A BIRTHDAY SALUTE to the late artist…
The late Gray Morrow was born 89 years ago on March 7, 1934. It’s long been my take that the average fan has never really appreciated his work to the degree they should. Artists and writers, on the other hand, speak of his work with reverence and respect.
In the past, 13th Dimension columnist Paul Kupperberg has picked his 13 FAVORITE GRAY MORROW COMIC BOOK STORIES. This year, I want to throw a spotlight on Morrow’s work on Zatanna — both his three-issue back-up run in Adventure Comics in 1971 (written by Len Wein) and his 1987 Zatanna Special #1 (written by an uncredited Gerry Conway).
So dig these 13 PAGES AND PANELS — including a couple of superb covers.
Thgir no.
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Adventure Comics #413, story page 2
Zatanna Special #1, Page 2
Adventure Comics #413, story page 3
Zatanna Special #1, Page 3
Adventure Comics #414, story page 4
Zatanna Special #1, Page 17
Adventure Comics #413, story page 4
Adventure Comics #415, story page 2
Zatanna Special #1, Page 31
Adventure Comics #414, story page 7
Zatanna Special #1, Page 59
Issue included the three Adventure Comics segments edited into one story.
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MORE
— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite GRAY MORROW Comic Book Stories. Click here.
— RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1987! Click here.
March 7, 2023
If this world was truly a magical place, these stories would be collected in a nice hardcover like they deserve.
March 9, 2023
I would love to see Morrow’s Zatanna Special reprinted from his original artwork. The pages here match my memory that the artwork was faint, too delicate, almost insubstantial compared to the pages from Adventure Comics. I’m not sure if that was how his style evolved in the late 1980s, but I suspect DC’s printing process in that time had something to do with it. A Zatanna-only Gray Morrow hardcover might be an overly-thin volume. But add his various Vigilante short stories and you would have a very nice addition to the bookcase!
March 7, 2023
Happy birthday to Gray Morrow.
March 7, 2023
Tremendous work. I love his take on the Justice League here.