Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Travis Morgan, The Warlord

This has been a very interesting day. Filled with lows and highs. All within an 8 hour period. Whew! I can't take too many of these types of days.

Today I only did some sketching. What started out as a rough head shot of Dr. Fate, turned into The Warlord. I was a huge fan of the first appearance of the character when he first appeared in First Issue Special #8. I was already of fan of Mike Grell so this just blew my young mind. Then he gets his own book!!! And then after the second issue comes out...nothing. Back in those days of newspaper stand comic buying, you could miss an issue. I assumed that was the case. After a while I figured it was canceled, but then out of no where, the third issue comes out! Again, happiest kid you could find.

Mike Grell's creations have always pulled in people I know that never read comics. My mom would read Warlord and even named one of her dogs, Travis, after the character. My girlfriend in high school, who never read comics, read my Warlord comics. Jon Sable was a favorite of another girl friend. My wife Deena liked Shaman's Tears. I find it interesting that Grell's characters seem to reach out to a wider audience. Too bad about the Sable TV series though. That could have been great. Seemed to work out for Rene Russo who was part of the cast of that short lived show. Ah well. :)

This is Post #723

7 comments:

Royce Thrower said...

How did Dr Fate morph into the Warlord? haha
I agree Gene. I always liked seeing Grell's stuff as a high schooler, especially the run on Superboy and the Legion. I too was a huge fan of Jon Sable and still consider myself to be a Mike Grell fan. Nice rendition of Mr. Morgan! Hope tomorrow brings a more stable and happier time.

Gary M. Peiffer said...

I only recently encountered Mike Grell's Jon Sable a few years back, excellent material and it does hold up even today.

Travis looks like one dignified, but kick butt Warlord, great job!

Hopefully tomorrow will be more consistent and less ups and downs!

Gary

Brian Jones said...

Great Warlord and I hope tomorrow is a better day for everyone :)

Anonymous said...

Gene, did you see the new Grell commission I got a few weeks back? It's not the Warlord, but it does feature Jon Sable.

Gene Gonzales said...

Royce - I started with a head rough and started adding the helmet. At some point I started thinking about the snake piece on top of Travis's helmet as I started roughing out the fin on Fates. And I might just be a little insane to make the connection. ;)

Gary - Sable has some good stuff still. Thanks!

Brian - Thanks. Me too! Though waking up at 2:45am, wide awake is not the best start for the day.

Michael - You know, I did see your Grell write up and that dynamite Common Elements of Sable and Sable. I forgot about it but I have to wonder if your post was in the back of my mind when I started writing mine about Grell. I think you may have inspired me. Everyone, check out the link SwanShadow has provided for more Grell art goodness! :)

Craig Zablo said...

Really nice Warlard sketch. I've been a Grell fan for years. Sable was one of my favorite comics for a good while. It still brings back fond memories.

Really nice commission, Michael! Two Grell Sables!

Vincent Paul Bartilucci said...

Ah, Warlord. I remember getting to the party a little late on this one - I think my first issue was #10. It took me years to find all the back issues I had missed.

Whenever I think of Grell's Warlord my first thought is of those incredible double page spreads that Mike always put on pages 2 and 3. Oh, and all the cool monsters. Grell's Warlord was the comic book equivalent of a Harryhausen film.

Travis looks awesome, Gene. Please keep delving into your childhood favs as they seem to be mine, as well!

So, didya read Shang Chi ... ? :-)