As I rapped about in my very first post, DC has finally reunited Mike Grell with his greatest creation, Travis Morgan, the Warlord. To say Ol' Groove is a little excited about it would be like saying Valerie Bertinelli is kinda cute. To celebrate the return of the real Warlord, I thought we'd take a look back at the original first issue, which picks up right after Travis Morgan's debut in First Issue Special #8. You can read that story right here. If you want the back-story of how Warlord came to be, check this out. And if you're interested in learning more about Warlord creator Mike Grell, Ol' Groove's got ya covered right here.
I've mentioned many times that the Warlord is my favorite original creation from Groovy Age DC. My love for sword and sorcery, fantasy, and science fiction--especially my love for Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter, were perfectly blended together and given vibrant life in the hands of "Iron Mike" Grell; it was like he created Travis Morgan's world just for me to enjoy. Warlord became one of DC's top-selling titles, it's staying power was proven when it survived the infamous "DC Implosion" of 1978 when DC was forced to cancel all but a handful of their comics. Dig it: Black Lightning, Firestorm, Steel, Ragman, Secret Society of Super Villains, 
Isis, Freedom Fighters, Kung Fu Fighter, Claw the Unconquered, Starfire, Star Hunters, the revivals of the New Gods, Mister Miracle, All-Star Comics, Showcase, Aquaman, and Challengers of the Unknown, and even long-running titles like Kamandi and Shazam! bit the dust. When the smoke cleared, all that was left of DC were the Superman and Batman families of titles, The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Jonah Hex, the Dollar Comics line, a few war and mystery titles...and Warlord. Grell's unique vision and style kept his creation alive during one of the most horrible spinner-rack purges of all time. He stuck with the title as writer/artist through issue 51 (August 1981), co-wrote (with his then-wife Sharon) and drew the covers for issues 52-71 (September 1981-May 1983), then went full-time to work on his Jon Sable, Freelance comic for First Comics.Hey, how 'bout we take a little break from our history lesson and read the comic?
Folks like Cary Bates, Dan Jurgens, Jan Duursema, Mike Fleisher, and a young Adam Kubert picked up where Grell left off and kept Warlord going strong for a few more years, but something more devastating than the "DC Implosion" hit. Crisis on Infinite Earths. Part of what made Warlord work so well was that Grell kept Travis Morgan and his friends away from the DC Universe. Skartaris was a world all its own. When the Crisis hit, the powers-that-were insisted that every DC comic be involved, including Warlord. When you have costumed folk like Power Girl showing up in Travis Morgan's world (even if you get Mike Grell to come back and do some covers), it's all over but the crying. Still, Warlord hung around for an unprecedented 133 issues, ending in the winter of 1988.Here's hoping the new series lasts longer than the original!
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