DC had taken notice of Marvel's success with Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian and wanted a piece of that barbarous pie. To that end they cooked up a bevy of rough and tumble fantasy heroes and launched them all at once onto the comic stands. The one that succeeds will be a nifty twist on the Edgar Rice Burrough's creation Pellucidar. It was titled Warlord and debuted in the eighth issue of First Issue Special.
Warlord created by up-and-coming comic art star Mike Grell. Warlord was originally part of a project Grell called Savage Empire, but the story was retooled a bit to debut in the seventh issue of 1st Issue Special. The story was inspired by Grell's admiration of both Prince Valiant and the comic strip version of Tarzan of the Apes. That means it had to have high adventure, a strong sense of realism, and a lavish landscape rich in unknown dangers and mysteries.
Warlord tells the tale of Travis Morgan, a brave and resourceful United States jet pilot who is shot down in 1969 on a spy mission over the former Soviet Union. He is able to get his injured craft over the Arctic and crash lands but finds that he's actually entered a weird interior territory named Skataris tucked away inside the Earth's crust. It's a land of perpetual day where time loses meaning. Morgan quickly finds himself allied with a lovely warrior named Tara.
The two end having to escape from a heinous wizard called Deimos and that's not where this saga stops. Morgan finds other allies such as Machiste, a gladiator more than willing to rise up against Deimos and his cronies. Later still he encounters Mariah Romanova, a red-haired hellion who captures Morgan's heart and chooses to leave the surface to fight alongside him in the bloody world he's discovered.
Starslayer from Pacific Comics was originally offered to DC by Grell, but the infamous implosion made that impossible. It would've been nice to see a match-up between Grell's two bearded bad asses.
Below are the issues contained in Savage Empire. After the first two issues, there was a hiatus for six months or so and the title was brought back and went from strength to strength. Mike Grell was never too far from the proceedings.
Thes success of The Warlord is proof of the DC concept of casting a bunch of potential seeds into the marketplace and looking to see which got a purchase in the modern imagination. Of all the characters created in DC's fantasy boom, Warlord was easily the most successful and a steady seller for them for years after.
Next Week we encounter Beowulf - Dragon Slayer.
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I used to pick this series up for a few years as I was a big fan of Mike Grells work , and it was a pretty fun title. I had forgotten just how successful this comic was and it was probably the longest running sword and sorcery type character next to Conan. Under Grell there were always some stunning splash pages.
ReplyDeleteIt was the reverse for me. I was not at first much of a Mike Grell fan, holding a small grudge against him I think for replacing Dave Cockrum on the Legion of Super-Heroes. I found his work flat compared to Cockrum's despite his smooth finishes. I warmed to him later in the 70's and became a downright fan when he created Starslayer and later Sable.
DeleteI initially felt the same when Grell took over from Cockrum on LSH but I soon came to really like his work on the Legion. Cockrum was however one of the best
DeleteI've learned to really appreciate what he did back then as well.
DeleteI've recently reread Warlord and it is great fun. I was struck at how quickly Grell moves the story along. It would be interesting to rewrite his stories to stretch them out to leave more room for character and more drama.
ReplyDeleteIt's the pace of the vintage material that attracts me. Modern books move too slowly for me.
DeleteDespite the stories being derivative (ERB, etc.) I remember really enjoying them. I haven't re-read any of the issues since they first came out and will have to pull 'em out and see if they still hold up. Is is just me or do I see a little Neal Adams influence in Grell's work?
ReplyDeleteI think the Neal Adams aspects of his work come out more when he inks himself. Early on he was really trying to be slick but he left that behind in time.
DeleteI am glad that DC is finally going to collect Warlord in 2 omnibus books in 2025.
ReplyDeleteI'm not in to the Omnibus format all that much. They are too big for me to handle easily. But it's great to have this material available. Arak would be a good choice too.
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