Thursday, June 2, 2011
Making a Splash: Mike Grell's Warlord Part Two
Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna look at the rest of the all-Mike Grell splashes from Warlord issues 8-14 (May 1977-May 1978). (We looked at issues 1-7 here, remember?) During this run, Travis Morgan (aka The Warlord) trades in his super-heroic leather outfit for the skimpiest fur loincloth in the history of loincloths, but Grell makes it work okay. Iron Mike was firing on all cylinders with these splashes, baby! Dig 'em!
Joe Rubenstein did a fine job of inking ish 15, then Vinnie Colletta finished out the Groovy Age as inker with issues 16-40. Colletta's inks weren't bad over Grell's pencils, but they were certainly different. We'll look at those issues in the future if enough of you ask for it. It's up to you, Groove-ophiles!
God ... those are glorious page layouts.
ReplyDeleteTerrific stuff!
ReplyDeleteVince Colletta's inks were particularly nice on issues 26-27, a two part story that portrays the sinking of Atlantis. Bob Smith inked most issues from 41-50, although Colletta inked a few. I thought Bob Smith inked Grell's art pretty well. Colletta's inks were mostly less inspired, some particularly nice, some lackluster.
ReplyDeleteAfter Kirby left DC at the end of 1975, Grell kind of filled a void with similar double-page spreads that really showed off his art. 50 issues by Grell was a very respectable run.
Grell left to do STARSLAYER 1-6 for Pacific Comics. It was originally to be published by DC, until Pacific gave Grell a better offer. That resulted in a better royalties system offered to creators by Marvel and DC, when their talent started walking out the door to Pacific, Eclipse and other publishers in the early 1980's.