BEACH BUM COMICS : ENTER THE LOST WORLD OF

The Warlord, the beginning of the series that defined "Iron" Mike Grell, while working at DC Comics. The beginning of becoming a heavy duty Grell fan.

The Warlord is Travis Morgan, a USAF lieutenant colonel who crash landed in Skartaris, a world inside the hollow Earth. He is a modern man injected into a world of sword & sorcery. The character avoids a bad cliché by not becoming Skartaris’ leader and attempting to impose his values on it. Morgan enjoys the role of an adventurer far more than that of a king.

Travis Morgan is a brilliant military strategist and leader, a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, a superb marksman with a gun and an extraordinary swordsman.

1st Issue Special #8
"Land of Fear"
First appearance of Lt. Colonel Travis Morgan, The Warlord.
Script and art by Mike Grell.
"The Story Behind the Story; The Dossier on Mike Grell"
Continued in The Warlord #1.

100 pages! This is one dynamite digest folks!

DC Comics reprinted several early stories from The Warlord in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #10. This digest size collection included a new painted wraparound cover by Mike Grell, an introduction and text article on the man behind The Warlord.

The Warlord: The Savage Empire TP
A new painted cover by Mike Grell.
Reprints most of First Issue Special #8, with Warlord, Tara and Deimos, with a new story in the beginning and ending.
Reprints the first 12 Warlord stories.

A few of my favorite back-up features in the series were Jack Kirby's OMAC series, begun by Jim Starlin, featured in issues #37-39 while #42-47 were by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, Greg Larocque & Vince Colletta. Arak, Son of Thunder, created by Roy Thomas and Ernie Colón, first appeared in a special insert in The Warlord #48. Claw the Unconquered appeared in a two-part backup feature in issues #48-49 by Jack C. Harris and Thomas Yeates.

The Warlord appeared in the animated Justice League Unlimited episode "Chaos at the Earth's Core" voiced by Paul (CSI) Guilfoyle.

Several of the characters from The Warlord became action figures in a line called "Lost World of The Warlord" from Remco. Travis Morgan was one of the figures along with Deimos, Machiste, Mikola Rostov, Arak & Hercules.

Here's some Sable in your eye!

"Iron" Mike deserves his nickname, he's a workhorse, with a lot of great comics to be credited for. Another favorite of mine is Jon Sable, Freelance, of which I still have an ashcan copy of the first issue.When he came out with the Sable novel, I was ecstatic.