Warlord #115 (March 1987)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Art by Ron Randall

Synopsis: Crossing the desert on the way to Kaambuka, a merchant caravan is attacked by “the Warlord and his blood-mad horde.” The survivors of the caravan are taken off to the Citadel of Fear. The Citadel’s master is Desaad, chief torturer of Darkseid, who’s indulging his sadism at the expense of the captives. When the technological illusion drops away, the Warlord is revealed to actually be Y’smalla, the former Vashek assassin. She allied herself with Desaad in her quest for vengeance.

Meanwhile, the real Morgan and his companions are returning from the castle of V’Zarr Hagar-Zinn--still without a means to save Jennifer. He’s also not looking forward to facing his wife Tara and telling her he’s now in love with Mariah! Shakira is disgusted with him and rides off on her own.

Mariah and Morgan ride into a town where Morgan is immediately attacked. The two are taken captive and the townsfolk plan to burn Morgan alive! A bystander rushes to a horse to ride to Shamballah and tell Queen Tara.

He arrives just in time to see a person with the appearance of Morgan shift into the form of Desaad and kidnap the Queen. The man doesn’t want to tangle with a sorcerer, but he rides back to the town, arriving in time to save Morgan and Mariah from being burned at the stake. (It’s a good thing Shamballah and this town are so close.)

This helpful fellow leads Morgan and Mariah to the Citadel of Fear where Desaad is already subjecting Tara to his tortures. Morgan may be in love with Mariah (thanks to a magic charm Mariah bought) but he feels honor bound to save Tara. Mariah, for her part, is starting to feel guilty about manipulating him.

Y’smalla warns Desaad that Morgan is coming. The Apokolipsian villain plans a reception for the Warlord. When Morgan arrives, he sees Tara reclining in sybaritic indulgence with wine and two guys. It’s all an illusion courtesy of Darkseid. Morgan wavers for a moment, but then V’Zarr Hagar-Zinn’s magic ring kicks in:


Desaad knows the jig is up. He tries to blast Morgan but hits Mariah instead. Morgan returns fire with his pistol, destroying some of Desaad’s machinery. The torturer decides his work here is done and makes his escape. Desaad’s device is falling apart--and both Tara and Mariah are in harm’s way! Who will Morgan choose?

Morgan runs for Mariah, who suddenly has an attack of conscience. She throws the love charm in a nearby fire. She tells Morgan to save Tara. With the charm destroyed, Morgan makes an about face and runs to save his wife. A certain black cat bounds in and transforms into Shakira. She helps Mariah get to safety.

Our heroes are all safe, and Morgan and Tara are reunited. And Mariah:


Desaad leaves Skartaris, his mission to destroy the legend of the Warlord far from a complete success but not a total failure, either. He’s also left Y’smalla behind with tools to cause chaos as a parting shot.

Things to Notice:

• This issue is a Legends crossover.
• Morgan calls his beloved Mariah "youngster," too. That's even more odd than him calling Shakira that.
• It's strange that the loyal Shamballan so pivotal to this story goes unnamed.

Chana warrior.

Jaka manhunter.

Mondre Khan.

Sarista.

Warlord #114 (February 1987)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Art by Ron Randall

Synopsis: A peasant is getting hassled by the tax collector of Baron Kraag, when the Warlord shows up. He rallies the peasants then leads them in a charge on the Baron’s castle. His horse picks up a stone in it’s shoe, and the Warlord falls behind. The peasants ride into an ambush and are slaughtered. When the battle’s over, the Warlord collects his fee from the Baron.

Has Morgan turned evil? No, this Warlord activates a device and his disguise falls away. This is Desaad of Apokolips out to sully the legend of the Warlord.

Meanwhile, the real Morgan is trying to figure out what happened to the wizard V’Zarr Hagar-Zinn. He finds a scrap of the wizard’s robe and a piece of parchment. The parchment contains part of an incantation. Morgan and friends step into the waiting magic circle and:


Morgan and friends find themselves hanging from the hand of the wizard over a demon-pit of “weirdling ethers” that will turn their “physical bodies into vapors” to be huffed by demons. Once the demons have done that, they’ll have the power to invade Skartaris.

In the vicinity of Shamballah, Tara discovers the area of extreme aging is indeed expanding. She she’s a dinosaur age, die, and decompose to bones before her eyes. If Morgan doesn't get back with a cure soon, all Shamballah is at risk!

Back in the nether-realm, Morgan pulls an improbable maneuver that involves dropping them all toward the pit, but swinging out at the same time. Somehow, this works and soon their battling demons.


They make their way to some pudgy, winged reptile mounts. The wizard tells them they have to get back to the portal they came through to return to their world.

They fly out toward the portal with the demons right behind them. Morgan wants to stay behind and hold them off while the others get through, but V’Zarr says he should do it instead. Only Morgan’s heroism can save Skartaris from the coming threat. He magicks a ring into Morgan’s finger.

Morgan and the others fall through the portal. The wizard knows he won’t be able to follow them. He converts himself to pure magical energy, sacrificing himself to close the portal.

Meanwhile, Desaad disguised as Morgan is jumped by a Vashek adherent out for revenge. He’s surprised the Vashek is a woman--and he surprises her by laughing at her desire for revenge and suggesting they have an enemy in common.

Things to Notice:

• This issue is a Legends crossover.
• It seems a bit odd that Desaad is personally masquerading as the Warlord.

Warlord #113 (January 1987)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Art by Ron Randall

Synopsis: Shakira’s gathering firewood in a gloomy forest. She’s miffed at Morgan’s behavior ever since Mariah showed up. The two have been lovey dovey all the time, and it’s irritating her.

What bugs her even more is a tribe of cylopses that chase her back to camp, screaming for Morgan.

Meanwhile, leagues away, Tara (Morgan’s wife) plays nurse to the elderly Jennifer, reminding us of what the Morgan’s Quest storyline is about anyway: Morgan is looking for a cure for his daughter (by his first marriage) who was magically cursed with aging. What’s worse, the zone of aging has begun expanding from the meadow where Jennifer was found toward the city of Shamballah.

Morgan and friends quickly defeat the cyclops tribe. Then, Morgan and Mariah are quickly back to making out, and Shakira to being disgusted. What would digust Shakira even more if she knew is that Morgan’s new attraction to Mariah is all due to a magic love amulet.

While that’s going on, in a “agless edifice of otherwordly desgin overlooking the Greenfire Sea” a wizard peers into his smoking dish. He’s worried that evil forces from a tenth and previously unknown plane are out to get the one man who can save Skartaris from a coming threat. That man (of course) is the Warlord. The wizard hopes Morgan and his companions arrive soon.

In Kiro, King Machiste is having a conversation with a wizard:


The wizard tells Machiste he cast a spell to transport Mariah to the side of her beloved! Wrong answer.

In our world, Redmond, the CIA agent Morgan evaded in the Yucatan, is still trying to figure out what was going on. He “renditions” Doug Andrews (the hapless tourist Morgan saved from high tech Mayans) to get answers.

Finally (after 14 issues), Morgan and his gang reach the Greenfire Sea.


They don’t have long to bask in that accomplishment, as a flock of gargoyle creatures swoop down on them. Oh, and they’re gargoyle creatures that shoot energy beams out of their eyes! Luckily, our heroes have a protector: The wizard uses his power to block the gargoyle rays.

One of the creatures snatches up Mariah. Morgan throws Shakira his gun, then leaps at the creature with a action hero quip:


They manage to jump to safety as the creature falls into the Greenfire.

Morgan’s safe and the wizard’s relieved--but then a group of beam-shooting garogyles swoop down on him!

When Morgan and the others arrive at the tower, they find no wizard V’Zarr Hagar-Zinn. The place is trashed and there’s fresh blood on the floor--perhaps only an hour old, according to Mariah. Shakira angrily says they could have been here an hour earlier if Morgan and Mariah hadn’t been acting all hormonal.

Their argument is cut short by a peal of villainous laughter.
Things to Notice:

• For some reason, Fleisher holds off on identifying V'Zarr Hagar-Zinn until the very end.
• This is the last issue where before the DC Universe invades Skartaris. Next issue is a Legends crossover.

Warlord #112 (December 1986)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Art by Ron Randall

Synopsis: Machiste has regained the throne of Kiro and has the adulation of its people--all except Mariah. She can’t get Morgan off her mind and begins to hatch a plan to act on those yearnings.

In the inland sea, Morgan and Shakira are making good time in the stolen aqua-sled until they’re attacked by a sea monster. They eject from the sled after its canopy punches a hole in the monster’s head.

Our heroes wash up on shore. They’re only just getting their legs under them, when a group of horsemen attack. Morgan is knocked out and captured, while Shakira is mistaken for an abducted princess.

Mariah visits the swordsmith that made her first Skartarian blade and gets a replacement. On her way home, an old woman approaches her in the marketplace and offers her a love charm. She even says Mariah won’t have to pay for it unless it works for her.

Later, Mariah sneaks out of the bed while Machiste’s sleeping and heads out to find a way to get to Morgan. She visits a wizard:


After haggling, he casts a spell to transport her to Morgan.

Meanwhile, Morgan has been taken in chains back to the horseman’s city. There Shakira is greeted as Princess Orana, who was being held for ransom. Thinking quickly, Shakira tells them Morgan was one of the kidnappers but had a change of heart and helped her. She commands he be freed.

The real kidnappers, a Baron and his cronies, are perplexed as to how the princess could have returned. The Baron needed the princess alive to show him the location of her father’s treasure vaults, but he needed to keep her from her coronation, so he (the next in line of succession) could take the throne. The Baron has to of his lackeys ride out to check on the princess to see if this new arrival is an imposter. 

Morgan sees them go and gets curious, so he follows them. They go to the cave where they've got the princess stashed. She bashes one in the head with a stick, but they overpower her. When Morgan show’s up, the tables are turned. As expected, she looks a lot like Shakira.

As they ride back to the palace, she feels Morgan in on Baron Jergmav’s plan. Shakira’s in danger and is totally unaware. That is until the assassin’s attack. It’s not Princess Orana they’re up against, though:


Shakira runs out of the palace in cat form as Shakira and Orana are coming in. The assassin’s are on her heels. They accuse Morgan of being a warlock and Shakira his familiar. Morgan’s response:


Morgan makes short work of the assassins. The Baron tries taking Orana hostage, but Morgan just shoots him.

With Orana safely crowned, Shakira and Morgan ride out of the city. They haven’t gone far when they encounter a familiar figure on the road: Mariah. She shows Morgan the charm:



Things to Notice:

• This issue has a Watchmen ad on the cover.
• In the last few Fleisher issues (and this one) Morgan refers to Shakira as "youngster," which is odd.

Warlord #111 (November 1986)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Pencils by Ron Randall

Synopsis: Morgan and Shakira are flying above an inland sea with the flight belts stolen from Skyra III. They’re still on their quest to find the wizard that can save Jennifer.

Suddenly, their belts begin to fail. They plummet into the water below. Beneath the surface, danger is lurking:


Morgan fights the fishmen as long as he can, but unable to breath, he loses consciousness.

Meanwhile, Mariah and Machiste are fighting for their lives in a sewage drain against the forces of the usurper of Kiro. But there are other tensions, too:


Morgan wakes out among other humans in the undersea city of Arscana, founded by Atlantean dissidents and runaway slaves.It was pulse emissions of their energy dome that disrupted the flight belts, apparently. The Arscanans had managed to save Morgan, but Shakira is in the hands of their enemies, the Balskraks.


Morgan wants to go after her, but the Arscanans don’t want to let him. Given that he was using a flight belt of their former masters, they don’t really trust him. Morgan has to fight his way past them. He commandeers one of their undersea sleds and flees the city.

Meanwhile, Shakira has been given a breathing device by the Balskraks. Sure enough, they plan to sacrifice her to monstrous Kraarg--but Shakira’s just not into it:


She escapes the guards, but winds up in the throne room of their ruler!


One good thing comes of that: King Raznor thinks she’s too pretty to give to Kraarg. Unfortunately, he plans to have his surgeon’s turn her into a water-breather and keep her forever.

Morgan arrives but he’s captured, too. As predicted, the balskraks do with him what barbaric cultures always seem to do in Skartaris: They force him to fight a monster in an arena--Kraarg!


Morgan manages to cut off one of Kraarg’s eyestalks then kill him, but loses his weapon. The balskraks plan to mob Morgan in revenge, but Shakira escapes and brings Morgan a new trident. They battle their way back to the sled, barring a gate with the trident to deter their pursuers, and make their escape.

Meanwhile, Marriah and Machiste are captured and brought to N’Dosma. It turns out its a ruse though, and the real Machiste is disguised as one of the guards. He beats N’Dosma, then dispenses with the usurper--by throwing him out a window!

Things to Notice:

• The Arscanans don't really serve a purpose in the story beyond providing exposition--and they dress in pretty bad 1980s style.
• Shakira spends a fair amount of time lampshading the origins of the Balshrak and their ability to speak an intelligible language.