TITLE: Jon Sable Freelance vol. 1, Issue #3
YEAR: August 1983
COMPANY: First Comics
Created/Written/Illustrated:Mike Grell
Colorist: Janice Cohen
Letterer: Peter Iro
Editor: Mike Gold
In 1983, Mike Grell left DC Comics to develop his creator-owned titles “Jon Sable Freelance” and “Starslayer”.
“Jon Sable Freelance” was beloved by those who read indie comics and it was one of the comic pre-cursors of “the Dark Age of Comics”, before Frank Miller would write “Daredevil” and “The Dark Knight Returns”, Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” and Chris Claremont’s “The Dark Phoenix Saga”, “God Loves, Man Kills” and “Days of Future Past”.
One thing I love about Mike Grell’s work is that his writing is smart, his artwork is fantastic and a lot of thought goes into each issue that he is responsible for. And to think that “Jon Sable Freelance” would lead to an ABC TV series, “Sable” in 1987.
The series revolves around Jon Moses Sable, a man who is a children’s author and celebrity by day (in disguise and known as B.B. Flemm) and a mercenary by night.
But how did Jon become a mercenary? Well, for issue #3, we get the first part of Sable’s origin and it’s probably one of Mike Grell’s finest work.
Before I go on, I warn everyone that there are spoilers ahead!
For the most part, there will be some who may look at Jon Sable’s history similar to “The Punisher” and Frank Castle’s quest for revenge after his loved one’s are killed.
But the main difference is that Jon Sable doesn’t come from a dark background or in a hellish city, Jon Sable’s story begins as an athlete and how he met Olympic gymnast Elise McKenna of Kenya and how they fell in love and got married. And how they (with two younger children) would live near the borders of Botswanna, Zambia and protect the animals from poachers.
But as Sable does his job, it also affects criminal business who want their revenge and as the crime syndicate goes after Jon, who is not home with his wife and children, unfortunately the story turns tragic. So, without going into details, you can see how Jon Sable would be a husband/father in love, and become a man who wants nothing but revenge.
Sure, there are similar stories for superheroes or supervillains who lost family or loved ones but for Jon Sable, the whole story is pretty much slice of life and a story of two people who absolutely fell in love with each other and would go on to have family. And how they accepted Africa as their home but how how Jon gets a job to defend the animals from illegal hunting or poaching. And he does a great job at it.
But he would never expect that it would lead to the biggest tragic moment of his life.
Again, a very deep story and Mike Grell, shows his strength once again as a writer. Seriously, if you want to read well-written comic books, you can’t go wrong with Mike Grell’s work.
“Jon Sable Freelance” issue #3 is highly recommended!