Mike Grell

Appearing Fri,Sat,Sun

Mike Grell (born September 13, 1947) studied at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, and took the Famous Artists School correspondence course in cartooning. His entry into the comics industry was in 1972, as an assistant to Dale Messick on the Brenda Starr comic strip.

In 1973 Grell moved to New York, and began his long relationship with DC Comics. His first assignment at DC was on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. It was here that he created his best-known creation, The Warlord. He also worked on titles such as Aquaman, Batman, the Phantom Stranger, and the revamped Green Lantern/Green Arrow series.

Grell wrote and drew the Tarzan Sunday strip from July 19, 1981 to February 27, 1983 (except for one strip, February 13, 1983, by Thomas Yeates).

Through the 1980s many more titles including Starslayer and Jon Sable Freelance, sort of a cross between James Bond and Mike Hammer, and a precursor to what would eventually be known as "the Dark Age of Comics," when even long-established super-heroes would become increasingly grim and violent. Sable was later adapted into a short-lived television series.

In 1987, Mike Grell wrote and redesigned Green Arrow with great critical success. In 1988, Grell authored and illustrated the graphic novel adaptation of the Timothy Dalton James Bond film Licence to Kill, followed by an original three-issue Bond mini-series Permission to Die. This was followed in the '90s by the ecologically-themed Shaman's Tears and Bar Sinister and a rejuvenated Turok. This was followed by work on Marvel's Iron Man and more work on DC superheroes. He is currently working on reviving the popular titles he created back in the '80s and '90s.