Warlord Wednesday: Arena of Death

Continuing my examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...


"Arena of Death"
Warlord (vol. 1) #2 (March-April 1976)

Written and Illustrated by Mike Grell

Synopsis: Morgan, still tied to the tree where slavers left him at the end of last issue, is about to be a snack for two sabretooths.  He manages to break the branch he's tied to, and falls to the ground.  He's able to impale one cat on the end of the branch, but is only saved from the attack of the other by an arrow.   His rescuers are a group of men led by Drogar the Terrible.  When Morgan tells them he's bound for Shamballah, Drogar offers him passage on his ship.  In Bal Shazar, Drogar's treachery is revealed as he introduces his club to the back of Morgan's skull. 

When Morgan regains consciouness, he's a galley slave, sharing an oar with Machiste.  After a failed rebellion and a battle with pirates, Drogar figures the pair are worth more to him if he sales them to Shebal, the gladiator trainer.  After a training montage, Morgan and Machiste are forced to fight each other in the arena for the amusement of visiting Prince Eris.  Morgan glimpses his old wrist watch on Eris' arm, he and Machiste stage a revolt.  The captured Eris tells him he got the watch from a slave girl (Tara!) he sold to Deimos--now king of Thera.  Morgan rallies the former gladiators to form the nucleus of an army to invade Thera.

Things to Notice:

• This issue has the first of the two-page title spreads that will become a Warlord mainstay.
• The tree Morgan was tied to in issue #1 appeared to be on a grassy plain near the edge of the desert, but this issue it seems in the middle of the forest.
• Racial prejudice seems to exist in Skartaris, at least among the Gryfalcon's crew.
• Machiste is no more believing of Morgan's tales of the outer world than Tara.  One wonders why he insists on telling people.

Where It Comes From:
This issue seems primarily inspired by historical epics and sword and sandal films.  It hits a couple of the common tropes: having the protagonists be galley slaves (like in Ben-Hur) and gladiators (like Barabbas, Demetrius and the Gladiators, and Spartacus among others).  Morgan's rallying the former gladiators for "freedom" at the end has overtones of Spartacus (both filmic and historic, perhaps).

Machiste's name betrays the story's sword and sandal origins, too.  "Machiste," or more properly "Maciste" (pronounced ma-CHEES-tay), is the name of a frequently-appearing heroic figure in Italian cinema. Dating back to the silent era with Cabiria (1914), the character appeared in numerous pseudo-historical or mythological themed films. He was revived for more adventures in the 1960s with the sword and sandal fad touched off by the 1959 Italian production of Hercules with Steve Reeves. Many of these films had the hero’s named changed when they were imported to the U.S. (and dubbed into English) to a more recognizable brand, such as Hercules, Samson, Atlas, or the like.

Ultimately, Maciste derives from a Doric Greek word makistos meaning “tallest” or “greatest.” It is said to have been one of the epithets of Heracles (Hercules). Interestingly, machiste also means “macho man” or "male chauvinist" in French.

While I don’t have any definitive proof of this, I suspect Machiste's physical appearance was modelled on professional football player turned actor, Jim Brown:

See what I mean? 

Coincidentally, Brown co-starred with Raquel Welch (who we know Grell was a fan of) in the 1969 Western, 100 Rifles.

Grell is perhaps playing a little literary joke with his naming of the “wastrel” Prince Eris. Eris is the goddess of strife in Greek mythology (her Latin name is Discordia). The appearance of Prince Eris in the story certainly brings discord, ultimately, to Shebal's gladiatorial academy. Also, The Iliad gives Eris as a sister of Ares, which would make her aunt to Deimos—an allusive hint at the connection between the Grell's Eris and Deimos revealed at the story's end, maybe?

Gaming Kane

After writing yesterday's post, I remembered that Karl Edward Wagner's Kane had a history in gaming.  In the early days, Dragon Magazine featured a column called "Giants in the Earth" wherein writers statted up characters from fiction.

In Dragon #26 (June 1979), in what may have been the debut of "Giants in the Earth,"  D&D translations of Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever, Talbot Mundy's Tros of Samothrace, and Wagner's Kane appeared.  Here's Kane's stat-block excerpt:

The article goes on to give a brief rundown of Kane's appearance and history.  It also notes that Kane may be in disguise when encountered, and that he be on an assassination job.  In fact: 

"There is an 05% chance that when Kane encounteres a party, he is out to assassinate one party member (at random)."

but:

"Kane's long life has made him whimsical.  He may unaccountably befriend a player character (regardless of that character's alignment).  Roll Kane's reaction to each party member.  A 12, on two 6-sided dice, shows he has befriended a character for 1-100 turns.  Kane will not assassinate a friend."

The writer also goes through some contortions to try to fit Kane's behavior to D&D's alignment system.  He notes Kane's the "eternal rebel" and that (horrors!) "he's not even true to his alignment" and at any particular time "there is a 10% chance he's acting out of character." The author suggests in these cases that a d8 should be used to determine Kane's alignment at present.

The presentation of Kane is this article caused a bit of controversy.  In Dragon Magazine #30, Gary Gygax warned in his "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" column that Kane as presented was too powerful.  He suggested that 20th level fighter/16th level magic-user/12th level assassin, was more reasonable for his class abilities, though still on the high side.  He promised a closer eye would be kept on future "Giants in the Earth" installments.

The Mark of Kane

"His long red hair was torn by the wind despite the rain. His eyes seemed to glow with cold blue fire in the burst of lightning. In his left hand he carried a long sword; in his right hand he held a human head."

- Karl Edward Wagner, "The Gothic Touch"

While not exactly what you would called a forgotten hero of sword and sorcery, Karl Edward Wagner's immortal anti-hero Kane is criminally under appreciated today. Of course, it could certainly be argued that outside Howard's heroes and perhaps Fafhrd and Gray Mouser that all sword and sorcery heroes are under appreciated, but that's a lament for another time. Still, Kane's low profile is particularly unfortunate. I believe he stands with Charles R. Saunder's Imaro as one of the two most significant sword and sorcery characters of the seventies revival--which makes him one of the most important sword and sorcery characters since the death of the pulps.

Kane is Wagner's re-imagining of the Biblical first murder. Created by a "mad god" who wished humanity to be his play thing, Kane rebelled against the "sterile paradise" offered and slew his brother (or half-brother, it's hinted) who was the god's favorite. Perhaps realizing what he had loosed upon the world, the god cursed Kane. Immortal, he would wander the world bringing only violence and strife, only able to find death through violence. Men would know him by his startling blue eyes, the eyes of a killer--the Mark of Kane.

In his essay "Once and Future Kane," Wagner tells us that the primary inspiration for the character was gothic fiction, particularly Charles Robert Maturin's 1820 novel of another unfortunate, cursed to immortality, Melmoth the Wanderer. Certainly, the gothic touch can be seen in the Kane tales, but filtered through Wagner it's (as he put it) "acid gothic"--which is to say it has a tinge of psychedelia about it (or maybe phantasmagoria would be a better word) and some "experimental" (for a fairly conservative genre) stylistic flourishes on occasion.

Darkness Weaves with Many Shades (later just Darkness Weaves) was the first Kane novel, published in 1970 by Powell, in a badly edited edition. Darkness Weaves has some first novel shakiness but it's great piece of pulp fantasy for all that, cheerfully mixing science fantasy, horror, and a little hard-boiled attitude.

In 1973 it was followed by Death Angel's Shadow, a collection of three novellas from Warner. In "Reflections of the Winter of My Soul," Kane takes on a werewolf in a sort of And Then There Were None-ish mystery. "Mirage" features a seductive vampire, while "Cold Light" has Kane up against a righteous paladin and his party in a Die Hard-esque confrontation in a ghost town out of an Almeria filmed Spaghetti Western.

Next came two short-stories. "Lynortis Reprise" has Kane returning to the site of an old battle, and re-imagines the Trojan War with the horrors of World War I. "Dark Muse" is a horror story evoking Chambers' The King Yellow wherein a poet seeks an ancient, magical artifact with ruinous results, and Kane is a side-player/observer.

The second Kane novel, Bloodstone (1975), got a Frazetta cover, and has Kane trying to take over the world with the eponymous ring which controls a sentient, alien super-weapon. 1976's Dark Crusade finds Kane leading a mercenary army for the prophet of a revived (and evil) ancient cult--and of course, trying to turn the whole affair to his advantage.

Over the next few years, Kane short stories appeared elsewhere. "Two Suns Setting" has Kane helping the last hero of giant-kind attempt to regain the crown of their greatest king. "Sing a Last Song of Valdese" is ghost story with Kane helping a wronged sorcerer and his love get their revenge. "Raven's Eyrie" introduces Kane's daughter, Klesst, and his old supernatural enemy, Sathonys. These stories, plus "Lynortis Reprise" and "Dark Muse", were collected in Night Winds (1978).

At the dawn of the eighties, Wagner was devoting more of his time to horror, but not far into the eighties that too would begin to falter. There were a few more Kane stories--including the crossover with Elric, "The Gothic Touch" (1994). Two of the others moved Kane out of his prehistoric past and into the modern day. The much discussed Kane novel, In the Wake of Night, was never completed. Maybe Wagner was tiring of Swords and Sorcery? We'll never really know.

Wagner died in 1994 at the age of forty-eight. It was apparently due to complications of alcoholism, though the internet also relates he had "tick fever" (presumably that means Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever), but David Drake suggests this was an unconfirmed (and dubious) self-diagnosis on Wagner's part--and an excuse.

Flawed though the creator may have been, he gave his creation immortality. Kane lives on. Though out of print, the Warner editions and the handsome Night Shade Books hardcovers can still be found and are worth whatever you pay might for them.

"He strode away laughing into the cold night;

Kane had returned, a new challenge begun."

- Karl Edward Wagner, "The Midnight Sun"