Weird Revisited: A Conceptual Tour of the Lower Planes

This was one of the first things I wrote about planes back in April of 2010, when the blog was less than 6 months old. This is more conventional than the views of the lower planes I'd present later, but it contains some ideas I would revisit. I don't like to ever let a good idea go to waste.

In my current campaign setting, I'm working within the bounds of the traditional AD&D "canon," but trying to wring somewhat novel and interesting (at least to me) interpretations from it. One of these elements is the "standard model" of D&D cosmology--what's sometimes called "The Great Wheel."

As portrayed, it's a bit literal and mechanical, which is a shame because at its core its a crazy enough mashup concept to appear in a mimeographed pamphlet left in public places. Bissociation should be the watchword here. Or maybe multissociation? I think the planes can (and should) be both other realms of consciousness and physicalities. Conceptual overlays on the material world, and places where you can kill things and take their stuff.

To that end, I decided to riff on the concepts of the planes, and see what associations they brought out. Not all of these will be literalized in the version of the planes visited by adventurers from the world of Arn, but all of these associations might inform how I presented the planes and the alignment forces they're of which they're manifestations or vessels. Maybe later I'll get into all the heady faux-metaphysical theory I devised behind all this. Or maybe I'll xerox my on crackpot tract.

Anyway, I figured the best place to start was a trip to hell.

The Abyss: The Abyss is the best place to start as it was probably the first of these planes to exist--the formless, primordial chaos, tainted only by Evil. An Evil that emerged, ironically, only after a material world appeared to be appalled at, and to yearn to destroy. Without creation, destruction would just subside into roiling chaos. AD&D cosmology gives us 666 layers to the Abyss, but I suspect the Abyss is infinite. Maybe its the demon lords that number 666--and the so-called layers are really the lords. Maybe all the other demons are merely extensions of their substance and essences--their malign thoughts and urges accreted to toxic flesh. They're like a moral cancer maybe, seeking to metastisize to other planes and remake them in their image--or maybe madness is a better analogy, if we're talking about the kind of madness that afflicts killers in slasher films. A psychokiller madness on a universal scale.

Tarterus: This plane is later called the Tarterian Depths of Carceri or just Carceri. I'm calling it the Black Iron Prison, because it fits, and because it recalls Phillip K. Dick's VALIS and The Invisibles. It's called the prison plane--which the Manual of Planes interprets a little literally. Not that it isn't all the obvious bad things about prisons, but its also got a Kafka-esque quality, maybe. Most souls don't know why their there and don't remember how they got there. And watch what you say 'cause the bulls have informants all over. You wait and wait for a promised trial that never comes. I suspect souls get "renditioned" from the material plane and brought here for angering a god or an Ascended. The gaolers (as Lovecraft would have it) are the demodand or gehreleths. Demodand is an interesting name as it probably comes from Vance's "deodand" which is a real word meaning "a personal chattel forfeited for causing the death of a human being to the king for pious uses" which may (or may not) hint at some sort of origin for the demodands/gehreleths. It's also interesting that the kinds of demodands--shaggy, tarry, and slime--are all related to things that can sort of be confining or restricting.

Hades: Later called the Gray Waste (a better name, I think), it's a plane of apathy and despair. There's some Blood War nonsense later, but apathy and despair is a theme to conjure with. It makes me think of Despair of the Endless from Sandman and her somber realm of mirrors. The Gray Waste is depression and hopelessness actualized. Not the sort of place for adventures, maybe, but a place good for some creepy monsters to come from.

Gehenna: Later called the Fourfold Furnaces, or the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna. This is the plane of the daemons, later yugoloth--which is suitably Lovecraftian. Daemons I liked in Monster Manual II because they were sort of "the new fiends" that seemed fresher than demons and devils, which were kind of old-hat by that time. As neutral evil, the daemons have nothing to motivate them but evil, really. The various alternate names of the plane make me think of Jack Kirby's Apokolips and its ever-burning fires--Gehenna has an assocation with fire anyway, going back to its origins as the Valley of Hinnom. Like the denizens of Apokolips, I think daemons should represent evil in various forms from banal to sublime. The Bleak Furnances fire the machineries of war. Being close to the realm of lawful evil, they sometimes dress up in the trapping of law, but its just fancy uniform facade. The whole place might appear as an armed camp run by tin-plated fascists. There are secret police, and propaganda bureaus, and sadistic experiments.

The Nine Hells: Later Baator, which doesn't work as well. This is the realm of the fallen--not the romantic, Miltonic rebels, but the fascist generals who tried to stage a junta and got exiled. Sure, they dress it up in decadence and "do as thou wilt" but really they're all oppressive laws and legalistic fine-print. And every one of them thinks they'd be a better leader than their boss, so they plot and scheme while playing it obsequious and dutiful. Some of the devils might say they're still fighting the good fight--that they do what they do to preserve the system from the forces of chaos. A multiverse needs laws after all, they say. That's all just part of the scam.  Still, I like China Mieville's idea of New Crobuzon having an ambassador from hell.  Maybe no city in the world of Arn has an infernal ambassador, but at least Zycanthlarion, City of Wonders, has sort of a "red phone" that can get a high-placed devil on the line.  After all, better the devil you know...

Down There: A Conceptual Tour of the Lower Planes

In my current campaign setting, I'm working within the bounds of the traditional AD&D "canon," but trying to wring somewhat novel and interesting (at least to me) interpretations from it. One of these elements is the "standard model" of D&D cosmology--what's sometimes called "The Great Wheel."

As portrayed, it's a bit literal and mechanical, which is a shame because at its core its a crazy enough mashup concept to appear in a mimeographed pamphlet left in public places. Bissociation should be the watchword here. Or maybe multissociation? I think the planes can (and should) be both other realms of consciousness and physicalities. Conceptual overlays on the material world, and places where you can kill things and take their stuff.

To that end, I decided to riff on the concepts of the planes, and see what associations they brought out. Not all of these will be literalized in the version of the planes visited by adventurers from the world of Arn, but all of these associations might inform how I presented the planes and the alignment forces they're of which they're manifestations or vessels. Maybe later I'll get into all the heady faux-metaphysical theory I devised behind all this. Or maybe I'll xerox my on crackpot tract.

Anyway, I figured the best place to start was a trip to hell.

The Abyss: The Abyss is the best place to start as it was probably the first of these planes to exist--the formless, primordial chaos, tainted only by Evil. An Evil that emerged, ironically, only after a material world appeared to be appalled at, and to yearn to destroy. Without creation, destruction would just subside into roiling chaos. AD&D cosmology gives us 666 layers to the Abyss, but I suspect the Abyss is infinite. Maybe its the demon lords that number 666--and the so-called layers are really the lords. Maybe all the other demons are merely extensions of their substance and essences--their malign thoughts and urges accreted to toxic flesh. They're like a moral cancer maybe, seeking to metastisize to other planes and remake them in their image--or maybe madness is a better analogy, if we're talking about the kind of madness that afflicts killers in slasher films. A psychokiller madness on a universal scale.

Tarterus: This plane is later called the Tarterian Depths of Carceri or just Carceri. I'm calling it the Black Iron Prison, because it fits, and because it recalls Phillip K. Dick's VALIS and The Invisibles. It's called the prison plane--which the Manual of Planes interprets a little literally. Not that it isn't all the obvious bad things about prisons, but its also got a Kafka-esque quality, maybe. Most souls don't know why their there and don't remember how they got there. And watch what you say 'cause the bulls have informants all over. You wait and wait for a promised trial that never comes. I suspect souls get "renditioned" from the material plane and brought here for angering a god or an Ascended. The gaolers (as Lovecraft would have it) are the demodand or gehreleths. Demodand is an interesting name as it probably comes from Vance's "deodand" which is a real word meaning "a personal chattel forfeited for causing the death of a human being to the king for pious uses" which may (or may not) hint at some sort of origin for the demodands/gehreleths. It's also interesting that the kinds of demodands--shaggy, tarry, and slime--are all related to things that can sort of be confining or restricting.

Hades: Later called the Gray Waste (a better name, I think), it's a plane of apathy and despair. There's some Blood War nonsense later, but apathy and despair is a theme to conjure with. It makes me think of Despair of the Endless from Sandman and her somber realm of mirrors. The Gray Waste is depression and hopelessness actualized. Not the sort of place for adventures, maybe, but a place good for some creepy monsters to come from.

Gehenna: Later called the Fourfold Furnaces, or the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna. This is the plane of the daemons, later yugoloth--which is suitably Lovecraftian. Daemons I liked in Monster Manual II because they were sort of "the new fiends" that seemed fresher than demons and devils, which were kind of old-hat by that time. As neutral evil, the daemons have nothing to motivate them but evil, really. The various alternate names of the plane make me think of Jack Kirby's Apokolips and its ever-burning fires--Gehenna has an assocation with fire anyway, going back to its origins as the Valley of Hinnom. Like the denizens of Apokolips, I think daemons should represent evil in various forms from banal to sublime. The Bleak Furnances fire the machineries of war. Being close to the realm of lawful evil, they sometimes dress up in the trapping of law, but its just fancy uniform facade. The whole place might appear as an armed camp run by tin-plated fascists. There are secret police, and propaganda bureaus, and sadistic experiments.

The Nine Hells: Later Baator, which doesn't work as well. This is the realm of the fallen--not the romantic, Miltonic rebels, but the fascist generals who tried to stage a junta and got exiled. Sure, they dress it up in decadence and "do as thou wilt" but really they're all oppressive laws and legalistic fine-print. And every one of them thinks they'd be a better leader than their boss, so they plot and scheme while playing it obsequious and dutiful. Some of the devils might say they're still fighting the good fight--that they do what they do to preserve the system from the forces of chaos. A multiverse needs laws after all, they say. That's all just part of the scam.  Still, I like China Mieville's idea of New Crobuzon having an ambassador from hell.  Maybe no city in the world of Arn has an infernal ambassador, but at least Zycanthlarion, City of Wonders, has sort of a "red phone" that can get a high-placed devil on the line.  After all, better the devil you know...

In the Classifieds

Here are some classified ads (which appear in the hardcopy versions of Weird Adventures.  Secure your copy today!) that might lead to adventures weird or otherwise:

SALESMEN WANTED

BIG MONEY AND FAST SALES. Minor magics and household charms are a boom industry. Low prices. High profits. Write for particulars and free samples. KING TALISMAN CO., Dept. 55, 666 Torio Ave., Lake City.

HELP & INTSRUCTION

APPRENTICE ADVENTURERS Get paid a competitive wage in treasure. Experience unnecessary. All you need is a stout heart and a strong back. FLEISCHSCHILD’S INSTITUTE St. Gorgan, Lichmond.

RANGER POSITIONS pay $125-$200 month; nice cabin. Hunt. Trap. Patrol. Get free list of Union Protected Forests immediately. RALSON INST., Dept. A-14, Mountain City, West.

HELP WANTED – FEMALE

ASSISTANT NEEDED Attractive young woman (18-28 yrs.), preferably blonde. $175 a month, plus housing. Discretion and comfort around large animals a must. Inquire at 616 Grimalkin St., Empire Island. Come alone.

Wednesday Comics: DC, April 1983 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of January 13, 1983. 

Batman #358:  Conway is joined by Swan this issue, who is certainly an interesting choice for this sort of material. It mostly works, though Croc looks a bit more like Cactus than might be ideal. Killer Croc visits the Tobacconists' Club and tells them he's taking over Gotham. They decide to test him out by having him break into STAR Labs. Meanwhile, Batman and Gordon are tracing the bullet (and the rifle) he used to kill Squid. Robin also learns that Croc is behind the protection racket leaning on the Circus.

Ultimately, Batman finds Croc's home and waits for him there. We get an odd confrontation where Croc seems enraged primarily that the sanctity and solitude of his home has been violated. Croc destroys the building and flees to the river below, losing Batman in the process.

Flash #320: Bates and Infantino/Rodriquez bring the Eradicator story to its conclusion. The Eradicator nearly disintegrates the Mirror Master, but through the trick mirrors the Flash is able to track the Eradicator to the old windmill (for some reason) where he's holding Fiona. The vigilante and the Flash do battle, and it seems like the Flash is going to be killed, but he moves the battle to the cemetery where conveniently the Eradicator's victims are buried close together.  Shocked by the graves, Philips wrests control from the Eradicator personality and turns the power on himself. Miles away, some farmers find Tomar-Re in a field after he was knocked down by a swarm of yellow meteorites and recognize him as a Green Lantern, though not the one they know. Maybe we'll find out about this Green Lantern business next issue?

Anyway, this ends okay, but it was some odd storytelling, almost like an alternate comics evolution. It is Silver Agey (or at least early Bronze) in some ways, but modern in others. I guess it's like some Gerber stories in 70s Marvel (I'm thinking of the Foolkiller stuff, who's a similar villain) but without the indication that it is kind of tongue in cheek. Well, there is Captain Invincible...Maybe it is just more 1976 than 1983?

I confess the noirish Creeper backup is hard for me to follow. The short segments are a part, but it just hasn't engaged me either. Anyway, we finally get something more in the realm of Creeperish doings this issue when the nephew of a doctor involved in these goings on transforms into some sort of monster, and so does Jamie, Ryder's editor's son, who is in jail who was in possession of the fraudulent prescription last issue.

 

G.I. Combat #252: The first Haunted Tank story has the crew in North Africa and forced to work with a similarly situated Wehrmacht tank crew to stay alive under assault by bandits at a poisoned oasis. The second story is a more original one, at least, with an Italian grandfather vowing to name his soon to be born grandson after one of the crew, but when he's injured and near death he can see and hear the ghostly J.E.B. Stuart, so names the kid Giacomo Stuardo.

The O.S.S. story with Kana feels like a complete repeat. At least it's made of repeated elements from other Kanigher yarns. Kana is forced to work with a racist G.I. who doesn't trust him. There's a white guy from a Pacific Island who turns out to be a German working with the Japanese, but the G.I. doesn't want to believe it at first.  

The other tales are by Kashdan with Matucenio and Zamora. In the first, a doll looted from Italy is the death of one G.I. but the savior of another.  In the second, a "Women at War" installment, a woman judo instructor is sent on a mission to Germany to still some plans.

Omega Men #1: After the teasing this issue last month, and months of various writers trying to get fans interested in them, the Omega Men debut in their own series, courtesy of Silfer, Giffen, and DeCarlo. This is a direct sale only title on nicer paper like Camelot 3000. It starts in media res, so if you didn't already know the Omega Men, I could see you being a little lost. For those who do know about the Omega Men and their war with the Citadel, the new thing here is that it appears we'll get some focus and background on the individual members. 

After taking a Citadelian base, the team heads for Changralyn, Broot's native world. They hope to recruit more fighters as strong as him, but Broot tries to warn them his people won't be of much help. When they arrive they find out he was right. The Changralynians are devoted pacifists and refuse use violence, even in self-defense. Further, the Changralynian elders reveal that they have a pact with the Citadel who provides "protection" in exchange for a number of babies given over to them. When they see this transfer in action, Broot becomes enraged and attacks the Gordanians handling it. In retaliation, the Citadel orders a Branx ship to drop a nuke-bomb on a district of one of Changralyn's cities. 

 

Saga of the Swamp Thing #12: Pasko and Yeates continue Swampy's fight with the Golem from last issue. Swamp Thing manages to deactivate it by erasing one of the Hebrew letters inscribed on its forehead, changing the word from "life" to "death." Karen telepathically sends Kripptmann and crew a message challenging them to confront her at a synagogue where Kripptmann once worshipped. Wanting to avoid the golem attacking from wrong foe like last time, They then put Karen's locket on the golem before the re-activate it.

Meanwhile in Munich, Grasp forces his way into the hotel room where Dennis Barclay and Liz Tremayne are doing the "will they, won't they?" and threatens them to learn Kripptmann's whereabouts. Dennis and Liz manage to slug Grasp and escape, but that was Grasp's plan. Now they'll lead him to Kripptmann and the others.

At the synagogue, Swamp Thing, the golem, and the psychics almost kill Karen, but the evil inside her manages to escape the dying vessel. After briefly possessing Liz, it attempts to take control of the Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing's tremendous willpower drives the thing out. 

Grasp gets in a position with a rifle to snipe at the group, and a computer monitor in Sunderland suggests interestingly that his code number is "666." There's a bright flash of light, the evil entity transports Swamp Thing, Liz, Dennis, Kripptmann, Grasp and the golem to a huge metal fortress where they are about to meet Satan.

In the Cuti/Carrillo Phantom Stranger backup, an 18 year-old with progeria so that he looks more like his late 60s dreams of being an astronaut and he's also in love with a young woman who thinks he's an old man. An experimental medical treatment cures him, and he gets both of these dreams. As he's preparing to take his first spaceflight, the Phantom Stranger warns him not to go. He does and comes through one of those time warps astronauts occasionally fall into and returns to Earth decades later, though he hasn't aged. He returns to his home to be great by his girl, also apparently unaged, but the Phantom Stranger reveals to the audience that it's really her daughter.

New Teen Titans #30: While Kid Flash is still histrionic over Raven being evil, The Brotherhood of Evil gets the jump on him, and Speedy and Frances Kane. At the same time, Robin and Starfire accompany Adrian Chase to see Bethany Snow, who offers them information on Brother Blood in return for protection--but really, she's working at Blood's orders. Meanwhile, in what seems an unheralded turn from last issue, Terra gets a new costume and decides to join the Teen Titans. Cyborg meets a co-worker of Sarah Simms's who claims to be her fiancé, making him feel foolish for thinking there might be something between them. Raven resurfaces at the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square and the Brotherhood is there, too. The Titans and allies confront them but when Phobia turns the crowd against them, they're unable to prevent Raven's abduction.  Elsewhere, Terry Long proposes to Donna.

Kid Flash's whining aside, this is a solid issue that well mixes the character subplots and the various villain related threads. It makes me a bit wistful for the time when so much would happen in one issue. 

Superman #382: Bates and Swan/Hunt get to the end of the Superman/Superboy switch and finish the Euphor business. Superman/Boy manages to defeat the Euphor-empowered Lois with a nerve pinch and brings her to the Fortress of Solitude where he reveals what's been going on, which makes relieves Lois as now she realizes why he's been so distant and had eyes for Lana. When Superman/Boy realizes that recreating the accident is the only way to reverse things, she reminds him Superboy/Man in the past has probably already had this thought and is likely waiting on him in the timestream. Makes sense, I guess.

Anyway, that works out and Superman then rushes to confront Euphor who after revealing his origin on TV has taken over Metropolis. Superman can't defeat Euphor directly but tricks him into following him through time (despite the other dilemma is this storyline showing the dangers of time travel!) to the destruction of Krypton. Witnessing it triggers his super-grief (my term, not the issues) that causes Euhpor's power to overload when he tries to absorb it. Everybody in Metropolis gets their negative emotions back. Yay.

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 1983 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around March 17, 1983.

Legion of Super-Heroes #300: It's an anniversary issue, so Giffen and Mahlstedt share art duties with a number of Legion artists from the past: Schaffenberger, Staton, Bender, Swan, Sherman, and Cockrum. The whole Legion of Super-Heroes assembles for an anniversary ceremony, but there are some other things going on as they do. Mon-El and Shadow Lass (with a new look) destroy a giant Khund spaceship in humanoid form. Much of the issue is taken up by Brainiac 5 and Rond Vidar working to cure the psychosis of Douglas Nolan, brother of the late Ferro Lad. He experiences a number of alternate timelines (providing the stories for the guest artists to illustrate). Ultimately, they allow the tortured Nolan to physically escape into an alternate timeline in which he replaces his dead brother in the Legion.

I suspect this is an issue that is more enjoyable the more you are steeped in Legion history.

Night Force #11: Wolfman and Colan start a new storyline. In a mansion in Maine in the 1930s, a cabal of occultists uses their power to help bring Hitler to power, only to be betrayed and murdered by him (also sealing his own fate). Decades later, a wealthy couple buys the house and finds it haunted. They are assaulted by the spirits who brand "666" on the husband's head. The couple turns to Baron Winter for help and for a large sum, he agrees. He and Vanessa prepare in open a door in his home and step out into the 1930s. After a stop in a soda shop to have an egg cream (priorities I guess) the Baron contrives to set up a meeting with the cabal.

This seems a bit more standard fare than the last two arcs, but it's just the first installment so there may be twists to come.

Brave and the Bold #199: Barr and Andru/Hoberg team up Batman and the (Earth-One) Spectre in the penultimate issue of this title. It's got a nice setup: Jim Corrigan (the Spectre's host) disappears while a moving train while the Spectre is out of his body, so the ghost goes to the Dark Knight Detective to solve the crime. It turns out the sorceress Kalindra is trying to get a bad for spirit of her lover, banished to the Astral Plane by a cruel and vengeful wizard centuries ago.  Batman tries to deal with the powerful Kalindra, while Spectre and the lover's spirit fight to the Astral Plane. Spectre wins quickly and then helps Batman by releasing Kalindra of her spell, ending her life. In the aftermath, Batman is angry at the unnecessary death, but the Spectre explains that the lovers' souls were due in the afterlife long ago, and now they are reunited there.

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #8: Kupperberg brings in his creation from 1977 (though they were last seen in '82), the new Doom Patrol. Reactron, an atomic-powered foe of the Doom Patrol, is lured into the open by the Patrol's gambit of offering Negative Woman as bait--and Linda Danvers happens to be a bystander! She's shooed away from the scene by Tempest, who doesn't know she's Supergirl. Cheryl and Daryll, who have accompanied her to the park, take her back home, and Linda has to watch the battle with her super-vision. Reactron escapes and later appears on the university campus, drawn by the emanations of a secret, experimental nuclear reactor, and Supergirl gets her chance to confront him.

Green Lantern #165: Barr and Pollard/Adkins bring back John Stewart to team-up with Green Arrow. The Guardians contact Stewart to deal with the threat of the alien warrior, Krystayl. The creature was a weapon created on the planet destroyed millennia ago by the combined willpower of the Green Lantern Corps, shattering the monster to shards. This also killed all the people he had absorbed, something the Guardians deemed as acceptable losses. The fragments drifted through space, until one of those shards arrived on Earth and awakened, continuing his lethal orders.

The first encounter between the heroes and the monster doesn't go so well. Some civilians are absorbed, and Ollie's arm gets encased in crystal. Freeing Ollie's arm gives them the idea of finding the crystal's weak point, and they use that trick to shatter Krystayl, freeing the people he absorbed. Green Arrow invites John to get some chili.

In the epilogue, Green Lantern Galius Zed confronts the supposed traitor Eddore and takes his Globe of Power. However, when looks into the globe, he instead joins with Eddore and declares they must tell their fellow Green Lanterns about the Guardians' betrayal.

The Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Klein and Gibbons continues the story from issue 163. After showing Hollika Rahn a vision of what might happen if she shirks her responsibilities as a Green Lantern, a Guardian reveals that her friend Mikkin has strayed into Scientist and gets captured by some taken to the Ministry of Science. The Guardian shows Hollika Mikki's location, and she heads to the rescue.

House of Mystery #317: In "I...Vampire," Mishkin and Cullins/Sutton have Bennett, Deborah, and the fictional Mishkin (Dmitri) battling the forces of the Blood Red Moon led by Mishkin's mother, Dunya. They are trapped in the former Mishkin family home as the sun comes up. While the vampires sleep, Deborah tries to find the hiding places of the Blood Red Moon forces laying siege and kill them to even the odds. When night falls, Dunya's vampires attack. Deborah is about to shoot Dunya with a solar gun, but Dmitri leaps in front of the blast to save his mother. He begs her to finally love him, but she scorns him once again. As Dunya is about to bite Deborah, Dmitri stakes his mother from behind, killing her. He dies of his injuries in Bennett's arms, realizing at last that his mother was long dead.

The other story by Mayer and Zamora is sort of clever. In a magic-based analog to the 20th Century, a couple is aghast to learn their son has been practicing science in the basement. They are visited by the magical authorities, but the son uses his renegade science to save his family, then casts a powerful spell that transforms the world in our technological one, with only him remembering how things were and retaining magical power.

Sgt. Rock #377: The main story, "The Worry-Wart," is one of those introduce a new Easy Company member with a distinct (usually eccentric) trait yarns that forms a significant part of Kanigher's repertoire. This is the variant where the newbie learns something that makes them a better soldier and doesn't die. 

The two backup stories are weird and feel like maybe they were rush jobs or inventory pieces. Both are about the ironies of war, even in the future. The first is a space opera-ish text piece illustrated by Sid Wright. The second is a post-apocalyptic tale with amateurish or underground-looking art (or both) by Brian Bilby, who's only credit are short's (2 of them humor) in 3 issues of Sgt. Rock.

Warlord #70:  In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, The Harashashan and humans are cooperating on setting up a serious of aqueducts, but the prejudices run deep and it isn't easy. It gets even harder when the fungoid Mulge attack. They are repelled, but not before they kidnap Skinner. I reviewed the main story in this issue here.