Mike Grell was born 68 years ago. So happy birthday!

Also, a little more than 42 years ago, when I was but a fanboy wandering conventions with a pad under one arm, begging artists for sketches, he drew me this. So add a thanks to those birthday wishes!

Based on the date—July 6, 1973—Grell would have been 26 and I would have been 18 when I approached him the Friday of one of Phil Seuling’s famed July 4th weekend comic conventions at the Statler Hilton Hotel.

I can no longer tell, from this distance of more than four decades, whether that’s supposed to be Green Arrow or Warlord, neither of which he had yet drawn professionally.

Warlord wouldn’t appear until two years later, in 1st Issue Special #8 (Nov. 1975), and I don’t think he had a chance to tackle Green Arrow until 1987.

Based on that beard and mustache, it could be either of them. But I’ll choose to believe Grell was giving me a glimpse of Warlord, long before the rest of you got to see him.

Hope you’re enjoying your birthday, Mike! And thanks again for putting up with the annoying fan I most certainly was.