Atlas IS ALIVE !!!
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HaloReach2010
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I didn't realize Grell had pitched something to Atlas that he later reworked into Warlord. Pretty cool info.sbcomics wrote:Mike Grell named editor-in-chief at Ardden!
Little bit of my take:
http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2010/12/ ... rtainment/
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sbcomics
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Yep - here's the longer version of the story, that he told at Austin Comic-Con.
"Savage Empire" was the comic strip he pitched at the 1973 New York Comic-Con. Though adventure strips were dying off at the time, it led to him getting work at DC.
A little later, he heard Atlas/Seaboard was looking for new book ideas, so he took "Savage Empire" and pitched it, with the idea that it would be a creator-owned book. Somehow Julius Schwartz hears about it, and says, "Why don't you pitch it to us, instead?"
But at the time DC didn't have creator-ownership. He wanted to maintain ownership of "Savage Empire." So, he changed around the lead character and the setting (apparently just in a few minutes while he waits for Julie Schwartz to finish a phone call) and pitches what became "Warlord."
- Matt
"Savage Empire" was the comic strip he pitched at the 1973 New York Comic-Con. Though adventure strips were dying off at the time, it led to him getting work at DC.
A little later, he heard Atlas/Seaboard was looking for new book ideas, so he took "Savage Empire" and pitched it, with the idea that it would be a creator-owned book. Somehow Julius Schwartz hears about it, and says, "Why don't you pitch it to us, instead?"
But at the time DC didn't have creator-ownership. He wanted to maintain ownership of "Savage Empire." So, he changed around the lead character and the setting (apparently just in a few minutes while he waits for Julie Schwartz to finish a phone call) and pitches what became "Warlord."
- Matt
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sbcomics
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I put up a post at my blog for favorite Atlas/Seaboard title, since some people may be thinking about the 1970s line today with the revival in the news again yesterday.
http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2010/12/ ... ard-title/
Not sure how many of my regular readers have read the Atlas comics, but I figure a decent amount of folks here would have!
http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2010/12/ ... ard-title/
Not sure how many of my regular readers have read the Atlas comics, but I figure a decent amount of folks here would have!
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TheVisitor
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Below is an excerpt from the Jeff Rovin article - How Not to Start a Comic Book Company. This segment pertains to Mike Grell and DC comics -
Things got a bit nastier, though, when DC's freelancers started coming up to see us about work. Everyone from Bob Kanigher to Elliot Maggin to Curt Swan paid us a visit; so did Mike Grell who, as it happened, was a catalyst that brought the flow of DC people to an abrupt end.
When Mike came up to see us, he was worried that if DC found out he'd even been to our offices, he'd get the axe. I told Grell not to worry, that if his work at DC were ever restricted or cut off, we'd keep him busy and at a higher rate than he was making at the time. Naturally, I assured him I'd keep his visit confidential until he'd had a chance to talk to Carmine and make up his mind about what he wanted to do.
Next thing I knew, Grell was grousing that I'd called Carmine and clucked about how we'd "landed his boy Grell," thus making the artist's position at DC extremely uncomfortable. I hadn't made any such call, of course; not only did I scrupulously avoid Carmine - he intimidated the *SQUEE* out of me ;but, in all candor, Grell wasn't a catch worth hooting about to Carmine or anyone else. I might have crowed to one or two of my discreet colleagues like Bill Dubay or Ernie Colon if we'd signed Joe Kubert or Jack Kirby. But Mike Grell? Uh-uh. While circumstances at Atlas often left me compromised and/or playing the part of an SOB, betraying confidences has never been one of my bad habits.
To this day, I don't know how Carmine found out literally within minutes that Grell had come to see us. Most likely someone who was just leaving the office or was in with Larry saw Grell enter and spilled the beans. The comics industry is many things bright and wonderful, but tight-lipped it ain't. (AT&T could learn something about light-speed communications by tapping into the comics industry grapevine. The most impressive such transmission of data in my experience occurred when Neal Adam's cover for Iron Jaw #1 was stolen. Neal knew about the theft within 10 minutes of our realizing at the office that it was gone and while the guy has many extraordinary talents, I don't believe that ESP is one of them.)
Regardless, the Grell-Atlas imbroglio crystallized Carmine's view that we were a threat to his family, and it didn't take long for a chilling effect to set in. DC freelancers stopped coming by (with the exception of Mike Fleisher who, to his credit, stood beside us), and Carmine hurriedly mustered an offensive of his own: issuing bonus checks to his creative personnel, upping the rates for most freelancers, instituting a policy of returning artwork to artists and colored silverprints to colorists, and establishing a reprint rate of 25 per cent for writers. The catch: with rare exceptions, these perks applied only to people who worked exclusively for DC.
Phil
Things got a bit nastier, though, when DC's freelancers started coming up to see us about work. Everyone from Bob Kanigher to Elliot Maggin to Curt Swan paid us a visit; so did Mike Grell who, as it happened, was a catalyst that brought the flow of DC people to an abrupt end.
When Mike came up to see us, he was worried that if DC found out he'd even been to our offices, he'd get the axe. I told Grell not to worry, that if his work at DC were ever restricted or cut off, we'd keep him busy and at a higher rate than he was making at the time. Naturally, I assured him I'd keep his visit confidential until he'd had a chance to talk to Carmine and make up his mind about what he wanted to do.
Next thing I knew, Grell was grousing that I'd called Carmine and clucked about how we'd "landed his boy Grell," thus making the artist's position at DC extremely uncomfortable. I hadn't made any such call, of course; not only did I scrupulously avoid Carmine - he intimidated the *SQUEE* out of me ;but, in all candor, Grell wasn't a catch worth hooting about to Carmine or anyone else. I might have crowed to one or two of my discreet colleagues like Bill Dubay or Ernie Colon if we'd signed Joe Kubert or Jack Kirby. But Mike Grell? Uh-uh. While circumstances at Atlas often left me compromised and/or playing the part of an SOB, betraying confidences has never been one of my bad habits.
To this day, I don't know how Carmine found out literally within minutes that Grell had come to see us. Most likely someone who was just leaving the office or was in with Larry saw Grell enter and spilled the beans. The comics industry is many things bright and wonderful, but tight-lipped it ain't. (AT&T could learn something about light-speed communications by tapping into the comics industry grapevine. The most impressive such transmission of data in my experience occurred when Neal Adam's cover for Iron Jaw #1 was stolen. Neal knew about the theft within 10 minutes of our realizing at the office that it was gone and while the guy has many extraordinary talents, I don't believe that ESP is one of them.)
Regardless, the Grell-Atlas imbroglio crystallized Carmine's view that we were a threat to his family, and it didn't take long for a chilling effect to set in. DC freelancers stopped coming by (with the exception of Mike Fleisher who, to his credit, stood beside us), and Carmine hurriedly mustered an offensive of his own: issuing bonus checks to his creative personnel, upping the rates for most freelancers, instituting a policy of returning artwork to artists and colored silverprints to colorists, and establishing a reprint rate of 25 per cent for writers. The catch: with rare exceptions, these perks applied only to people who worked exclusively for DC.
Phil
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TheVisitor
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sbcomics
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He did a "Warlord" revival for DC in 2009-2010, and has done a couple of "Jon Sable" miniseries since 2005. He also drew some "X-Men Forever."xodacia81 wrote:I haven't heard of him doing anything in the last couple years.JCVaughn wrote:You say that like he's been out of comics...?xodacia81 wrote:Grell is back in comics? FANTASTIC NEWS. I loved his Green Arrow run.
He's certainly been less ubiquitous in the 2000s than he was earlier in his career, but he's remained active.
- Matt
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JCVaughn
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Well, if you're a Jon Sable fan, then you have at least one trade paperback ahead of you! He did a new Sable series for IDW in '05 (or so) and then one online for ComicMix that was collected by IDW late last year or early this year.xodacia81 wrote:I haven't heard of him doing anything in the last couple years.JCVaughn wrote:You say that like he's been out of comics...?xodacia81 wrote:Grell is back in comics? FANTASTIC NEWS. I loved his Green Arrow run.
He also has another ComicMix/IDW series, but I can't seem to remember if it's completed or not. I think it isn't.
And of course the recent run on Warlord for DC.
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myron
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does the newer Sable compare at all to the stuff he did for First?JCVaughn wrote:Well, if you're a Jon Sable fan, then you have at least one trade paperback ahead of you! He did a new Sable series for IDW in '05 (or so) and then one online for ComicMix that was collected by IDW late last year or early this year.xodacia81 wrote:I haven't heard of him doing anything in the last couple years.JCVaughn wrote:You say that like he's been out of comics...?xodacia81 wrote:Grell is back in comics? FANTASTIC NEWS. I loved his Green Arrow run.
He also has another ComicMix/IDW series, but I can't seem to remember if it's completed or not. I think it isn't.
And of course the recent run on Warlord for DC.
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JCVaughn
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I think that's a fair question. I thought there were elements of the second recent mini-series that were superb and others that weren't quite there. I think the 2005 mini (also a trade from IDW) was great.myron wrote:does the newer Sable compare at all to the stuff he did for First?JCVaughn wrote:Well, if you're a Jon Sable fan, then you have at least one trade paperback ahead of you! He did a new Sable series for IDW in '05 (or so) and then one online for ComicMix that was collected by IDW late last year or early this year.xodacia81 wrote:I haven't heard of him doing anything in the last couple years.JCVaughn wrote:You say that like he's been out of comics...?xodacia81 wrote:Grell is back in comics? FANTASTIC NEWS. I loved his Green Arrow run.
He also has another ComicMix/IDW series, but I can't seem to remember if it's completed or not. I think it isn't.
And of course the recent run on Warlord for DC.
There's also a Sable novel by Grell if you haven't read it. Really enjoyed it.
I think in terms of storytelling he's still willing to take some risks. The recent Warlord series actually really surprised me at one point. I only stopped purely for budgetary reasons and will no doubt pick up the issues or trades at some point.
I hated the horrible, sub-par reprints his stuff got at Valiant (entire captions and word balloons missing) and wish someone would do a good collection of Starslayer in particular...
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JCVaughn
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The first two or three years of Jon Sable are just some of the most enjoyable comics from that period...Knightt wrote:I have MOST of the Jon Sable books... I can't wait to read them. I think I picked them up right around the time I picked up my complete Dreadstar collection.
So much to read... so much to read.
(I should NOT complain, I remember a time when I did not have ENOUGH to read)
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superggraphics
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Less than 24 hours to go! Enjoy Atlas Day everyone! I know I will!
http://www.atlas-comics.com/
George E Warner
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George E Warner
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