Happy Birthday to Me - Mobile Edition

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Happy Birthday to Me
By Philip Schweier
October 10, 2011 - 13:09

Today, Oct. 10, is my birthday. A recent event has brought to mind one of my more memorable birthdays, when I turned 10 years old.

It was 1974, and because I lived only a block from St, Joseph Catholic School, I was permitted to go home for lunch if I wanted, and that day I did. The mailman usually came sometime between 11 a.m. and 12 noon, and given what day it was, I took a peek in the mailbox looking for the odd birthday card (and possibly a check) from an aunt or uncle. What I found was far better.

My older sister Janet was attending Indiana University at the time, and this would have been when Michael Uslan was there teaching his class on comic books. Apparently, a friend of my sister was taking the class and had a comic book floating around his dorm and she asked if she could have it to give to me when he was done. What a great birthday gift! But the truth is, it was more of a whim on her part. Her actual gift, a copy of The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer, came later.

The comic book in question was Superboy, starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #205. I was very familiar with the Legion. One of the very first comics I bought was Legion of Super-Heroes #3 (1973), which featured a reprint of Adventure Comics #340. Later, I bought Superboy, starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #200, which featured a radically redesigned Legion courtesy of artist Dave Cockrum.

Superboy/Legion #205 was a 100-page super-spectacular, which in those days was kind of like getting three comics in one. Granted, it didn’t alter the price point any. Regular comics were 20¢; super-spectaculars were 60¢. Still you seemed to get so much more, like maybe a crossword puzzle or “Cover Comedy Capers,” in which cover dialogue is rewritten, striving for a little bit of humor.

Superboy/Legion #205 featured a profile on new Legion artist, “Iron” Mike Grell. I didn’t know what the iron had to do with it, but I must admit, I sure liked his work. Nevertheless, I’d seen it before. He’d illustrated some Aquaman stories for Adventure Comics #435-437, and had drawn Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #204 (duh) which a friend of mine had loaned me.

But “meeting” the artist in a profile was my initial exposure to the idea that individuals actually drew comic books for a living. All the Archies looked identical, so I had figured it was all done in some sort of assembly line process. The idea that comic book stories were illustrated by individuals with an artistic bent toward storytelling made me sit up and take notice of the artists of the day. I learned to recognize Dick Giordano’s ink over Irv Novick’s pencils on Batman, and the almost oily rendering or Ernie Chua (later Chan) on Conan the Barbarian.

But Grell, well, he was something special. In addition to the Legion, Grell was also drawing the recently-revived Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. It only made sense, given that Grell had drawn Green Arrow as a back-up feature in Action Comics and Green Lantern as a back-up feature in The Flash.

A Rockwell-esque self-portrait of Legion artist Mike Grell from Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #205

When DC launched its adventure line in the mid-1970s, it seemed to me that that Warlord guy in the house ads might have been drawn by Grell. Sure enough, but not only drawn but written by as well. I followed Grell as he moved from one title to another, leaving Superboy & the Legion around #223, though he did several covers afterwards, then to Warlord for about 80 issues.

Around 1982, the formation of Pacific Comics was announced, and among its titles was Starslayer, a new feature by Mike Grell. Pacific didn’t last long, but its impact led to many more fledgling comic book publishers forming, including First Comics. Grell was there too, with his new creation, Jon Sable Freelance, one of the publisher’s first titles. And when Image developed, he brought them Shaman’s Tears and the tragically aborted Maggie the Cat, a Jon Sable spinoff.

During this time, Grell returned to DC Comics, writing the critically-acclaimed Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters series, which led to him writing a new ongoing series for 80 issues. Occasionally he might draw the odd issue or two but writing seemed to be his new direction.

Grell disappeared off my radar for several years after that, but it was largely my doing. When comic books became all about marketing to the collectors in the early 1990s, I abandoned comics altogether. It was several years later that I got back into the hobby and soon learned Grell would be writing Iron Man for Marvel Comics.

Since then, it seems he’s back, still hopping from project to project, whether it’s a return to his DC Comics series, The Warlord or illustrating X-Men Forever at Marvel Comics.

It was no small pleasure for me to be tapped with the assignment of conducting a dual interview with Dave Cockrum and Grell regarding their work on Legion back in the ‘70s for BACK ISSUE magazine #14 (February, 2006). Wow! Actually chatting with two legendary comic book artists. Could it get any better? Actually, yes, because I was equally excited to learn that this year, Mike Grell would be attending Dragon-Con. Considering he lives in Washington state, I was thrilled he’d make the journey to Atlanta.

But for comic book pros, attending a convention is not always the fun and games it is for us fans. They spend much of their time parked at their tables, meeting and greeting people and fielding sometimes dubious comments such as, “I think this project from 25 years is your best work.” They are constantly interrupted in their drawing of commissioned sketches (i.e. someone is paying them), and they have a list of assignments to fulfill before the weekend is over, which sometimes means drawing in their hotel room late into the night, rather than hobnobbing with celebrities and those two hot babes dressed as Black Canary and Zatanna.

So to be able to sit down at Grell’s table and talk to him at length was quite the joy. At some point in my youth, I must have wished I could meet him in person, and now I have. It’s only taken me close to 37 years.

Next time: Mike Grell reflects on his career