Monday, July 13, 2015

Greetings from Skartaris: "The Iron Devil" by Mike Grell

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! By issue fandom was really digging Mike Grell's Warlord! DC's most successful sword-and-science mag was definitely cutting edge--sexier, more violent, faster paced, and more creator-driven than most any full-color mag on the stands at the time. Guys like Teen Groove ranked Warlord high on the list of favorite mags--and t'was most definitely my favorite DC mag of the time. You'll see why when you dig into Grell's "The Iron Devil" from Warlord #7 (March 1977)!

















And did'ja dig the return of Machiste and the sort-of-homage to Michal Moorcock's Stormbringer? 

Oh, and if Travis' dialogue about how time works in Skartaris on page 7, panel three bugs you as much as it has a lot of fandom over the years, here's the skinny--and correct dialogue--according to Iron Mike, himself:

 "...Due to an editorial error or a lettering error that no one caught, one of my lines was messed up and the explanation was almost completely wrong. The line said that while Mariah was relaxing in her bath, Travis Morgan had slept once and ate twice. The line was printed as slept twice and ate twice.”

Thanks to mikegrell.com and their reprint of Robert Greenburger's 1983 interview with Iron Mike (from Comics Scene #9) for the above quote!
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5 comments:

  1. J_D_La_Rue_67July 13, 2015 at 5:26 AM

    Oh no! She killed Conan !

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  2. OLGERD VLADISLAVJuly 13, 2015 at 6:26 AM

    Thanks a lot ! , a great comic, a favourite of mine.With a little cameo of a look-a-like "Conan" , the barbarian who is killed by the gun. ;)
    Mike Grell was a really great artist in the 70's

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  3. johnlindwallJuly 23, 2015 at 1:58 AM

    Another great Warlord issue! These early ones were special in the Mike Grell was handling all of the art chores. So Sweet! And gory! This shocked me as a kid and I loved it. I do not remember that thing about time being wonky in Skartaris... seems like it would be hard to keep your dental appointments!

    Those spreads are amazing! I distinctly remember that zipatone skull overlay on that 1-page battle spread! So cool!

    Thanks for keeping the Warlord love going! I am really loving re-reading these terrific stories.

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  4. Dave RyanMarch 25, 2019 at 8:00 AM

    For easy navigation, here's a link to Groove's post of the next issue, WARLORD 8, cover-dated Sept 1977: http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2015/09/greetings-from-skartaris-city-in-sky-by.html

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  5. Dave RyanMarch 31, 2019 at 12:43 PM

    Did anyone else notice one of the attackers in pages 2-5 gives us Grell's version of CONAN THE BARBARIAN? After that, I'm surprised Grell didn't do a story for Marvel, in either CONAN or SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. But I suppose Grell had his hands full with the work he was doing in those years.

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