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Mariah Romanova
There was no scene like the one above in the issue but it did a good job of showing off the Russian archeologist's new look. Mariah and Morgan met under unusual circumstances. He had stumbled into a subterranean train left over from the Atlantean colonization of Skartaris and found himself blasted from the inner world to the site of an unknown ruin in Peru. Mariah was there as part of a UN archeology team excavating the site and none to happy to encounter a man who had been shot down spying on her homeland (this was 1977 and the Cold War was still hot). Morgan was unhappy to learn that instead of a few months he had been wandering around Skartaris for eight years so he was now 51 years old. Even worse his presence had been' reported to the American embassy. The CIA came looking for Morgan figuring that his disappeance over the Soviet Union in 1969 meant he had defected and decided that Mariah was his KGB contact. Fortunately the archeologists explorations had unintentionally released a demon and it wiped out the agents (with the exception of Agent Stryker who would cause more trouble for Morgan and Mariah later) but that left them with a problem. Morgan decided you can't go home again and headed back for Skartaris but invited Mariah to come along for the ride and see a world that would be an archeologist's paradise. She accepted and they returned via the shuttle train after setting a few charges to blow the tunnel behind them. One of their earliest stops was Kiro where Mariah got a makeover and Morgan discovered his old friend Machiste was their King. He also found out Machiste was possessed by a demonic axe and had become a tyrant (hence the question on the cover). With Mariah's help Morgan saved Machiste from the axe but it cost the King his hand. Then just when life in Kiro was getting back to normal a new threat appeared in the form of a pterodactyl attack.
The "Birds" had arrived from Skyra, a floating city left over from the high days of the long dead Atlantean civilization, and had been dispatched by Tragg the cyborg guardian of the city. He apologised for the error and claimed his pets were supposed to bring back animals for meat not humans.
It turned out to be a walk in freezer, Tragg havig developed a fondness for human flesh. A fate Mariah had avoided so far as Tragg had a crush on her. But it wasn't mutual and he didn't like rejection.
Tragg had underestimated Morgan and Machiste assuming they'd never get out of the freezer. But they underestimated him and stumbled into one of Skyra's boobytraps for intruders.
The trio escaped the destruction of Skyra but landed in a blizzard locked mountain range where Morgan became separated from Machiste and Mariah after a bear attacked. His life was saved by an intelligent manbeast but Mariah and Machiste were facing becoming the star attraction at a sacrifice!
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