Warlord #18
Published and © by DC, February 1979
Title: “The Quest: Part III: Bloodmoon”
Synopsis: Tara and Morgan escape a carnivorous dinosaur but soon find themselves captured as breeding stock for a dying alien race.
Writer: Mike Grell
Penciler: Grell
Inker: Vince Colletta
Review: This issue marks the first real misstep for Warlord. The main plotline – Tara and Morgan’s quest to rescue their infant son from Deimos – is back-burnered again, this time by an ill-fitting alien-abduction plot. This series has often mixed and matched fantasy and sci-fi tropes with great skill; here, the seams are showing. But the bigger problem is the art: After two issues of mostly doing no harm (see reviews of Warlord #16 and #17), Vince Colletta wreaks havoc with Mike Grell’s pencils. There are decent panels, but the overall effect is a rough, muddy sludge. Grell’s work deserved better.
Grade: C+
Cool factor: Far less cool here than usual.
Not-so-cool factor: Vince Colletta has already overstayed his welcome.
Character quotable: “You are aboard a starship of the planet Alces Shirasi!” – Bornaa, alien sex offender
Editor’s note: This review was written Feb. 22, 2023.
