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This title will end with issue 16, so the current storyline, about the son of Travis Morgan taking his father’s place as The Warlord, will be the last for now. I’m sorry to see it go, I think Mike Grell’s art is looking as good as ever when he does it all himself, as on issue 15, and when he doesn’t it looks pretty good, too. The writing was a little rocky at first, but then fell into a good rhythm for the last 10-12 issues. Why didn’t it sell better? My theory is the market for it is too spread out. When the original series came out in the 1970s there were far fewer comics being published, and only a handful of them fell into the “sword and sorcery” category, with CONAN being the main one. Grell combined the tropes of that genre with Edgar Rice Burrough’s “Pellucidar” stories of a world inside our own, added some relevance with his fighter pilot hero, and readers loved it. Now there are so many other comics dividing their attention, not to mention games along similar lines, I think it got lost in the crowd. Too bad.

Though Travis Morgan is gone, he’s fathered another child, Morgana, a girl baby with powerful magic who helps save her brother Joshua in a battle with a dragon that turns out to be something else entirely. A “Chariots of the Gods” storyline develops, but there’s also a fun encounter with a hippogryph in issue 15 that shows off Grell’s art and love of action perfectly. If you’re looking for grim and gritty, look elsewhere, this is heroic action with a fantastic flair, and recommended. Get it while you can.