Showcase Presents: Warlord Vol. 1

I've collected many DC Showcase and Marvel Essential titles only to discover that their charm is lost on an older, more jaded reader. I've also noticed that many series involve a painful slog through the first couple-dozen issues where the writer had yet to find his legs. Neither are the case here.Mike Grell's Warlord starts off strong and then only gets better. Travis Morgan rarely feels like a cardboard cutout hero with a big lantern jaw. He's a canny adventurer, articulate and pragmatic. It's evident that this is a writer who actually knows about weapons and tactics, unlike so many writers who base their ideas on the contrivances they've seen in movies and other comics.Unlike many wandering heroes of sword-and-sorcery tales, the Warlord boasts a supporting cast of fleshed-out characters. Grell created formidable females--Tara and Mariah--that were deadly warriors rather than helpess objects long before it became an obligatory cliche of politcial correctness. His fellow warrior Machiste serves as a foil with his more down-to-earth, self-interested point of view. And what's a great hero without a worthy nemesis? The arch-wizard Deimos menaces Morgan throughout the series, seemingly always ready to summon some gargantuan demon for Morgan to outmaneuver.All of this and Grell's magnificant art. His penchant for double-page panoramas had a great deal to do with the comic's appeal in its day, as it delivered a lavish spectacle you simply couldn't get anywhere else. The absence of color is a pity.

One of the things I love about Amazon. I had the DC Blue Ribbon edition of The Warlord when I was a kid. It was definitely one of my favorite reads. The Art is excellent especially considering that it's black and white. The stories are classic, but given a nice wrinkle H.G Wells or as someone said Burroughs. In this age of omnibus DC is not doing true comic book fans service by offering a Omnibus series for the first 133 issues..If you have 20 bucks to spare or have been influenced by the recent spat of movies it would do you well to add this to your collection.

Sold amazingly well when it was first published but the interest for sword and sorcery graphic stories seem to have fallen off- as various reboots for the character didn't last- so if you want to see it this reprint is one of few options. Originally the Warlord story had a solid beginning middle and ending- a rarity in this format; but it hasn't been reprinted completely as of December 2015. In color or otherwise.

I love Mike Grells Warlord. The artwork is amazingly detailed. This B/W volume is great

When writer/artist Mike Grell set out to do a swords & sorcery epic he threw in everything including the kitchen sink. Air Force pilot Travis Morgan crash lands over the North Pole and he finds himself in a hollow world populated by monsters, wizards, barbarians, aliens, mutants, sexy ladies and lost civilizations.Promptly dressing himself in a loincloth, skull shoulder pad and furry boots he and a variety of scantly clad women start killing anything that gets in their way. As Grell starts each issue "In the savage world of Skartaris, life is a constant struggle for survival. here, beneath an unblinking orb of eternal sunlight, one simple law prevails: if you let your guard down for an instant you will soon be very dead."Grell's art is fantastic throughout and the black and white reprinting is very clear.But one warning, there's no real plot to this series. After a while it feels like a bad D&D campaign made up entirely of random encounters. Each one is interesting but they don't add up to much. Still it's fun, it's got strong men, sexy women, evil monsters and true love. What more do you want?

WARLORD AND MIKE GRELL WHAT A COMBINATION ! I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A FAN OF MIKE GRELL AND HAVE FOLLOWED THE WARLORD SERIES BACK IN THE 70'S AND WAS THRILLED TO SEE D.C.BRING THE SERIES BACK IN SHOWCASE. HOPE TO SEE MORE WARLORD IN SHOWCASE AS WELL AS JONAH HEX, THE SGT. ROCK SERIES HAS SOLD WELL AND IS ALWAYS A GOOD READ !

A great way to read one of my favorite Mike Grell works.

It was what I wanted. Excellent condition.