The Warlord

U.S. Air Force pilot Travis Morgan flew his SR-71 through a polar vortex and crashed in Skartaris, a savage subterranean world of perpetual sunlight hidden within the Earth's core. Armed with his military skills and a .44 AutoMag, he fought to survive—and eventually rose as the legendary Warlord of that ancient, dinosaur-filled realm.

Few Bronze Age creations feel as purely adventurous as The Warlord, who burst onto the scene in 1976 courtesy of the singular Mike Grell — a character so compelling he earned his own eponymous series right out of the gate and never really let go, with a publishing presence stretching across nearly five decades to the present day. A DC original through and through, The Warlord has shared pages with some of the publisher's most iconic figures — Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, even Clark Kent himself — while carving out a distinct corner of the DC Universe vivid enough to earn a dedicated entry in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe. With 168 catalog appearances, two collector-recognized key issues, and a footprint that reaches into Green Arrow territory, this is a character with real staying power and genuine Bronze Age soul. If you love the era when DC was swinging for the fences with bold, genre-bending concepts, The Warlord is essential reading.