by Anthony Perconti
in Issue 84, January 2019
December 2018
Let me pose to you a philosophical quandary. What if God were a super-villain? What if he collected the shattered vestiges of the multiverse and re-forged it according to his own twisted intellect and desires? This exact question was the high concept premise behind Marvel’s 2015 Secret Wars miniseries. By harnessing the vast energies of the Beyonders, Dr. Doom was able to coalesce the remains of the multiverse into a gigantic celestial body and set himself up as sovereign absolute, God Emperor Doom. The planet known as Battleworld consists of separate domains made up from the remnants of parallel universes, governed by appointed Barons and Baronesses. One of these domains is a floating landmass composed of the fragments from several magic realms, coupled with hyper advanced science, an island whose topography is constantly shifting and reforming, whose denizens include ( but not limited to) dragons, Eyemazons, wizards, Man-Things, Hawksquatches and gun toting ogres. Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to the domain known as Weirdworld. Warzones!, collects the five issue miniseries that makes up volume zero of this title. This offering differentiates itself from other company wide event tie in collections by veering 180 degrees away from the standard superhero fare. At its heart, Weirdworld is a gonzo sword and sorcery comic that throws everything at the wall to see what sticks. It’s pretty obvious just by cracking this book open at random that writer Jason Aaron and artist Mike Del Mundo are having a ball in bringing this story to life. If you’re the type of reader that has any interest in obscure Bronze Age comics, quest narratives, defunct 1980’s action figure lines, and steel thewed barbarians hacking their way through monstrous hordes, then this is the book for you.
Right out of the gate, on page one, Aaron and Del Mundo drop the reader into the midst of the action. We are introduced to a blood drenched Arkon, Lord of Warlords, Imperion of Polemachus, on a river fighting for his life against a pack of tentacled horrors, Squidsharks. Arkon’s life has devolved into a waking nightmare, an endless loop of trekking, sleeping and killing. Severed from his home realm of Polemachus, Arkon is trapped in the highly inimical environment of Weirdworld. The only thing that keeps him going, his singular purpose in life is to find the way back home. The river ends in a waterfall, plunging into an abyss below the island. Arkon, having dragged himself to shore, barely surviving this encounter, collapses and weeps in desperation. He has overcome so many challenges, has done so many unimaginable things in order to survive another day that the passage of time has become meaningless to him; he is now Arkon the Utterly Lost. Once the emotion has passed, he takes a moment to inspect his most valuable possession, a hand drawn map of Weirdworld. The map takes up an entire page and looks like the doodle you would find on the back cover of a bored sixth graders science class notebook. Definitely lo-fi, and yet, the craftsmanship that Del Mundo exhibits in filling in the details shines through. Just check out some of these crazy place names (and their corresponding illustrations); The Pink River of Death, Cannibal Convoy, Motherboard Mountain, Caves of the Devil Dino’s.
No sooner has he pulled himself together from his emotional breakdown than a new threat presents itself; a crew of Gun-Ogres in hot pursuit of a dragon. This crew is intent on capturing the flying behemoth. Arkon is quick to comment on their advanced weaponry; “Primitive beasts. They usually fight with little more than sticks and…”(1 ) And on the next page, when the Gun-Ogres make contact with the ‘pink-skin’, one of the gunners makes almost the exact same comment about the barbarian. This is Aaron’s sly observation on the universal trait of warfare that each side of the conflict tends to dehumanize its enemies. Arkon, unfazed by the sight before him, presses the element of surprise and charges the dragon, kills the Gun-Ogre that is tethered to it and hitches a ride on its back, flying free. The remaining artillery crew opens fire on Arkon, vowing to make it ‘rain pink’, yet taking care not to hit the beast. Both rider and beast make their getaway. Arkon’s hopes rise on his stroke of good fortune on finding the dragon. With this new ally, he can traverse the surface of the island at a much faster rate and find Polemachus in no time. Unfortunately, this plan is not meant to be. In midflight, the dragon chomps up a floating creature that proves to be bait. Both Arkon and his steed are reeled down underwater and captured. To his shock, his captors are an advanced race of sub aquatic apes, decked out in high pressure submersible suits. The cliffhanger conclusion of issue one; captured by the simian slavers of Apelantis! This comic just doesn’t give a damn; as the series progresses, Jason Aaron’s scripts just go further off the rails. It seems that he is playing a game of creative chicken with his editor, adding in more and more weird stuff to see who will blink first. It’s endearing to see this level of creative freedom within the pages of a big corporate comic, especially considering the subject matter; there is not a pair of tights or cape to be had in the entire series. A book like Weirdworld could have easily fit into the creator owned stable of a company like Image, albeit with original, non-copyrighted characters of course. And yet the cover sports a Marvel logo; pretty daring considering the consistent trend of non superhero books selling low numbers.
I don’t want to give away too much of the plot and take away the fun of discovery, but let me say that the big bad of the story, the woman running this domain in Doom’s name is Morgan Le Fey. Her lieutenant, chief of the Magma Men is Moltar, hereditary enemy of the Prince of Crystallium. For old school Marvel Zombies these names might ring a bell. They may have even played with these action figures back when the Atari 2600 was at the cutting edge of gaming technology. Baroness Le Fey also has at her disposal a barbarian slayer that she sics on the Imperion. This man once hailed from a version of 20th century Earth, but after long term exposure to the deadly environs of Weirdworld, evolved into the deadliest killer in the land. This character that Aaron (re)introduces had his own short lived eight issue series that ran from 1975 to 1976. This was a lost world comic akin to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pellucidar series or the Saturday morning kids show Land of the Lost. Interestingly enough, at approximately the same time, DC Comics began publishing their own lost world series that ran from 1976 to 1988. The Warlord was the brainchild of writer and artist Mike Grell and unlike the Marvel foray into this genre it moved copies on a monthly basis for over a decade. Aaron deserves credit in dusting off a third rate character from a virtually forgotten series from the mid 1970’s and making him palatable; in fact, you could say that this character has been redeemed.
That is not to say that the character of Arkon is an A-lister either. The Imperion of Polemachus has been knocking around the Marvel Universe since 1970, his first appearance being in The Avengers number seventy five. Polemachus is an extra dimensional world whose culture glorifies the arts of war and holds the practitioners thereof in high esteem. Arkon, being the baddest barbarian in a world full of them, was able to ascend the throne of Polemachus and crowned the Lord of Warlords. His stamina, strength, agility and healing capabilities are in the superhuman range. In addition to being a master of the sword, Arkon also carries a quiver of stylized lightning bolt shaped projectiles that he launches with deadly accuracy. This character is reminiscent of Robert E. Howard’s Conan, as he was portrayed in the long running Marvel books, Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan; surly, tough as hell and not the deepest of thinkers. He is certainly not the Conan that was penned by Howard that appeared in the pages of Weird Tales. You could substitute Conan for Arkon and the adventure would still work, minus the more outré elements of this comic. Imagine if Jim Starlin at the pinnacle of his psychedelic creativity was tapped to write a monthly sword and sorcery title and collaborated with Steve Rude on finished art; that is the essence of this Marvel Universe junk drawer of a comic book. Mike Del Mundo is the ideal artist to draw all of the demented stuff seeping out of Jason Aaron’s brain; his beautifully rendered line work combined with his choice of a vibrant, day glow color palate that practically pops off the page makes Warzones! a visually unique reading experience. If you are a fan of trippy sword and sorcery fiction (with a dash of crazy super-science mixed in) then whet your blade, strap on your pistol and watch your back. There are monsters about; in the words of Arkon the Magnificent; “Welcome to Weirdworld. Now run!”(2)
Postscript- December 2018
When I initially wrote this article, Marvel had not made public the creative team that was to helm the re-acquired Conan property. I just wanted to follow up this book review by saying that Jason Aaron will be writing the ongoing series, Conan the Barbarian, with Mahmud Asrar on art duties and Esad Ribic on covers. No question that this property is in good hands. Perhaps the 2015 miniseries served as a demo reel for Aaron in landing this dream assignment, who knows? But if the material presented in Warzones! is any indication, it is safe to say that the new Conan book will be a monthly treasure trove of sword and sorcery goodness for fans of this type of material.
END NOTES:
- Aaron, Jason. Del Mundo, Mike. Weirdworld: Warzones!. Marvel Worldwide Inc. , Marvel Entertainment LLC, New York, 2015. Page 12.
- Aaron, Jason. Del Mundo, Mike. Weirdworld: Warzones!. Marvel Worldwide Inc. , Marvel Entertainment LLC, New York, 2015. Page 112.
©January 2019, Anthony Perconti
Anthony Perconti lives and works in the hinterlands of New Jersey with his wife and kids. He enjoys good stories across many different genres and mediums.