Legendary comics creator Mike Grell is set to crowdfund a series of oversized, hardcover editions of the Jon Sable, Freelance comics that he wrote prior to becoming a household name with DC’s Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. The series, which had short-lived TV adaptation and a 2000 revival as a novel rather than a comic, was created and owned by Grell, published by the fledgling First Comics in the early ’80s. Grell, who has not yet launched his Kickstarter campaign for Sable, nevertheless has a track record to point to: he had successful campaigns to bring back The Pilgrim (with actor/writer Mark Ryan) and the Jon Sable universe title Maggie the Cat.
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Jon Sable was a boundary-pushing comic that saw Grell experiment with the form, and gve the same kind of widescreen, bone-crunching action that he would become known for in comics like Warlord and Green Arrow. The story centers on “a former African hunter in the concrete jungle,” as Grell’s Masterstroke describes it. During its heyday, Sable got better reviews and higher sales than a lot of mainstream superhero comics.
It was one of the earliest major commercial hits of the creator-owned comics boom, and one of the earliest creator-owned comics adapted to the screen. The series featured then-newcomer Renee Russo (Thor) as a co-lead.
Grell drew the first 44 issues of Jon Sable, Freelance, and wrote the series for 56 issues, with Judith Hunt taking on chores when he stepped away as artist.
The Kickstarter is being treated as an “omnibus,” although some comics readers may quibble with that definition. Rather than a single, standard-dimension, oversized collections, the series will be reprinted as five hardcovers, around 400 pages each, which will measure approximately 8.5″ by 12.25″ (the size of DC’s Absolute Edition releases). In any case, Sable has never been collected in hardcover. IDW released a series of trade paperbacks in the early 2000s, and Comicmix published smaller sized paperback omnibus editions more recently, but Masterstroke is making editions that they say will be definitive versions of the legendary series.
In addition to being oversized, the hardcover omnibus series will feature glossy interior pages, rare materials (including never before seen artwork), new covers, and dust jackets that will line up to form a complete image when placed in order on a shelf. Each volume will retail for $100.
Masterstroke will release the omnibus editions, first via Kickstarter, then through wide distribution. Kickstarter backers will get them first, and with a variety of additional perks available only through the campaigns. Companion books that will be part of the Kickstarter campaigns will include the original Freelance Writing letters columns, a guide to the characters, guns and gadgets, creator commentary, and new art from Grell. More will be announced as the campaign gets underway.
Like Warlord, which has rarely been reproduced by DC and even then only in small doses, Grell fans long been for a return of Jon Sable. Masterstroke says that the omnibus collection will not only immortalize the iconic run of the character, but also pave the way for new Sable stories from Grell.
During a wide-ranging interview with ComicBook.com a few years back, Grell compared Warlord‘s Travis Morgan with Sable.
“I like the character. The reason why [Morgan] packs a .44 automag, is because I always wanted one, okay?” Grell confessed with a laugh. “And eventually I got one. Just like [Jon] Sable drives a ’53 Studebaker, because I always wanted one. You get to live vicariously through your characters. You just have to be a little careful on how carefully you go about carrying out the reality of it.”
Look for the John Sable, Freelance Volume One three-week Kickstarter to launch in time for Christmas 2020, with an early Spring 2021 release date. All five omnibuses will be released over the two years that follow, culminating in Volume Five being published to celebrate Grell’s 75th birthday in 2022.
