Warlord Wednesday: Past Lives

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 Vision Quest"

Warlord #130 (July 1988)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Art by Jan Duursema

Synopsis: Morgan is bathing in a pool when he thinks he hears a voice calling his name from behind a waterfall. A vision of Tara emerges from the falls; she seems to be trying to tell him something. Then, the vision’s gone. Aoife tries to comfort him. Morgan’s still too caught up in grief to see the woman right in front of him.

Meanwhile on Xur-Chemosh, Maddox has practically become a god, using the alien spacecraft (apparently designed to be an all-purpose colonization tool) to plant crops and even build a city. There’s just one machine in the craft he can’t figure out; the helmet won’t tell him about it. The craft does, however seem to take control of his arm to make him fire a weapon when the ship is attacked by a plant creature.

The evil sorceress Khnathaiti has retrieved the amulet Jennifer gave Tara from the volcano and is trying to control its magic herself. Her use of it forces Jennifer to constantly guard against her opening a conduit between the two of them.

Morgan and Aoife are almost at the Tourmaline Sea. Aoife has another vision:

She is convinced her destiny awaits her on the island.

They’ve reached the coast but how do they get to the island? Aoife’s got that covered.

Over the open ocean, they run into a storm. The lightning does something weird to Aoife. She faints and the carpet plummets from the sky. Morgan loses Aoife in the waves.

In Xur-Chemosh, Maddox and Mariah are getting close. A sneak attack by a group of priests spoils their good time. Danny handles it with brutal efficiency:

Morgan washes up on a beach. He makes his way to a city where he chances to encounter his old friend Mariah in a lizard drawn carriage.  Unfortunately, she’s also with his old nemesis, Danny Maddox:

Things to Notice:

• This is the second chapter of Maddox's Revenge.
• Shakira (in her brief freelance exterminator appearrance) is a lot beefier than usually drawn.

Where It Comes From:
This issue references explicitly Morgan's previous relationship with Maddox as mentioned before.

Magic carpets are a fairly common fantasy trope, but this is the first one in Warlord.