This is the third (following Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! and the Starlin/McDonnell run of Dreadstar) in a series of posts spotlighting less-often-read (by me) runs of three of my favorite series. Whenever I'm in the mood to read some Jon Sable, I invariably return to either the classic run of the original series, or Bloodtrail (IDW, 2005) or Ashes of Eden (IDW, 2009). Never do I return to Sable: Return of the Hunter... until now. (NOTE: For purposes of this discussion, I consider the "classic run" to be #1-33. Although Mike Grell continued on his signature title beyond that point, I feel the quality dipped consiberably with the format change. I don't re-read those often, either. YMMV.) Back in 1988 I read the first dozen or so issues of Return of the Hunter from the beginning, but dropped off after that, always knowing that "someday" I would return to read the entire series. That day, after some 35 years, is here.
It was right around this time that Sable was being adapted for the small screen. (It lasted all of six episodes.) I recorded them all (at EP), but accidentally taped over them. All I have left is up to the point where Sable rappels down the side of a building. "Luckily" the entire series is available on YouTube. First Comics changed the logo to better match that of the TV show and started over with a "new number one." The comic book also changed Sble's distinctive facepaint camo to better match that of the TV show. Editor Laurel Fitch explains: "Though attitudes are changing, the general public still views all comics as children's fare--stories keyed for children, art styled for children, and prices set for a child's pocketbook. Weboth know the answer to those three assumptions is 'Not any more, they're not,' but I'll bet a few of you still get grief from family and.or friends about reading 'funny books.' We saw the premiere of Sable as an opportunity, 'An action-adventure show based on a comic book without superheroes? This I've gotta see!' And once inside that comic shop (perhaps for the first time in twenty years), it would be a lot easier if the name of the book matched the television series' name. after that, the renumbering had to follow. And regardless, Jon, Myke, Sonny, Eden, Grey and Josh remain. All beautifully realized characters with their own stories to tell. I hope you'll continue to join them."
First Comics tried to distance Sable: Return of the Hunter from superhero comics in other ways as well, noteably, cover copy. The first six issues featured movie poster-style cover copy.
- "REALISM IN COMICS: From Iran to AIDS! The first of the new breed of heroes continues at the forefront."
- "BETRAYAL and VENGEANCE in TEHRAN. The pioneer of today's new realistic heroes continues the hunt... a tale torn from tomorrow's headlines."
- "A fatal game. A deadly prize. Sable races against all odds when winning could cast his life!"
- "VENDETTA! A brutal killer's lust for revenge triggers a bullet from Sable's past."
- "Theft and trachery in a fight he cannot win!"
- "SCARS and MARKERS. Sable's search for a friend reopens old wounds and an unpaid debt."
After the first six issues, the cover copy was gone (and so was the TV show)...
...and after the seventh, so was the new logo, to be replaced by...
I don't know exactly was First was going for here (target? crosshairs? gun barrel?), but it looks like nothing more to me than ripples in a pond.
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Marv Wolfman was still writing The New Titans while he wrote Sable from 1988-1990.
Even though I know Marv Wolfman is writing this series, I could never pick out any of his usual idiosyncracies back in 1988, and I can't now, either. Actually, I'm quite impressed with Wolfman's writing this time arouns. I can't remember which comic book writer it was (John Byrne? Peter David?), but someone once commented on two entirely different series he was writing at the time, and whoever it was said that he used an entirely different part of his brain to write one series as opposed to the other. I suspuct that's the case with Marv Wolfman here. The writing in this new series so far has been, IMO, better than I remember Grell's last dozen or so issues of the original series. I may have to go back and re-read those when I finish up with these.
I am also quite impressed with Bill Jaaska's art. (His name is pronounced "jazz-ka," BTW, for anyone who didn't know and was wondering.)
A few years ago I bought ALL of the John Sable trades, and I ran through them pretty quick. Maybe its a bad thing on my part, but I never noticed a difference. I thought they were all great.
I may be misremembering. That's why, if my purpose holds, I may go back and reread #34-56 after I finish up the reboot series. I may also feel that way because of the format change, which began with #34. Counterintuitively, I just didn't think the artwork looked as good on the better paper stock in Sable's case. Primarily, I think that was because the coloring looked to garish (like Marvel's "flex-o-graphic" process) and didn't complement Grell's linework. It's all relative, anyway; even "bad" Sable is better than 90% of everything else on the stands, then or now.
As I recall, I mostly picked up Sable as back issues and quarter-bin fare. I can't recall what got me started, but it wasn't the TV series, which I never watched. I was aware of it; I recall a conversation with a customer at the friendly neighborhood comics shop I frequented at the time who didn't understand that there was a TV series, let alone the differences between it and the comics.
Back then I read more comics of all types (but then, they weren't cover-priced at $3.99 and up!) -- superheroes of course, but also war, Western, mystery/horror, humor, kiddie fare (I LOVED Marvel's Star Comics line and miss it to this day). So they didn't have to hard-sell me on an action-adventure series like Sable.
I was underwhelmed by the continuation of the series after Mike Grell left; Sable, like The Rocketeer, may be tied too closely to its creator to work well in other hands. Maybe I might have thought differently if there had been a better artist; I was quite underwhelmed by Bill Jaaska's work. On the other hand, I had no problems with Marv Wolfman's writing.
As for the logo they started using with issue #7, I think they were going for "target," what with the concentric rings as well as the rounded curves in the letter "S" and round gaps in the letters "A" and "B."
As soon as I read above that there is a Marv Wolfman run on Sable, I found myself wondering who he introduced as a potential love interest for the main character.
If he has a single distinctive trait as a writer, it is his insistence on introducing new potential love interests.
That aside, he may or may not be a good fit, but he probably felt confortable with the character. He has, after all, created Vigilante and Deathstroke.
Rather than introduce a new love interest [35 year-old SPOILER], Wolfman had Sable ybab a evah dna tnangerp ekyM teg. As with Peter David's run of Dreadstar, Wolfman's run is not canon and was dropped when the series creator returned to the title.
Kelvin, I recall being underwhelmed by the post-Grell Sable as well, but I an currently in the process of revaluating it (including Bill Jaaska's artwork). The trick is, I think (for me, anyway), is not to compare it to Grell's Jon Sable Freelance, but to today's "$3.99 and up" comics. I agree that Sable, like Rocketeer and Dreadstar, is best when handled by their respective creators.
A few years ago I bought ALL of the John Sable trades, and I ran through them pretty quick.
I bought the first two of them... in hardcover. (My v1 has a signed/numbered tipped-in book-plate, 652/1000.) I stopped after that because I really wanted the HCs. A quick search online tells me there were eight volumes, reprinting through #45. (The series ran through #56.) That was in 2005. In 2010, IDW released two volumes of Jon Sable Freelance Omnibus which reprinted through #33. The "omnibusses" were printed at a smaller size, but I decided I really wanted those key issues on slick paper after all, so I bought them. (In hindsight, I should have bought the series you did.) In 2023 ComicMix released a "Masterstroke Edition," a proper omnibus, which reprinted #1-13. I almost didn't buy it (how many versions of the same material do I really need, anyway?), but I wanted to "vote with my $$$" in hope more volumes would be published. So far, no.
but I wanted to "vote with my $$$" in hope more volumes would be published. So far, no.
Yeah, that's always tough when you do show support for something, and then nothing else seems to happen.
I stopped buying Sable at #14 when comics were $2 apiece. Now I'm reading #15-27 for the first time when new comics are $4-5 apiece or more. Like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter, I'm coming out ahead on this deal AFAIAC. Bill Jaaska's last issues was #19; Marv Wolfman's was #23. #27 was the last issue of the series. First Comics published some of the best comics of the '80s, but some of them were so idiosyncratic that they could not survive the departure of their original creators (such as Chaykin, Grell and Starlin to name three). The stories written by Marv Wolfman (Sable) and Peter David (Dreadstar), for example, were reandered apocryphal upon the return of Mike Grell and Jim Starlin (respectively).
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