It’s time again to visit the world of Swordquest, the contest that never finished. You can get the full story from this site, but here’s the highlights: Part of the “Adventure” series, the four games represented the four elements of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water (the forgotten disco band member), with a prize of $50,000 US tied to real life versions of the items you had to find in the game and a sort of early ARG to find the final sword of the name. The games looked like this.
Isn’t that exciting, kids?
This gameplay is from Waterworld, and I will not make any further Kevin Costner references after this sentence. Not sorry. This is the third and final game in what was supposed to be a four game series, so we are heading straight off the cliffhanger on this one. For those of you who missed out on Earthworld and Fireworld (Airworld would have been the final game), the tie-in comics would introduce characters not really seen in the games. The players are represented by twin thieves Torr and Tarra, who learn they’re destined to bring down the evil ruler Tyrannus, who killed their parents because of the prophecy that their kids would kill him and end his reign in the future. Thus creating the very prophecy he sought to avoid when they came after him for revenge. Nice going, idiot!
Although their real target is the tyrant’s court wizard, Konjuro, aka “we’re not even trying to hide that these are the villains”. Our blonde twins have been bouncing through other worlds, and this is their latest stop, after drinking from a chalice that turned into portal to the next questing dimension. They’re also trying to beat Herminus, who just wants to steal the sword at the end of the game quest so he can have a gold sword. He’s a simple thief and I’m not convinced he’s even needed. That’s where we are headed into our next and unintentional final chapter.
Where’s Aquaman when you need him?
Swordquest #3
DC Comics/Atari (1983)
Waterworld: “Powers Of Prime”
CREATORS/WRITERS: Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway
VISUAL CONCEPTS/ART: George Peréz & Dick Giordano
DESIGN: Neil Pozner
COLORIST: Adrienne Roy
LETTERER: John Costanza
EDITOR: Dick Giordano
We pick up with Torr and his sister Tarra swimming to the possible bottom of the sea in hopes of finding the next crew. Tarra seems to have an easier time holding her breath than her brother, but there’s only so much time left. They see a gold helmet before it vanishes, assuming that is the next item they need to find. Finally needing air, they head to the surface and barely survive a water spout, but Tarra goes so fast she doesn’t notice her brother caught in an underwater plant that his knife can’t cut into…and a skeleton of the last guy to get caught here. Apparently the magic breathing helmet he had on wasn’t any help, but it keeps Torr alive long enough to fight off an octopus-like creature. He’s accidentally released in the fight and manages to head off, but only after losing his heavy armor to float. The skeleton is also freed and ends up in the chainmail shirt, leading Tarra to believe she’s now an only child.
Davijoen’s solo singing career didn’t do as well as his time with the Sea Monkees.
While she floats on an ice flow in her grief, the main villains see the twins separated and Konjuro, clearly the brains of the outfit, casts a spell of amnesia on them, an excuse to catch up readers who…I guess missed out on the first two games. Each came with their own comic. Now missing their memories, Torr is taken in by the underwater queen Aquana, who communicates telepathically and heards him to her place with a bunch of sea creatures, while Tarra is taken in by the sea captain Frost, who owns a ship made of ice. Aquana and Frost are at odds over that helmet, which they believe will give them power after the world was messed up by Konjuro. The dude just really likes messing with alternate realities. Aquana gives Torr the name “Aquion” while Frost names Tarra “Dawn Hair”. Is being blonde really that unusual in this world? Warn them about what pants they’re allowed to wear. Apparently that’s a big deal in 2025.
Unfortunately for Tarra/Dawn Hair, Herminus is aboard this ship and his memories are intact. He wants to get rid of the girl because she’s dangerous…to his plan to steal the helmet for himself because thief. Dawn Hair, however, is quickly smitten with Captain Frost and vice versa, and the same with Aquion and Aquana. The boy gets more action than his sister, though, while Dawn Hair is upset by Frost hunting whales. He tells her it’s not for sport but safety, that they’re allies of Aquana and so they have to kill them, gut them, tear the meat off their bones, and send the skeletal remains to the bottom of the sea. For protection. One would think being dead would be enough. Do they regenerate or something? Aquana can hear the sea life, and so can Aquion thanks to a magic scepter that gives him the full Aquaman power set including commanding fish and breathing underwater. It’s finally time for the big confrontation…so Frost apparently has the same brain cell damage as Tyrannus. Also, Aquana has a lava-spewing sea serpent and Frost has a boat made of ice. Not liking his odds.
Definitely not liking his odds.
During the battle, Frost and Aquana are both taken out of the fight, leading to the memoryless twins to square off to protect their new love interests. (Well, at least the story didn’t pair them up.) The pirate crew, who don’t seem to share Frost’s scruples, are easily talked by Herminus into having the two fight, winner gets the crown. The two agree to pray to their gods and let the other do the same, accidentally summoning the robed couple who know them and proceed to tell them…nothing! Apparently they can only interfere when the plot allows them, but they do tell the two that the secret to their answers is in the other person. Somehow both happen to see their own reflection in their weapons while looking at the other and realize they’re twins. That breaks the spell and they remember each other again. At least nobody got hit in the head.
However, the swords they dropped hit the crown everyone’s after…and split it in half. Kind of a cheap crown that swords could cut it like that. Now with memory restored, Torr and Tarra tell the two they should rule together, and since they’re both hotties it’s not hard to agree to the plan. Then the sword shows up in the sky, whisking the twins away, and unfortunately dragging Herminus in the updraft. I like to think whatever force is behind all this just wanted to spare Waterworld his continued existence. If only everyone else were so lucky. Sick of all these games, Tyrannus decides he and Konjuro will actually take part personally in taking down the twins…leaving him in just the right spot to fulfill the prophecy. Man really does not think ahead, which is a good way to lose a head. Namely his.
So what happens next? We may never know. AtariAge the website says that the final book never got to the inking stage before the game was cancelled. So unless someone finds and finishes it for prosperity, this series is over. It’s kind of a shame. While high fantasy isn’t my genre, the story was good, the characters interesting, the art amazing for the time, and the dialog only suffers because every story in the sword and sorcery genre has characters talking like apostrophes had not been invented yet.
Next time we return to Cybertron and the minicomics of Transformers: Energon, speaking of stories cut short. This time it’s not the toys that went away but the comic company.
BW Media Spotlight 