# Warlord (DC Comics)
**Warlord** is a sword-and-sorcery comic book character published by [DC Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/dc-comics), created by writer and artist [Mike Grell](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-grell) and introduced in *1st Issue Special* #8 (November 1975).[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2013000239.html) The hero is Travis Morgan, a [United States Air Force](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-air-force) lieutenant colonel and Vietnam veteran who crash-lands in Skartaris, a lost world at the hollow center of the Earth, and becomes a freedom fighter armed with a sword and a revolver.[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) • [3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) • [4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Created by / debut | Mike Grell (writer and artist); first appearance *1st Issue Special* #8, November 1975[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2013000239.html) • [5](https://www.dcuguide.com/Warlord_(Travis_Morgan)) |
| Alter ego | Travis Morgan, USAF lieutenant colonel and Vietnam veteran[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) • [3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) |
| Setting | Skartaris, a world inside the hollow Earth, reached through the polar opening[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) • [6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm) |
| Original series | 133 issues, January–February 1976 through January 1989; dated 1976–1988 by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian[7](https://www.dcuguide.com/Warlord_Title_Index) • [1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2013000239.html) |
| Grell's tenure | Wrote and illustrated the first 52 issues; Sharon Grell ghost-wrote #53–71[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) |
| Revivals | Six-issue miniseries (1992), ten-issue series (2006), and a 2009/10 series[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) • [1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2013000239.html) |
| Arch-foe | Deimos, a powerful mystic; the deadliest threat heroes faced in the first six issues of DC's 2015 *Convergence* event[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) |
| Status in continuity | Deceased; the character died in *Warlord* (2009 series) #12, dated May 2010[8](https://kapowhq.com/characters/the-warlord) |
## Publication history
**Try-out debut.** DC's *1st Issue Special* ran for 13 issues in 1974–1975 as an anthology that featured a different character each issue, testing their potential to headline their own comics.[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) Issue no. 8 introduced Grell's fantasy hero The Warlord, one of the few characters from the title to go on to his own comic, and of the 13 new series tried out there, *The Warlord was the only one that took off*.[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) • [6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm)
**The original run.** The ongoing series began with the January–February 1976 issue, whose lead story was "This Savage World", and ended with the January 1989 issue after 133 installments.[7](https://www.dcuguide.com/Warlord_Title_Index) Dating varies by source: the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian give 1976–1988, while Grell's own site counts the series as running "from 1975 until 1989", apparently including the *1st Issue Special* debut and the final issue's cover date.[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2013000239.html) • [2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) • [3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) Grell wrote and illustrated the first 52 issues; his then-wife Sharon ghost-wrote #53–71 while he drew the covers and concentrated on other books such as *Starslayer* and *Jon Sable, Freelance*.[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) DC also released several trade paperback editions of Warlord stories, and the character also appeared in *Warlord Annual*.[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2013000239.html) • [8](https://kapowhq.com/characters/the-warlord)
**Revivals.** The character returned in 1992 for a six-issue miniseries, in 2006 for a series that lasted 10 issues, and in a series that ran in 2009/10.[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) The 2006 revival was written by Bruce Jones with visuals by Bart Sears; it rebooted the character right from the moment he crash-landed in Skartaris and turned that world into an alien dimension tied in with established elements of the [DC Universe](https://www.edgepedia.org/dc-universe).[9](https://www.dc.com/comics/warlord-2006/warlord-1) • [6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm) The 2009 series marked Grell's return to the franchise, pairing his scripts and lushly painted covers with interior art by Joe Prado.[10](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-warlord-2009/the-warlord-1)
## Fictional character biography
Travis Morgan is a United States Air Force pilot and [Vietnam veteran](https://www.edgepedia.org/vietnam-veteran).[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) Grell's origin story makes Morgan an SR-71 spy pilot whose aircraft is damaged during a flight over Russia; as he attempts to return across the pole, he passes into the opening at the [North Pole](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-pole), which provides access to the world at the Earth's center.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) He crash-lands in Skartaris, a tropical underground realm blending science fiction and fantasy, where he becomes a nomadic, brutal warrior trained in combat by his future wife Tara.[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) • [4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/)
Morgan's chief adversary is Deimos, a powerful mystic.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) The DCU Guide lists his family as Rachel Morgan (first wife, deceased), Tara (second wife), Jennifer Morgan (daughter), Joshua (son), and Marie (sister); his daughter Jennifer came to Skartaris and became a sorceress.[5](https://www.dcuguide.com/Warlord_(Travis_Morgan)) • [6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm) Grell's site notes that Morgan deliberately avoids the cliché of becoming Skartaris' leader and imposing his values, preferring the role of an adventurer to that of a king.[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/)
The character's story reached an endpoint in Grell's 2009/10 return: Travis Morgan died dramatically during that series, in issue #12, dated May 2010.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) • [8](https://kapowhq.com/characters/the-warlord)
## Skartaris and the setting
Skartaris is presented as a world inside the hollow Earth, the stage for a modern man injected into a world of sword and sorcery.[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) Grell drew on the book *The Hollow Earth*, Jules Verne's *A Journey to the Center of the Earth*, and [Edgar Rice Burroughs](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgar-rice-burroughs)' Pellucidar, noting that by the turn of the twentieth century something like 85 or 86 books had speculated on the existence of a world within our world, the [Hollow Earth](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollow-earth) theory.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) The name Skartaris comes from the mountain peak in *Journey to the Center of the Earth* that points the way into the correct path through the volcano.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) Toonopedia describes Skartaris as a virtual clone of Burroughs' Pellucidar, right down to the polar opening, the central sun, and the dinosaurs.[6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm)
DC has varied the explanation over the decades. The 2006 revival, perhaps mindful of elementary physics, reimagined Skartaris as an alien dimension connected to the wider DC Universe.[6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm) The 2009 series returned to a hollow-Earth frame: at the Roof of the World in Tibet, a team of paleontologists and adventurers uncovers perfectly preserved dinosaur specimens and an impossible portal to Skartaris, an unbelievable country at the hollow center of the Earth.[10](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-warlord-2009/the-warlord-1)
## Supporting cast and villains
Tara trained Morgan in combat and became his wife.[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) DC promoted the 2009 return as reuniting readers with Tara, Shakira, Tinder, and the rest of the cast.[10](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-warlord-2009/the-warlord-1) In the 2006 reboot, the land of Shamballah is caught in the grip of the tyrant Brouis, with a prophecy of a liberator in the form of a displaced man of our time.[9](https://www.dc.com/comics/warlord-2006/warlord-1) Deimos, the mystic arch-foe of the original run, remained the character's signature villain into the 2010s.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/)
## Themes and influences
When Warlord debuted in 1975, the sword-and-sorcery genre enjoyed wide popularity, and [Marvel Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-comics), DC's competitor, had done well with its own version of [Robert E. Howard](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-e-howard)'s pulp hero [Conan the Barbarian](https://www.edgepedia.org/conan-the-barbarian).[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) Grell's original pitch was titled "Savage Empire", about an archaeologist transported to Atlantis; while DC publisher Carmine Infantino was on the telephone, Grell reworked it on the spot into The Warlord, starring an SR-71 spy pilot whose damaged plane enters the opening at the North Pole.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) The Edgar Rice Burroughs connection extended beyond Pellucidar: Grell for several years handled the Tarzan newspaper comic.[6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm) The character's design also reflects a deliberate choice against genre convention, keeping Morgan a wandering adventurer rather than a conqueror-king.[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/)
## By the numbers
The franchise's shape is easy to summarize in counts. *1st Issue Special* tested 13 new series in 1974–1975 and produced one long-term success.[2](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744) • [6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm) The flagship series ran 133 issues, of which Grell wrote and drew 52 and Sharon Grell ghost-wrote the next 19 (#53–71).[7](https://www.dcuguide.com/Warlord_Title_Index) • [3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) Three revivals followed, beginning with a six-issue miniseries and a ten-issue series, and the 2009/10 series ended with the issue in which Morgan died.[3](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/) • [8](https://kapowhq.com/characters/the-warlord) Around the core series, the character also appeared in *Warlord Annual*, and one appearance database counts 173 cataloged appearances across 259 Warlord-series issues.[8](https://kapowhq.com/characters/the-warlord)
## DC Universe ties and legacy
**Crossovers.** Toonopedia records guest appearances by Claw the Unconquered and The New Gods, the *Legends* crossover, a Travis Morgan run for U.S. president, and a posited connection between Skartaris and Dinosaur Island.[6](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm) In DC's 2015 *[Convergence](https://www.edgepedia.org/convergence-comics)* event, Travis Morgan appeared and his nemesis Deimos served as the most deadly threat the heroes faced for the first six issues.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) Outside his own title, the character appears frequently in *Green Arrow*, *Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe*, and *Danger Street*.[8](https://kapowhq.com/characters/the-warlord)
**Legacy.** After Grell's departure, many creators gave The Warlord a shot, yet none of these efforts managed to regain the popularity the book enjoyed while he was writing it; still, the characters stayed well liked enough that Morgan and Deimos appeared in *Convergence*.[4](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/) DC's own billing for the 2006 revival called Warlord "one of the greatest and longest-running sword-and-sorcery characters of all time".[9](https://www.dc.com/comics/warlord-2006/warlord-1)
## References
1. [Warlord (Fictitious character : DC Comics, Inc.), Library of Congress Authorities](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2013000239.html)
2. [DC 1st Issue Special (The Warlord), Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History](https://www.si.edu/object/dc-1st-issue-special-warlord%3Anmah_1449744)
3. [The Warlord, Mike Grell official site](https://www.mikegrell.com/thewarlord/)
4. [Creation Conversations: Mike Grell on Creating The Warlord and Convergence Villain Deimos, ComicBook.com](https://comicbook.com/comicbook/news/mike-grell-on-the-warlord/)
5. [Warlord (Travis Morgan), DCU Guide](https://www.dcuguide.com/Warlord_(Travis_Morgan))
6. [The Warlord, Don Markstein's Toonopedia](https://www.toonopedia.com/warlord.htm)
7. [Warlord Title Index, DCU Guide](https://www.dcuguide.com/Warlord_Title_Index)
8. [The Warlord (Travis Morgan) comics, Kapow HQ](https://kapowhq.com/characters/the-warlord)
9. [Warlord #1 (2006 series), DC.com official catalog](https://www.dc.com/comics/warlord-2006/warlord-1)
10. [The Warlord #1 (2009 series), DC.com official catalog](https://www.dc.com/comics/the-warlord-2009/the-warlord-1)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Film characters and fictional worlds › DC Comics characters › Justice League and other DC heroes › Titles J to W*
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