By Mike Grell
Published by First
Comics (1988)
32 page issues
My Comic Shop and
Mile High Comics
I’ve covered all
of the Jon Sable, Freelance comics
which were published as trade paperbacks. I don’t know why the series is called
the “complete” Jon Sable when they don’t bother to publish the last ten issues.
Maybe it’s because the series tends to stall in these issues. Don’t get me
wrong, the action is great, the emotions are tense, and the art is tight, but
many of the events in these issues have no lasting impact on the character. He
is stuck in limbo, when a few issues earlier we were teased with a reckoning
between Sable and a master assassin which never comes to fruition.
Maybe
Grell just became tired of the whole schmear. This was the end of Jon Sable,
Freelance, but not the end of the character. The series restarted under the
title Sable with Marv Wolfman
(formerly of Marvel comic) at the helm. That series lasted 27 issues before
ending. I may or may not be reviewing them in a future post, depending on how
much they cost. However, I managed to get each of these for an average of $2.00
each, so it probably will be pretty cost effective.
We
begin with Sable’s rendition of Die Hard
- a must rip-off of the time. In issues 46-47, Gunmen have taken over a Chicago
office tower, sealing off the top floors while they hold a group of executives
hostage. Unknown to them, one of the hostages is a man intent on killing his
boss who had blackmailed the man's wife into an affair. His wife meanwhile,
hires Jon Sable to prevent that murder. Now Sable just has to find out how to scale
the tower and get inside.
For
issues 48-49 we have a sort of swashbuckling, foreign affair. Sable is asked to
handle security for a visit by British royalty to a small European duchy. The
problem is, there are forces within the country Jon knows nothing about, and
since Jon has more than a passing resemblance to the country's ruler, they have
their own plans for him.
In
landmark issue 50. In which the titular character turns 50 and reunites with
Maggie the Cat, a jewel thief who stole an Andrew Wyeth painting from Jon. It seems she's stolen some jewels from
someone high up in the Mafia. Bigger problem is, she also stole his record
book. When it is discovered that there's more to the book than meets the eye,
Jon comes up with a plan to make sure all of the guilty parties are punished.
In
issues 51 and 52. Jon is forced to babysit his agent’s AWOL son for a day. The
pair get mixed up with a prostitute who needs protection from her pimp, against
whom she testified, but he was released on bail and is out for revenge. This
one mostly reads like a comedy of errors, a lot of missed messages. A story
which couldn’t be written today, because we all have cell phones.
Issues
53 is a standalone issue focusing on a frequent frenemy of Sable, Police
Captain Winters of the NYPD. Here we see Winter’s backstory and his rise up the
ranks of the NYPD, plus his frequent run-ins with Sable, who is always just one
step away from jail.
The
series concludes with a three part tale, called The Trojan Wars. Issues 54, 55,
and 56, takes us on a European mission where the CIA blackmail Sable into
investigating an illegal shipment of weapons into Ireland. The guns are supposedly
being run by Sable’s estranged father. As we find out, Sable was the bastard
son of an officer and a resistance fighter – a one night stand which resulted
in a love child. A series of double-crosses, misinformation, and plenty of
gunning and running. Enjoy.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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