THE WARLORD #16

“Storm Over Skartaris”
Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

Joshua goes to Machiste for help in uniting the forces of Skartaris against the coming alien invasion. Machiste then leads McBane to the crashed SR-71 where the old radio is salvaged. McBane manages to get it working. Joshua finds the crew of the airship that they brought down last issue. He offers them help in fixing it up in exchange for helping against the aliens. A female captain Bloodhawke has to lost a fight before she agrees to help.

So the ship is launched and loaded with the old laser cannons that Deimos used to attack Shamballah. Jennifer will use Morgana and her powerful magic to power the cannons. They open the portal to Wizard World for all the magical energy that existed back then. This allows Deimos who is back in Wizard World to escape. McBane contacts the U.S. Air Force and warns them of the aliens. The military fail to stop the ship with missiles and it enters Skartaris. There the magically powered cannons destroy it. The explosion closes off the polar opening from the surface world. At the end the Air Force general is watching the video documentary that McBane filmed about Skartaris and Travis Morgan The Warlord.

Well the final issue. On the whole it was a well done ending. It felt a little rushed but I suppose if your getting cancelled its better to get everything tied up. Grell gave us a solid ending that give this series some type of closure. Warlord has been with this blog from the beginning. Every Monday I read a new issue. Now its over and I feel sad. This was my favorite series and rereading them just made me realize how much I do miss this series. Hopefully Grell can get some kickstarter campaign to give us another mini-series or graphic novel. I would love to find out what happened to the characters. I still didn’t like them killing off Travis Morgan but I got into the new Warlord. This title has seen many resurrections so hopefully there’s still a future for the Warlord.

THE WARLORD #15

“Everything Changes”
Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

On the surface the military is consulting specialists on the recent transmission to outer space that used the pyramids in Egypt and Central America. The specialists say that the coordinates transmitted are eight hundred miles below the surface. In Skartaris Joshua and friends return to Shamballah after the battle with the alien. They find that Tara gave birth to a daughter named Morgana. She has very powerful magic.

Later Joshua and Alysha are out in the woods and come on a hippogryph. Some sort of flying horse like creature. It is captured in a net by passing sky raiders in a dirigible. Alysha jumps on the net and Joshua follows. The two free the hippogryph and while in the sky see the lines on the ground. They look just like the ones in Nazca Peru. Alysha figure out that the alien was a scout for an invasion. When they get back to Shamballah, Joshua asks McBane how to use his father’s pistol.

So this issue had a lot of Chariots of the Gods stuff that you see in Ancient Aliens. The aliens are coming and Skartaris better be prepared. Joshua gets to meet his new sister and she has powerful magic. He also is getting comfortable with his role as the new Warlord and his new family. The surface world is becoming aware of Skartaris. Interesting to find out that Skartaris had sky raiders flying around. The issue is setting up an interesting story but unfortunately there is only one more issue until the end.

THE WARLORD #14

“Dragon’s Lair”
Writer: Mike Grell
Artist: Chad Hardin

Joshua and his friends are battling the creature from the meteor. Joshua gets his hand burned but survives by hiding behind some metal wreckage from the meteor. Later he goes back to the village and enlists the blacksmith to build him a sword from the metal. In Shamballah Tara has pain from her unborn daughter. The daughter has power and senses the pain of her brother. So Joshua’s miraculously heals.

Back at the village Alysha is kidnapped by a villager to sacrifice to the dragon. So Joshua, Shakira and McBane follow to the dragon’s lair. Only they find out it is a spacecraft and conducting experiments on humans. They rescue Alysha. When Alysha uses a pistol to put the kidnapper who is half dissected out of his misery, it alerts the alien. Joshua manages to defeat it but the alien’s last act is to set the self destruct on his ship. He also sends out a message using the pyramids on the surface.

So we find out that the dragon from the meteor was an alien. One that is disappointed with how primitive humans still are. Also the daughter of Tara and Morgan has some very powerful magic and is linked to her brother. Joshua seems to be adapting well to the role of Warlord. He shows bravery and ingenuity just like his father. The new alien threat was a very interesting development to the story and sets up an exciting coming conflict.

THE WARLORD #13

“Son Rise”
Writer: Mike Grell
Artist: Chad Hardin

An asteroid hurtles toward the North Pole. The people at NORAD brace for catastrophe but nothing happens. The asteroid goes through the polar opening and crashes in Skartaris. It causes devastation and unleashed some creature that terrorizes the locals. Tinder now has to take up the mantle of the Warlord. He has doubts but friends. So with McBane, Alysha and Shakira they accompany him to kill this beast. They find a young girl being sacrificed and rescue her. Only the girl wanted to be sacrificed and runs toward the cave that the creature is in. It comes out and incinerates the girl with a laser eye.

So the first post-Travis Morgan issue. Grell doesn’t waste any time mourning Morgan. He jumps right in to a new story and it is intriguing. Now most of this issue is spent exploring Joshua’s doubt on being able to live up to his father’s reputation. True he isn’t Morgan but Joshua does show many of his traits. He fearlessly rides out to confront a terrible creature. Like his father he seems to save the beautiful maidens that don’t want to be saved. I will admit that I miss Morgan but Grell does have a plan for this series and it was still a salvageable.

THE WARLORD #12

“Sunset”
Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

Morgan comes back to Shamballah and finds it in ruins. The laser cannons that Deimos activated have done a good job of destroying the city. Morgan comes on Tinder who leads Morgan and friends to a safe area. He finds Tara and Jennifer with Tara wounded. He also finds out that Tara is pregnant. He plans to go to Deimos but is confronted by Tinder. Tinder is worried about Alysha who is Deimos prisoner. The two begin to fight.

Deimos watches through his crystal ball. He tells how he found that Tinder was Morgan’s long lost son and this seemed to be his plan. Kate decides that Deimos usefulness to her is done and tries to knife him. Only he turns her into a black mouse. Alysha manages to free herself and go to Tinder and Morgan who are fighting. The fight comes to what looks like a victory for Morgan as he stands triumphant over Tinder. Then he notices the watch that falls out of his pouch. This gives Tinder the time to run Morgan through with his sword. Alysha comes with the news that he is Morgan’s son. Later Deimos goes to Tara’s chamber to get his final revenge and is confronted with what looks like Morgan. Only it is Tinder dressed as Morgan. He pushes Deimos into a magical mirror that transports him far away. Tinder has an emotional reunion with his mother. There is a funeral for Morgan. At the end the mouse that was Kate is eaten by Shakira in her cat form.

So this was a very shocking issue. They actually killed Travis Morgan the main character of the Warlord. A character who was around for forty years, around two hundred issues, two revivals, a reboot, and numerous guest appearances in other DC titles. I don’t know if this was Grell deciding to kill off the character because he was bored with it or pressure from the editor to boost low sales with a younger new character. Either way I was not happy with the decision. I would have just liked to series to have a dignified cancellation because the series only lasted another four issues. So it didn’t succeed in boosting sales.

What I really didn’t like was how he died. It was a very pointless death. Why would Morgan and Tinder fight to the death. Just didn’t make sense. It was great that Tinder finally found out he was the lost son Joshua. I didn’t care for the how. I was not happy with this at all.

THE WARLORD #11

“The Once and Future Warlord”
Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

Deimos and Kate are at the castle plotting the Warlord’s downfall. Back in Shamballah Ewan McBane finally gets his interview with Morgan. So Morgan tells of how when he came back from his brief trip to Machu Picchu he found Tara gone. So he traveled to her and found out he had a son. Only the son was kidnapped by Deimos. Deimo’s used the Atlantean science to accelerate the son’s growth then took over the boy’s mind. In the fight Morgan kills his son which was what killed his dream for a free Skartaris.

After the interview they see a creature attack Jennifer. They manage to save her and find out that Deimos is behind the assault. Naturally Morgan goes after him. He is accompanied by his friends Shakira, Machiste, Mariah and McBane. At Castle Deimos they find it deserted except for an old man with a half burned face. He tells that Deimos and Kate left for Shamballah on a dragon. In Shamballah the dragon is attacking the city. Under cover of the attack Deimos and Kate go to the underground computer and activate the laser cannons that were hidden in the city.

Well another issue both written and drawn by Grell. Beautiful full page illustrations are used to once again tell the story very effectively. Deimos is now back to his dickweed self. Morgan actually is happy to have him back. He craves the excitement and challenge and gleefully goes off to what is obviously a trap. Only he fell for the trap in leaving his loved ones behind for Deimos to threaten. A good issue to introduce new readers to his backstory and give us old fans a reminder of what has happened. Sadly the next issue will see a very sad tragedy to the saga of the Warlord.

THE WARLORD #10

“Next…”
Writer: Mike Grell
Artist: Chad Hardin

At castle Deimos Kate Archer is trying to get Deimos to remember his past. She has successfully used the Mask of Life to create a new clone that transfers all the memories to the new body. Only Deimos has no memory and seems to have no interest in learning. Ewan McBane is continuing his documentary on Skartaris and Travis Morgan. This time he interviews Mariah, Machiste and Shakira. The first two give some background on themselves while Shakira of course still remains a mystery. All tell Ewan that they he has to ask Morgan if they want to know the man. Tinder is offered the leadership of the various tribes and factions in the Outlands. He consults Morgan who recommends against taking on any leadership role. Back to Castle Deimos Kate is impatient with Deimo’s learning and slashes his face with a sword. This gets Deimos angry and possibly brings back his memories.

So another low key issue. The big reveal is Deimos is back but not quite there mentally. Although that seems to be changing. Otherwise some more background info on the supporting characters to refresh our memories. Tinder seems to be taking on the mantle of leadership. He seems to be more suited to it than his father. Another excellent issue with plenty of beautiful artwork and a story that winds toward something big.

THE WARLORD #9

“Then…Now…”
Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

Morgan and Shakira are hunting down the remnants of Kate Archer’s brigands. They track them into a swamp. There are six but two decide they are no match and run off. This leaves four which is very easy for Morgan to take them down. So they head back to Shamballah. There Ewan McBane has decided to do a documentary about Skartaris. He interviews Tinder, Jennifer and Tara. Tinder and Alysha find time to get together and Tinder tells of his childhood. At the end Kate Archer returns to Castle Deimos and helps out a revived Deimos for the clone machine.

So this was a laid back issue. Morgan and the others have time to relax. Ewan decides to do a video log about Morgan so we will get some more history. Which is a good idea I suppose for new readers. Some romances are developing between Ewan and Jennifer and Tinder and Alysha. Also gives us the foreboding of having Deimos return so we know that this is the calm before the storm. I really enjoy Grell doing the artwork on his title. He has a way with showing the story through images with a minimum of exposition or dialogue.

THE WARLORD #8

“The Forgotten Conclusion”
Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

Morgan has to fight off some beastmen that are attacking him and the girl. While he fights we get a flashback to before Morgan lost his memory. Shakira went off to hunt as Morgan and his men waited for the brigands lead by Kate Archer. They explore the ruins and discuss what the statues of the gods were. The discussion turns philosophical about the meaning of life. Then the brigands attack them and Morgan is the only survivor.

Back to the present and Morgan has defeated the beastmen. The woman he was defending is covered in blood and laughing. She says that she picked Morgan to be her champion. That she was with him since he was born and we get a montage of Morgan’s past. Morgan remembers and the woman kisses him. Then Morgan is woke up by Shakira. She came back from hunting and found him. So the two ride off with the woman looking on.

Well this was a fascinating issue. It was sort of used to give the readers a refresher about Morgan. It was well done with the soldiers that were with Morgan being the boisterous and rowdy bunch of men you would expect of warriors. Yet they display a true insight into the nature of life. The woman while never named is obviously Death. Morgan has run into her before and her speech was identical to the one give before. She just had a change of color to her hair. This introspective story with beautiful artwork by Grell himself make this a winner.

THE WARLORD #7

“The Forgotten”
Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

Morgan is wounded after a battle where he is the sole survivor. Laughter rouses him from his injury and he finds some men chasing a beautiful white haired girl. Naturally Morgan intervenes and rescues her. The strain of the fight causes him to pass out. He comes to with the girl watching over him. Morgan has no memory of who he is but the girl does. She tells him that he is the Warlord and a great hero. Morgan has some glimpses of his past life but his memories still doesn’t reveal his identity. The girl leads him around the ruins and tells of their history. At the end a group of savages attack them.

So this issue was a treat. Finally get one written and drawn by Grell. Even the cover was done by him just like in the good old days. The story was simple but interesting. It was told with a minimum of dialogue and exposition. The drawing told most of it. And the art was beautiful with many two page spreads and panoramic views. Sometimes you just need to appreciate beautiful artwork.