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Jon Sable

kevinburtonsmith

Created by Mike Grell

“Jon Sable–big game hunter on the concrete jungle–I wish I was him.”
— Gene Simmons, KISS

Gee, Dr. Suess never carried a gun…

Mike Grell’s JON SABLE was a gun-for-hire who lived in New York City and seemingly had little problem kicking ass or blowing away the bad guys. Oh, and he wrote bestselling children’s books.

He started out writing a memoir about his time in Vietnam, competing as a pentathlete in the Munich Olympics in 1972, running a safari business in east Africa and the subsequent murder of his wife, Elise, and kids by poachers. After tracking down the killers, and avenging himself, he found himself back in the States, with no money, and no market for his memoirs. His agent convinced him to try his hand at children’s books, and so far he’s had some success at that, under the pen name of B.B. Flemm. He’s even managed to fall in love again.

But he also freelances as a private eye/mercenary/bodyguard/troubleshooter.

Just, you know, in case…

Although, in a distinctly goofy comic book touch, he paints his face with black strips when he hits the streets.

As one does, apparently…

Still, an awful lot of people think an awful lot of this series.

Like one of the countless blurbs goes: “Are you in trouble? Need a security expert? A Bodyguard? Someone smart, tough, and experienced? Call Jon Sable–freelance mercenary and paladin for hire.”

The comic certainly turned some heads. Creator-owned, it was one of the first of the comics of the eighties indie boom to really gather a devoted fan base who loved its pulpy, two-fisted retro Men’s Adventure vibe, and came stacked with Grell’s exquisitely rendered illustrations of gorgeous (and stacked) babes. But it was more than that. It drew praise for not just the art, but especially for the writing which took emotional and narrative chances rarely seen in American comics at the time.

Sable even inspired a short-lived TV series (six episodes) in the late 80’s. Roving correspondent Jan Long reports:

“I’ll have to see if I have any TV books around that might describe it accurately. To the best of my recollection, he was indeed involved in some way with children’s books… I’m not sure that I would have considered him a detective exactly, but then my memory is a little hazy on the whole thing. I also have some vague recollection of him painting his face before he went on his nightly forays. For some reason it seems that the face paint was red & black, but I may be confusing this with the cards in Sword of Justice or with another show entirely. (I told you I was hazy on this!) I remember some woman being in the show (girlfriend? editor? agent?), and there was also a male supporting role. (I think this was a youngish chubby blind guy named Cheesecake who was a computer expert. However, if this character sounds familiar to you from another show, I’m mixed up again.) Only 6 episodes? Gee, it felt like it went on longer than that. And I’m mortified to admit that I watched it, although you’d never know it from the above description. For some unexplainable reason, it reminded me of T.H.E. Cat which fascinated me as a child.”

Turns out it was Rene Russo who played Sable’s girlfriend, Eden. That’s gotta count for something. She was joined by a Cheesecake, a blind computer hacker; Myke, the illustrator of his books, and Cynthia , his secretary.

And for KISS fans, here’s a little tidbit passed on from a friend (who prefers to remain anonymous) who actually worked at the production company at the time, who reports that the pilot episode was shot with Gene Simmons as Sable.

“I worked at Taft Entertainment Company when they produced the 6 episodes. The pilot episode was shot with Gene Simmons of Kiss fame in the lead role, believe it or not. When the network saw it, they decided that he was a little heavy to be believable in the role, so the pilot was re-shot with Lewis Van Bergen playing Jon Sable…I remember everyone being so psyched to have Gene in the lead and how bummed they were when they had to re-shoot. Anyway, I thought that I would share.”

Me? I missed this one completely, both comic and TV show but, in retrospect it seems a lot of people thought the comic book, at least, was hot stuff. And Sable gained enough of a cult following that, in the summer of 2000, Grell wrote and published his first Sable novel, the eponymously-titled Sable, that re-tells the story of those first five or six issues, and apparently drew considerable praise from fans and non-fans alike. More were promised.

In 2005, IDW Publishing ibegan publishing Bloodtrail, a new Sable comic book mini-series by  Grell, and reissuing the original series as graphic novels, while another mini-series, Ashes of Eden, appeared online in 2007, and later was printed.

Since then, there have been a barrage of reprints, and in July 2023 ComicMix announced the first issue of what they’re calling the Masterstroke Omnibus series, which will offer super-sized, super-deluxe, remastered hardcover reprints.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Comic artist and writer Mike Grell worked for DC on Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, and created the Warlord series, before creating Jon Sable (original name: Iron Mike) for up-and-coming indie publisher First Comics.

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Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Sinai Megibow, Mike Clark, He-Who-Shall_not_Be-Named and the lovely and talented Janice Long for their help on this one.

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