Masterstroke Studios; $100.00 (crowdfunded)

In describing comic books, it’s almost as much of a cliché to call a work “trailblazing” as it is to call its creator “legendary,” but sometimes a creation lives up to the hyperbole. Mike Grell's Jon Sable, Freelance was and is one of those works.

Coming off his long run on DC’s Warlord and a six-issue stint on his creator-owned Starslayer, and falling before his work on Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters and its long-running follow-on series, Jon Sable Freelance is a tough, tragedy-filled, action-oriented series with an incurable sense of humor. If that doesn’t seem like enough of a contradiction, it also balances fatalism with possibilities, idealism with pragmatism, and revenge with justice.

The character’s complex origin story – which doesn’t start off the series, but is revealed over four glorious issues – remains one of the all-time greats for action-adventure characters. Even after all these years, it’s genuinely moving.

This new oversized, hardcover omnibus is a beautifully produced edition that takes full advantage of modern production techniques that weren’t available the first time around. The larger pages display both Grell’s action scenes and his incredible detail to equal, outstanding effect. It collects the first 13 issues of the original series.

Kudos to Grell and the team that produced this edition, and a particular nod to Glenn Hauman on the recoloring.

– J.C. Vaughn