Broken Frontier

Pilot extraordinaire Travis Morgan finds himself crashing into a world ruled by sheer savagery and total barbarism.

The first thing I would like to say here is that this new series is not a continuation of the original Warlord series. So for all you continuity fanatics, I’m afraid you won’t be seeing good ol’ Travis Morgan continue his reign as the warrior supreme of Skartaris. Instead you will get a remake of that said original series but from a fresh perspective in the form of writer Bruce Jones and artist Bart Sears.

I quickly read the first issue hoping to find all those similar nuances that made the original series so great under the guidance of Mike Grell. Again a man with his stature needs no further introduction, since he’s reached the plateau of godhood as an artist/writer in my humblest of estimations. Anyhow, putting that obvious fact aside I was hoping to find much of his original input to be present here in this series, but sadly none of that is visible at all.

In fact, this is a much different take altogether, artistically at least. The writing here though is fairly reminiscent of the original, so that should appease longtime readers. I should also think younger audiences can enjoy this series much like the way the remake of Dawn of the Dead appealed to a younger audience, and that should help out with the sales on this series. I am digressing here, so let’s recap the events of this opening issue.

It begins with events unfolding simultaneously first with Travis Morgan preparing to test out flight with a new jet. He kisses his girlfriend and then heads out for his flight, and that’s flipped with a scene running along at the same time in Skartaris. Princess Tara wishes her beau-in-waiting (Jhan) a fond farewell as he goes out to do battle against the barbarian supreme Brovis from the city of Kolosis. Both scenes imply immediate danger lies ahead for both Travis and Jhan, and it doesn’t take long for both of these events to quickly unfold.

First, Jhan is killed in battle against Brovis leaving the Kingdom of Shamballah defenseless against his merciless appetites, and that’s coupled with Travis’ jet going down mysteriously into uncharted territory. So what does this imply for the second half of the story? Well, it doesn’t take long for anyone to realize the city is in immediate peril now that Brovis has killed off its greatest champion. So with the city in a vulnerable position, Princess Tara pleads openly to the great Cassus, the warlord prince of the gods, for protection, and miraculously Travis blows into Skartaris. But are her prayers really being answered here? That’s the question that begs to be answered next issue.

So for those of you returning for the next issue, I think you’ll be in for a treat with the writing of Bruce Jones. As far as I am concerned he’s consistent enough as a writer to keep readers in suspense, and I think there’s enough here (in this issue) to warrant a return visit, at least from me. I enjoyed the pacing and set-up thus far, so I guess for me, I am keen to see what he does with this series since it’s a reinvention of the original. Again, only time will tell here.

Now as far as the art goes, I’m not sure I really liked the current style of Bart Sears this time around. In the past I have liked his work on The Path for Crossgen and Eclipso and JL Europe for DC, but for this new series I have noticed that he’s toned down his style to adopt a different approach. I am not sure if this is a conscious act on his part to change his art, but I was hoping for similar work he was doing on Captain America & the Falcon for Marvel. I’m not saying his work is bad here for any reason, I just thought that it should be more dynamic given that this is a sword and sorcery concept. Perhaps it will improve as the series moves forward.

I think overall this series is off to a decent start, even if it is following in the foot steps of the great Mike Grell. Again, I have nothing against revamps per se, but I am hoping that Jones and Sears tackle this new approach with a fresh perspective. It’s always good to stay faithful to the source material, but trying something different always helps too.