Here’s a sneak peek at the layout for the dust jacket to Volume 2 of the JON SABLE , FREELANCE Omnibus!

The Hero Initiative charity art auction at Baltimore Comic-Con will have 40 pieces (many created especially for this auction). The auction itself will be on September 9th at the convention, BUT YOU CAN PLACE PROXY BIDS UNTIL THIS THURSDAY, 8/31, at the link below.

https://www.heroinitiative.org/portfolio-item/2023-baltimore-comic-con-auction/

Hi, guys –

Here is the art I donated to the Hero Initiative charity art auction. The auction is at the Baltimore Comic-Con on September 9th. But art lovers NOT attending can bid by PROXY now until August 31st!

All for a great cause. These guys are the REAL heroes.

Mike

https://www.heroinitiative.org/portfolio-item/2023-baltimore-comic-con-auction/?fbclid=IwAR1gFHQ0ylXxzq4wGHVhf7PpD8sySPIxjecS0PIqpeUjMkkVHyKLaU-TNdg

This picks up where Volume 1 left off, with issues 14 – 27, newly remastered and in an over-sized format (think DC Absolute Editions), making this the biggest and best presentation for JON SABLE.

This series of Deluxe Hardcovers is designed to be the definitive editions of JON SABLE’S iconic adventures.

The Masterstroke team are thrilled to be launching the new campaign, which will be the first one we’ve done that won’t be impacted by the Pandemic. It will be a thrill to be able to fund, print, and ship this one without the hassles and headaches we endured over the past 3 plus years since Masterstroke began. And we’ve learned a lot and have already implemented vast improvements to how we do things, so that operations will be much, much smoother.

We hope that the book will be ready to print by late October and are already reserving time for the production.

And, we have a lot more in store. There are some great new things we will be announcing in the coming weeks and months, that will surely get Sable and Grell fans super excited.

The biggest of which is that instead of packing stretch goals with lots of little trinkets and items, we are using the stretch goals to actually fund the creation of brand-new pages of Sable and Maggie The Cat by Mike Grell. That’s right, the more we raise, the more pages of the next brand-new projects that will be funded.

A planned new Sable Rules of The Hunt #2 is planned, and Mike is set to begin art for Maggie’s conclusion. As well, and most exciting, if we can raise enough funds, some of them will be used to let Mike begin work on drawing pages of issues of the original Jon Sable run that he didn’t originally draw! Issue 44 -56 were drawn by other artists originally, and for the definitive release, we want to get Mike to pencil some of those tales, with Stephen Scott (and perhaps others jumping in to help with inks to finish the pages).

This new campaign will run a full 30 days and promises to be a fresh new path for Masterstoke and Mike with an eye towards setting the table for Mike to be able to begin work on brand new adventures for fans!

By the time this project is funded, we will be approaching Mike’s 76th birthday, and what better way to celebrate than to continue this hardcover series, and fund Mike’s creation of new works. Heck, we’re actively talking about a ten year plan for more Sablem Maggie, Pilgrim, Shaman’s Tears, and a whole lot more.

This new project is a major fresh start, and a doorway into some big things yet to come!

LINK TO KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikegrell/mike-grells-jon-sable-freelance-deluxe-hardcover-vol-1-and-2

I grew up in Florence, WI, a town about a hundred miles north of Green Bay. It was seven blocks long and sported seven taverns—two of them were bowling alleys. That’s how my mom and her Women’s League team wound up at the state championships in Milwaukee in the early 1950’s.

We never really know what went on during the bowling league championship weekend, other than the fact that, after driving over 200 miles of terrible roads, they were certainly entitled to unwind a bit. After all, even in those days, what happened in Milwaukee STAYED in Milwaukee.

They always stayed at a nice hotel near the bowling alley – defined as someplace with a restaurant and bar. My aunt Lois sat next to mom at the bar and complained in a loud voice: “You’d think at these prices they’d at least have decent entertainment.”

“They do,” mom said. “Tony Bennet is singing here.”

“Tony Bennet?” said my aunt.  “Who the hell is Tony Bennet?”

That would be the guy sitting on the barstool next to her.

He turned to his brother-in-law—his manager at the time—seated next to him and said, “Some public relations man you are.”

He wound up buying drinks for the team and mom told us that story whenever he came on the radio.

Almost all of my generation have a memory of Tony Bennet, whether it’s a first dance or a first kiss or the Senior Prom. My favorite is mom and dad dancing in the kitchen…

Mike

Sadly, due to a massive miscommunication I will NOT be attending Megacon 2023. Organizers have assured me I’ll be on the list for 2024. Of course, that’s what they said a year ago when I got Covid and had to cancel at the last minute. I started to get worried when they hadn’t been in contact to arrange flights. Now it seems they’ve spent their entire guest budget for this year, so I’ll have to wait. I hate to disappoint fans, but I’m no less disappointed for myself. Megacon has been my “white whale” for 30 years and I thought I was finally going to land it. Oh, well, 2024 will be the 50^th Anniversary of The Warlord, so that’s something to look forward to.

Mike