Mike Grell

Appearing 26, 27, 28

Mike Grell is a comic book writer and artist, known for his work on books such as Green Arrow, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, The Warlord, Legion of Superheroes, and Jon Sable Freelance.

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, a high-profile assignment for an artist with no prior experience illustrating a monthly comic book. Grell says he got that job because he was walking in the editor's door to ask for work, literally, as the previous artist, Dave Cockrum, was walking out the door, having just quit. Grell inked a Cockrum penciled story in issue #202 and became the penciler of the book with issue #203 (August 1974) which featured the death of Invisible Kid. These stories were written by Cary Bates with later issues by Jim Shooter. Grell drew All-New Collectors' Edition #C-55 (1978), a treasury-sized special written by Paul Levitz in which longtime Legion members Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad were married.

A writer as well as artist, Grell cemented his status as a fan-favorite with his best-known creation, The Warlord. The character first appeared in 1st Issue Special #8 (Nov. 1975) and was soon given his own ongoing title (The Warlord #1, Jan/Feb 1976).

At DC, Grell additionally worked on characters such as Aquaman, Batman, and the Phantom Stranger. He and Elliot S. Maggin launched the Batman Family title in 1975 and Grell would work with Dennis O'Neil on the revival of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series the following year.

Grell wrote and drew the Tarzan comic strip from July 19, 1981 to February 27, 1983 (except for one strip, February 13, 1983, by Thomas Yeates). These strips were rerun in newspapers in 2004 - 2005.

Through the 1980s Grell developed creator-owned titles such Jon Sable Freelance and Starslayer. Jon Sable Freelance was published by the now-defunct First Comics. Starslayer, a space-born science fiction series, started at Pacific Comics but shifted to First after Pacific went out of business.

Sable was adapted into a short-lived television series and the character's origin tale, "A Storm Over Eden," from the comic book, was expanded and novelized by Grell under the title Sable, which was published in 2000 by Tor Books.

In 1987, Mike Grell wrote and drew the 3-issue prestige format limited series Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. He redesigned the character, which led to the ongoing Green Arrow series from 1988 to 1993, written by Grell.

In 1988, Grell authored and illustrated the graphic novel adaptation of the Timothy Dalton James Bond film Licence to Kill, and in 1989 wrote and drew an original Bond story, the three-issue mini-series Permission to Die, both published by Eclipse Comics.

Shaman's Tears was a more ecologically themed outing for Grell. Main character Joshua Brand, the son of a half-Sioux father and an Irish mother, as an adult returns to the reservation he ran away from as a child. Discovering he mystically possesses the powers of all animals and the Earth itself, he becomes the protector of the planet.

Grell wrote and drew the covers, but did none of the interior artwork, for issues 1-4 of the Shaman's Tears spinoff series Bar Sinister (June - September 1995) from Windjammer, the creator-owned imprint of Valiant Comics. This series followed the adventures of a group of escaped government experimental subjects, animals genetically engineered to human intelligence and, basically, human form, as potential bio-weapons.

During this time period, Grell wrote and penciled a Shaman's Tears/Turok Dinosaur Hunter cross-over limited series for Valiant Comics and a two issue Turok limited series entitled Turok The Hunted, as well as several fill-in issues of the ongoing Turok series.

From 2002 to 2003, Grell worked on Iron Man; it was during a Grell written story from this period that Tony Stark revealed his secret identity to the world.

In recent years, Grell revisited the world of Warlord, worked on X-Men Forever, Green Lantern (DC Retroactive), and the Arrow digital comic. In December 2010 he was announced as editor-in-chief of Ardden Entertainment.

Mike Grell will be appearing Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He will be located at Booths # 608 and # 610 in the exhibition room.