Never Leave A Wounded Animal To Die!

When I was a kid, the first comic I ever bought was DC's First Issue Special #8, which some of you out there in blogland might recall was the first appearance of the Warlord. Ace pilot Travis Morgan's spy plane crashlanded inside the earth in an ancient world of superstition and super science called Skartaris. It was pretty much Spartacus meets Conan and it blew me away!

Mike Grell, the comic's writer/artist remains one of my all-time biggest influences. Along with Warlord, Grell created a number of other memorable comics characters, key among them is Jon Sable. First published by First Comics decades ago, Jon Sable: Freelance is now published by IDW and is probably Grell's greatest work in both writing and art.

What makes Sable so different from Grell's other characters is his humanity. Sable's wife and kids were killed by poachers in Africa so Sable goes on a vengence trail. Where lesser writers would leave it at that, Grell makes sure the ghosts of Sable's past dictate his every action. Revenge seemed like a good idea at the time, but, in the long run, what does it accomplish?

As I write this, IDW has published four issues and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight. I'm always amazed when an indy company can keep an ongoing storyline running, since most companies have extremely short lifespans. But IDW has latched onto many of First's fan favorites, both titles and creators, so I'm hoping the "big guns" behind these relaunches keep them around for a long time to come.

Oh, and before I forget, Grell wrote a Sable novel a few years back and it's awesome!