteran who tells him he’s a fool for believing that heroic nonsense—just like the man he’s singing about. The minstrel chides the old man for defaming a hero.

The man agrees the Warlord is a legend, and that he could have been a hero.

The Warlord had been a great warrior, and inspired men on the battlefield. He also inspired with his words:

But in the end:

The veteran recounts the Warlord’s origin: how he came from another world, one the heart of a warrior queen, rose from slavery in the gladiatorial arena to lead a revolution across Skartaris. That was when the veteran (who had been a scholar-slave for a Theran noble) came to meet him. The Warlord told the scholar a little about his home world, but also revealed what he knew of Skartaris’s Atlantean past.

The minstrel is skeptical about all of this. The old scholar turned veteran issues a challenge:

Things to Notice:

• Grell provides the cover.
• None of the Warlord regular cast appear in this issue except in flashback.

Where It Comes From:
From the outset, it's clear that Grell is looking to chart a different course in this limited series than the writers that followed him on the original title. He returns to the theme of the flaws--the fundamental tragedy--of Travis Morgan's character and amplifies it.

This series serves to balance the view Morgan's perspective on his life as somewhat illustrated in the appearance in Green Arrow. There he's Peter Pan. Here we see the how the adult world reacts to him.

In presenting Skartaris to us, Grell shows a unicorn being eaten by a carnosaur. Like I mentioned way back in my commentary to volume 1 issue #12, the unicorn again seems to represent the beauty and fantastic nature of Skartaris.

Warlord Wednesday: Green Arrow

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Enter..." / "Seige"

Green Arrow (vol. 2) #27-28 (Dec 1989-Jan 1990)

Written by Mike Grell; Pencils by Dan Jurgens, Inks by Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin

Synopsis: A stranger keeps getting hassled on the streets of Seattle by thugs and criminals who mistake him for the new “Robin Hood” vigilante. Some of them begin to suspect he’s a different guy, as he deals with his opponents in a more ruthless way than the vigilante in green has previously.

The stranger (Morgan) is getting irritated at all this attention and tracks down the guy responsible: Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. Morgan tells Queen that he's pissed a lot of people off and offers some advice:

After getting knocked down by Dinah Lance (the Black Canary) for suggesting she should “stay in the kitchen.” Morgan makes his apologies and explains who he is—leaving out any specific mention of Skartaris. As he talks over the way the world has changed with Ollie and Dinah, the crime boss whose car he shot earlier gathers a squad of goons to assault Dinah’s home and take out both his adversaries.

They cut the power before beginning the raid, but Morgan’s keen hearing still gives our heroes a bit of warning. Oliver arms himself with his bow, Morgan with his pistol, and Dinah with an uzi she takes off one of the assailants, and they defend the house against the siege.

There are just too many, though. Dinah and Ollie run out of ammunition and Morgan disappeared after an explosion. They believe him to be dead. Suddenly, he appears, clothes tattered but sword in hand, and lays into the rest of the mobsters. The boss tries to make a break for it, but:

By the time the police arrive, Morgan is gone. All Ollie and Dinah can do is tell them what happen. They do reveal that Morgan gave an address of a sort:

Things to Notice:

• Morgan apparently tried to get Veteran's benefits during this visit to the Earth.
• The story seems to imply Morgan hasn't been to the surface world in some time, but that really isn't true given the post-Grell Warlord. His last visit would have been in roughly 1986 (depicted in Annual #5).

Where it Comes From: 
The similarity in appearance of Olliver Queen and Travis Morgan plays an important part in this story and may even have been the inspiration for the crossover. Queen's Van Dyke was courtesy of Neal Adams and debuted in Brave and the Bold #85 (1969). Morgan was drawn with the facial hair Grell had at the time.

This is the second time Grell has used the Disney movie Peter Pan quote "second star to the right, straight on till morning" (the word "star" is omitted in Barrie's original) to loosely refer to Skartaris. The first time was in Warlord #6 (1977), which described the first time Morgan revisited the Earth.

Warlord Wednesday: And the Cosmos Ends

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...

"The Death-Knell of the Universe: Chapter 2: And the Cosmos Ends"

Warlord #133 (Winter 1988)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Pencils by Jan Duursema, Inks by Tom Mandrake

Synopsis: Ishum leads Morgan and Tara and the group of warriors freed from Yk’Kphat’s jewels back to Skartaris. In her sanctum beneath the volcano, Khnathaiti gloats to her demons that the destruction wrought by Anu will lead to the creation of a new universe with her as its queen. And the cosmos draws to its end.

Morgan and crew arrive in Shamballah and he’s reunited with Jennifer and Shakira. Ishum raises the horn to his lips to blow it but:

Yk’Kphat has played on last trick.

The prophecy of doom begins to fulfill itself. Anu releases beams of fire, and the nine worlds begin to burn. Ice follows, flash freezing everything in touches. Then comes stone, turning men and beast in statutes. Morgan and his friends can only watch helpless, but protected behind a magic shield courtesy of Jennifer.

All of a sudden, Aoife emerges from a portal with the real god-horn in her hand. Before he can, one of Anu’s blasts turns him to stone. He drops the horn, but Morgan dives over the edge of the precipe their standing on and catches it. Anu grabs Morgan with one its tentacles. Morgan resolves to take Anu with him if he’s going. 

He blows the horn:

Anu returns to his plane of rest. The nine worlds are saved.

Jennifer goes to confront Khathaiti. It turns out that won’t be necessary: Khnathaiti and her minions have been turned to stone, victims of the forces they released.

Aoife explains to the others what happened. Yk’kphat was miffed at Khnathaiti’s arrogance, so he let Aoife carry the horn to them, but he doesn’t grant favors without exacting a price. He demands the return of the warriors freed from his jewels. Knowing that Morgan loves Tara and not her, Aoife as agreed to substitute for Tara.

The warriors reluctantly agree, knowing that is the only way to keep petulant Yk’Kphat from summoning Anu again. They boast they’ll all escape together one day.

After seeing their compatriots off, our heroes turn to the task of reuniting Tara’s spirit with her body. Jennifer casts her spell and it’s a success. Tara awakens.

And so ends Warlord vol. 1.

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Tinder still in Wizard World?
• Will Tara and Morgan ever discover that he's really their son?
• Is Morgan really going to leave Mariah with that traitor and abuser Maddox?
• Will Machiste ever get a queen?
• What's Shakira's true origin?

Where to from here: 
The first volume of Warlord is done, but his story isn't over. In 1989, Mike Grell would return to his creation for the first time in 6 years.