Skartaris

Skartaris

Skartaris map from The Warlord Annual #4 (1985)
Art by Pat Broderick and Bob Smith
Notable characters The Warlord
Machiste
Shakira
Deimos
First appearance 1st Issue Special #8 (November 1975)
Publisher DC Comics

Skartaris is a fictional Hollow Earth fantasy setting created by Mike Grell for the sword and sorcery comic book The Warlord, published by DC Comics. Skartaris debuted in 1st Issue Special #8 (November 1975), where the character Travis Morgan, a U.S. Air Force pilot, discovers a passage into this world through the Earth's North Pole. Subsequent to that first issue, the Warlord series tells of Morgan's adventures in Skartaris.

Publication history

According to Mike Grell, creator of Skartaris and The Warlord, "the name comes from the mountain peak Scartaris that points the way to the passage to the earth’s core in Journey to the Center of the Earth."[1]

While Grell never drew a map of Skartaris during his tenure on the book, one was created towards the end of the original volume's run, and the illustration appeared in The Warlord Annual #4 (1985). In an interview from Comic Scene in 1983, he says: "I did things like moving my character around the countryside; I never drew a map so I could move him from one side of Skartaris to the other just for the sake of the story."[2] In a later interview with Comic Book Resources Grell said, "Anything that can happen in fantasy happens in the lore and it’s one of the reasons I always refused to draw a map of Skartaris. Year after year after year went by, and I was always hounded by the editors, 'When are you going to have a map?' The reason I refused was because once you draw a map, you establish boundaries. And why would you want to put boundaries on your imagination?"[3]

History

Skartaris is essentially a translation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar into the graphic medium, with elements of Jules Verne and half a dozen other fictional Hollow Earth settings,[1] and the admixture of magic and the Atlantis myth. In Grell's concept, as in Burroughs', the Earth is a hollow shell with Skartaris as the internal surface of that shell. Skartaris is accessible to the surface world via a polar opening allowing passage between the inner and outer worlds. There are also various tunnels connecting the interior world with the surface. Skartaris is lit by a miniature sun suspended at the center of the hollow sphere, so it is perpetually overhead wherever one is in Skartaris. The miniature sun never changes in brightness, and never sets; so with no night or seasonal progression, the natives have little concept of time. There is however, a "moon" that orbits the sun in a random way, resulting in certain areas of Skartaris being covered in darkness from time to time. The events of the series suggest that time is elastic, passing at different rates in different areas of Skartaris and varying even in single locales.

Skartaris is populated by primitive people of various levels of culture ranging from the primitive to medieval, with the most advanced inhabiting city state monarchies such as Shamballah (based on the mythical Tibetan realm of Shambhala), the home of Morgan's principal love interest Tara. The practice of magic is well developed, numerous sorcerers being known, usually antagonistic to each other and to Morgan; the most prominent is Deimos, his main antagonist. Remnants of the super-scientific technology of Atlantis can also be found. Skartaris is overrun by a variety of prehistoric creatures from all geological eras, notably dinosaurs.

Most early issues of the comic characterize the setting with the following tag phrase: "In the savage world of Skartaris, life is a constant struggle for survival. Here, beneath an unblinking orb of eternal sunlight, one simple law prevails: If you let down your guard for an instant you will soon be very dead."

Skartaris was eventually retconned into being located in another dimension instead of physically inside the Earth. Thousands of years ago, before it was colonized by humans, this dimension was known as "Wizard World" because of the number of magical beings that lived in it.

New Atlantis

Main article: Atlantis (DC Comics)

Atlantean survivors of the city of Challa-Bel-Nalla, then ruled by Lord Daamon (an ancestor of Deimos), formed an alliance with an alien race they called the Red-Moon Gods. These aliens provided the Atlanteans with advanced technology that Travis Morgan would later discover in New Atlantis. New Atlantis first appears in The Warlord Annual #2 (1983). Lord Norrad the Younger, one of the Atlantean Knights of the Sea Eagle left Atlantis with a small group of followers and travelled to Skartaris. Yet another group led by the Atlantean sorcerer Ar-Diamphos escaped the sinking of Atlantis and found New Atlantis, Ar-Diamphos had Norrad killed and made himself ruler. He transformed them into beast men known as Blood Brothers using Red-Moon God technology.[4]

Books of Magic

Skartaris is depicted in The Books of Magic #3, part of a four-issue mini-series written by Neil Gaiman.[5]

Suicide Squad

Skartaris is featured in the Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag limited series, and is the source of a techno-mystical artifact used by series protagonist Rick Flag, and his nemesis Rustam.[6]

Secret Six

It is the location for the fight between the two factions of the Secret Six.[7]

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe) during the Convergence storyline, Skartaris appears deep within the plant Telos.[8]

Points of Interest

In other media

Television

Skartaris from the Justice League Unlimited episode "Chaos at the Earth's Core".

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Cronin, Brian (June 8, 2006). "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #54!". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014.
  2. ↑ Greenberger, Robert (1983). "From Skartaris to Sable: A Chat with Storyteller Mike Grell". Comics Scene. Comics World Corp (9). Archived from the original on December 3, 2013.
  3. ↑ Renaud, Jeffrey (January 29, 2009). "Mike Grell Returns to The Warlord". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  4. ↑ Burkett, Cary (w), Jurgens, Dan (p), Smith, Bob (i). "The Prophecy" The Warlord Annual 2 (1983)
  5. ↑ Gaiman, Neil (w), Vess, Charles (p), Vess, Charles (i). The Books of Magic 3 (1991)
  6. ↑ Ostrander, John; Pina, Javier (2008). Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag. DC Comics. p. 192. ISBN 978-1401218669.
  7. ↑ Simone, Gail (w), Calafiore, Jim (p), Calafiore, Jim (i). "The Reptile Brain, Part One of Four: Blood Calls to Blood" Secret Six v3, 25 (November 2010)
    Simone, Gail (w), Calafiore, Jim (p), Calafiore, Jim (i). "The Reptile Brain, Part Two of Four: Forced Merger" Secret Six v3, 26 (December 2010)
    Simone, Gail (w), Calafiore, Jim (p), Calafiore, Jim (i). "The Reptile Brain, Part Three of Four: Masked and Masked Again" Secret Six v3, 27 (January 2011)
    Simone, Gail (w), Calafiore, Jim (p), Calafiore, Jim (i). "The Reptile Brain, Part Four of Four: The Skull Just Beneath the Flesh" Secret Six v3, 28 (February 2011)
  8. ↑ Convegence #4
  9. 1 2 Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Grell, MIke (i). "Land of Fear!" 1st Issue Special 8 (November 1975)
  10. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Colletta, Vince (i). "The Quest Part II: Citadel of Death" The Warlord 17 (January 1979)
  11. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Colletta, Vince (i). "Land of the Titans" The Warlord 32 (April 1980)
  12. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Grell, Mike (i). "The Iron Devil" The Warlord 7 (June–July 1977)
  13. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Colletta, Vince (i). "Song of Ligia" The Warlord 24 (August 1979)
  14. 1 2 3 Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Grell, Mike (i). "Arena of Death" The Warlord 2 (March–April 1976)
  15. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Grell, Mike (i). "Trilogy" The Warlord 12 (April–May 1978)
  16. 1 2 Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Rubinstein, Josef (i). "Holocaust" The Warlord 15 (October–November 1978)
  17. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Grell, Mike (i). "The City In The Sky" The Warlord 8 (August–September 1977)
  18. 1 2 Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Colletta, Vince (i). "Battlecry" The Warlord 20 (April 1979)
  19. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Grell, Mike (i). "Tower of Fear" The Warlord 10 (December 1977-January 1978)
  20. ↑ Grell, Mike (w), Grell, Mike (p), Grell, Mike (i). "The Lair of the Snowbeast" The Warlord 9 (October–November 1977)
  21. ↑ Dos Santos, Joaquim (director); Wayne, Matt (writer) (September 24, 2005). "Chaos at the Earth's Core". Justice League Unlimited. Season 3. Episode 29. Cartoon Network.
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