The Ravager is Back!

[richardak]

I recently discovered a miniseries that DC put out in the eighties called Conqueror of the Barren Earth. I thought I'd share a few scans; don't worry, I've only posted seven pages out of twenty-five. The story is that, in the distant future, humanity has spread to other star systems, but Earth itself has become a barren wasteland of warring barbarians. The government of the human interstellar civilization, which has been at war with a race of aliens called the Qlov for thousands of years, has sent an agent, Jinal Ne'Comarr, to reestablish control over Earth. Unfortunately, as Ne'Comarr's superior and mentor is reporting to the Senate, Ne'Comarr's mission was attacked by the Qlov, and they have lost contact with her:




So it's pretty clear, I think, that Admiral Rizek has lost perspective. She has allowed her personal concern for her protege to overcome her strategic sense. Of course, part of what makes for a good military leader is to care about the people under your command. As Sun Tzu said, "Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death." But, as we shall see, the Senate is clearly correct here, because Ne'Comarr is alive and still working to complete her mission:



In fact, she has already made contact with some of the natives from multiple settlements. She has also gone before a mysterious and powerful body on Earth called the Old Ones of D'Roz in an attempt to win their support. They have rejected her, however, and so she has sworn to unite the Earth by force of arms. That's right: the conqueror of the title is the hero of the story, a point I shall return to.


I really like the fact that the heroine of the story is completely certain that the enemy can only be fought, that negotiation is impossible.  I like that she believes in solving her problems with force.  Unfortunately (otherwise there would be no story), other people have had the same idea.  When they return to the city of Arq, which Ne'Comarr plans to use as the springboard for her campaign of world conquest, they find it under attack by another would-be world conqueror, Zhengla.  They take refuge in some caves beneath the city:



Again, I like that the hero of the story wants to conquer the world by force.  I like that the difference between her and the main antagonist (at least as of the first issue) is really quite small.  She's quite honest with herself that she was planning to do exactly what Zhengla is doing.  Normally, in a story like this, the hero would be trying to stop the would-be world conqueror.  She'd be trying to lead the resistance to help the various towns and villages retain their freedom.  This one is different and surprising.  Very few stories of this sort really ask to like and sympathize with the empire-builder.  One might argue that Dune does, but I don't agree: we stop sympathizing with Paul the moment he sends the Fremen out to conquer the universe.  He's really only the hero as long as he's leading the rebellion.  

This is different.  It is more realistic, in a way, because a reasonable perspective on history is that, even though the great conquerors like Alexander or Temujin, were motivated mostly by a megalomaniacal desire for glory and ego gratification, they also did bring, often, order and civilizational advance, even if only in the aftermath of the conquest.  That's a debatable proposition, of course, and I don't know that I actually agree with it, but it is interesting and refreshing to see a story like this that sees it as a valid perspective at all.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

I has a sad now... i thought this was Rose Wilson

[richardak]

Sorry, no. But it is a really cool comic! Also, to be fair, this came out several years before the first appearance of Rose Wilson.

[ficticons]

I also thought this was about Rose, but wasn't too disappointed when it wasn't. You're right, this is really interesting looking stuff! :)

[richardak]

I'm glad you like it. I'm going to post scans from issue two in the near future.

The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[7dialsmystery]

I'm surprised this is from the 80's. It's really cool.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[richardak]

I'm glad you like it, but why is that surprising? The eighties were awesome! Some of the greatest comics of all time came out in the eighties.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[reveen]

To me the art looks very 60s, 70s at most. Though considering the raygun gothic aesthetic that could be the point.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[richardak]

That's interesting. What makes you say that? And how do you define "raygun gothic"? Because if you look at that hallway they're fighting in in the first panel on page four (the second scan), that does not look very Art Deco or Streamline Moderne to me. But the Senate-hall maybe does; I can see that.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[7dialsmystery]

The art is refreshing after the XXXXXTREEEEME 90's.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[richardak]

I'm not as down on nineties art as some people are. Firstly, there was plenty of highly technically accomplished art in comics in the nineties, even if that's not what the era was remembered for. But secondly, and perhaps more to the point, a lot of that "extreme" art that the nineties are remembered for was very dynamic and captured a powerful sense of motion, even if it was not very technically accomplished or realistic. And that's really important in a static visual medium like comics.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[7dialsmystery]

I don't hate all of it but too much was giant muscles, huge guns, and teeny tiny feets.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[richardak]

That's fair. You left out all the pouches though.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[7dialsmystery]

I can't mock the pouches since I still wear cargo pants with zipper pockets.

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[richardak]

Aha!

Re: The art looks very pulpy and vintage.

[wizardru]

I have this discussion a lot with folks: the nineties were home to some of comics worst excesses and trends, but they also were home to a flourishing of some of the best comics in decades. For every Rob Liefeld, we also got a Grant Morrison. For every Youngblood or WILDCATS, we got a Sandman or Starman. The 90s were like every other decade of comics...there was great stuff and there was crap and sometimes the crap stuff sold a LOT. But that doesn't mean that the 90s were a wasteland of art or story, just that people remember a lot of it.

[reveen]

Genghis Khan might be a bad example, given how several flourishing Islamic kingdoms were trashed, the effects of which can arguably still be seen today in the current state of the Middle East.

A better example for something close to a "good" conquest is Charlemagne, along with other conquerors who united smaller warlike states in the wake of the collapse of a larger empire.

[richardak]

Well, it's highly debatable just how flourishing they were. There's this sort of golden-age myth that was developed mostly by Arab nationalists in the late nineteenth century to explain the decline of Islamic civilization, saying it was all the Mongol conquests. But to paraphrase a far wiser and more learned historian than I has, flourishing kingdoms don't fall to steppe nomads, no matter how brilliantly those nomads are led. I've never heard anyone argue that the Song Dynasty was doing just great until the Mongols showed up. And it still ignores that the Mongol conquests did bring about a Pax Mongolica that lasted for centuries and did bring significant growth in trade throughout Asia.

But that's not really the point. If you prefer Charlemagne as an example, that's fine for my point. I mostly chose Alexander and Temujin because they really wanted to conquer the world, which is Ne'Comarr's goal in this story.

[arilou_skiff]

The Mongol conquest was incredibly destructive (it's hard to do the maths because some areas prospered pretty heavily) but the destruction was immense, and even left ecological traces. (desertification increased because the destruction meant there was no one to tend to the irrigation systems, whihc lead to salinization)

The reason Iraq is a desert is at least partially thanks to the MOngols.

The Song Dynasty was also incredibly advanced economically, they were militarily fairly weak (largely due to lack of horses for cavalry) but economically and culturally they're one of China's high points. It was essentially the golden age of pre-modern China's merchant-class, for instance.

[richardak]

The Song Dynasty was certainly very powerful and advanced at one time. That does not mean that it still was in the years immediately preceding the conquest. The general consensus is that they were in serious decline well beforehand. They had already lost northern China, after all, and things were deteriorating in the south as well by that point.

As for the desertification issue, the problem is that historians and archaeologists debate when that began. Some argue, as you have, that it was the result of the Mongol conquests. Others date it earlier (dating these kinds of ecological changes is an inexact science) and argue that central authority and the complex irrigation system it maintained were already breaking down before the Mongols arrived, and that that was why the Mongols were so successful.

But of course, conquest is always destructive. That's the point in contention: is what the conqueror is building worth it? And I don't say this because I have any great admiration for Temujin; for all that he had good qualities, he was megalomaniac, as I said. But for any empire, the historian has to weigh what it destroyed against what it built. For some empires, the judgment is easy, one way or the other. With the Mongol Empire, I'm not as sure as you are about which way we should judge, but I'm certainly not convinced that you are wrong.

What I like about this comic is that it asks us to come down on the side of the conqueror. As I said, that's pretty rare in fiction.

[philippos42]

I have this! It's been a long time since I read it, though. It's trippy.

[richardak]

Glad I could take you down memory lane, then.

[q99]

This is interesting, thanks for posting it :)