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Lobo
Lobo: A Contract on Gawd
96 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
About the author
Alan Grant
1,746 books146 followersAlan Grant was a Scottish comic book writer known for writing Judge Dredd in 2000 AD as well as various Batman titles during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is also the creator of the character Anarky.
Alan Grant first entered the comics industry in 1967 when he became an editor for D.C. Thomson before moving to London from Dundee in 1970 to work for IPC on various romance magazines. After going back to college and having a series of jobs, Grant found himself back in Dundee and living on Social Security. He then met John Wagner, another former D.C. Thompson editor, who was helping put together a new science fiction comic for IPC, 2000 A.D., and was unable to complete his other work. Wagner asked Grant if he could help him write the Tarzan comic he was working on; so began the Wagner/Grant writing partnership.
The pair eventually co-wrote Judge Dredd. They would work on other popular strips for the comic, including Robo-Hunter and Strontium Dog using the pseudonym T.B. Grover. Grant also worked on other people's stories, changing and adding dialogue, most notably Harry Twenty on the High Rock, written by Gerry Finley-Day. Judge Dredd would be Grant's main concern for much of the 1980s. Grant and Wagner had developed the strip into the most popular in 2000AD as well as creating lengthy epic storylines such as The Apocalypse War. Grant also wrote for other IPC comics such as the revamped Eagle.
By the late 1980s, Grant and Wagner were about to move into the American comic market. Their first title was a 12-issue miniseries called Outcasts for DC Comics. Although it wasn't a success, it paved the way for the pair to write Batman stories in Detective Comics from issue 583, largely with Norm Breyfogle on art duties across the various Batman titles Grant moved to. After a dozen issues, Wagner left Grant as sole writer. Grant was one of the main Batman writers until the late 1990s. The pair also created a four issue series for Epic Comics called The Last American. This series, as well as the Chopper storyline in Judge Dredd, is blamed for the breakup of the Wagner/Grant partnership. The pair split strips, with Wagner keeping Judge Dredd and Grant keeping Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson. Grant and Wagner continue to work together on special projects such as the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover Judgement on Gotham. During the late 1980s, Grant experienced a philosophical transformation and declared himself an anarchist. The creation of the supervillain Anarky was initially intended as a vehicle for exploring his political opinions through the comic medium. In the following years, he would continue to utilize the character in a similar fashion as his philosophy evolved.
Grant's projects at the start of the 90s included writing Detective Comics and Strontium Dog, but two projects in particular are especially notable. The first is The Bogie Man, a series co-written by Wagner which was the pair's first venture into independent publishing. The second is Lobo, a character created by Keith Giffen as a supporting character in The Omega Men. Lobo gained his own four issue mini series in 1990 which was drawn by Simon Bisley. This was a parody of the 'dark, gritty' comics of the time and proved hugely popular. After several other miniseries (all written by Grant, sometimes with Giffen as co-writer), Lobo received his own ongoing series. Grant was also writing L.E.G.I.O.N. (a Legion of Super-Heroes spin-off) and The Demon (a revival of Jack Kirby's charac
Alan Grant first entered the comics industry in 1967 when he became an editor for D.C. Thomson before moving to London from Dundee in 1970 to work for IPC on various romance magazines. After going back to college and having a series of jobs, Grant found himself back in Dundee and living on Social Security. He then met John Wagner, another former D.C. Thompson editor, who was helping put together a new science fiction comic for IPC, 2000 A.D., and was unable to complete his other work. Wagner asked Grant if he could help him write the Tarzan comic he was working on; so began the Wagner/Grant writing partnership.
The pair eventually co-wrote Judge Dredd. They would work on other popular strips for the comic, including Robo-Hunter and Strontium Dog using the pseudonym T.B. Grover. Grant also worked on other people's stories, changing and adding dialogue, most notably Harry Twenty on the High Rock, written by Gerry Finley-Day. Judge Dredd would be Grant's main concern for much of the 1980s. Grant and Wagner had developed the strip into the most popular in 2000AD as well as creating lengthy epic storylines such as The Apocalypse War. Grant also wrote for other IPC comics such as the revamped Eagle.
By the late 1980s, Grant and Wagner were about to move into the American comic market. Their first title was a 12-issue miniseries called Outcasts for DC Comics. Although it wasn't a success, it paved the way for the pair to write Batman stories in Detective Comics from issue 583, largely with Norm Breyfogle on art duties across the various Batman titles Grant moved to. After a dozen issues, Wagner left Grant as sole writer. Grant was one of the main Batman writers until the late 1990s. The pair also created a four issue series for Epic Comics called The Last American. This series, as well as the Chopper storyline in Judge Dredd, is blamed for the breakup of the Wagner/Grant partnership. The pair split strips, with Wagner keeping Judge Dredd and Grant keeping Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson. Grant and Wagner continue to work together on special projects such as the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover Judgement on Gotham. During the late 1980s, Grant experienced a philosophical transformation and declared himself an anarchist. The creation of the supervillain Anarky was initially intended as a vehicle for exploring his political opinions through the comic medium. In the following years, he would continue to utilize the character in a similar fashion as his philosophy evolved.
Grant's projects at the start of the 90s included writing Detective Comics and Strontium Dog, but two projects in particular are especially notable. The first is The Bogie Man, a series co-written by Wagner which was the pair's first venture into independent publishing. The second is Lobo, a character created by Keith Giffen as a supporting character in The Omega Men. Lobo gained his own four issue mini series in 1990 which was drawn by Simon Bisley. This was a parody of the 'dark, gritty' comics of the time and proved hugely popular. After several other miniseries (all written by Grant, sometimes with Giffen as co-writer), Lobo received his own ongoing series. Grant was also writing L.E.G.I.O.N. (a Legion of Super-Heroes spin-off) and The Demon (a revival of Jack Kirby's charac
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 28, 2017
Lobo: A Contract on Gawd was different. I tend to view Lobo in much the same light as Deadpool. I don't particularly like the character, but I do like certain stories the character has been in. This is one of those stories.
Lobo is a bounty hunter gifted with super strength, healing powers and a boatload of weapons. Armed with his trademark "frag" saying, which he tends to toss around with abandon (during the early 90's "frag" being code for "fuck" made it risque) Lobo goes around raising hell, bashing people in the face and saying "frag" a lot as he is a single man trail of destruction. But when dealing with such a character the stories can tend to get repetitive and stale after a while, since there is only SO much you can do with a character like Lobo.
So this was rather different. Lobo is hired by monks on a planet called Paradize. Paradize is a planet in the pull of a contest being waged by it's god figure, appropriately called, "Gawd" and the devil figure called "Dave" -who happens to be Gawd's sibling. Lobo has been hired to take out Gawd. But the problem is Lobo promised Vril Dox ( of L.E.G.I.O.N. -have no idea when Lobo did this) that he would no longer honor blood contracts. So Lobo decides to take out Gawd for free.
What follows is a rather irreverent look at religion seen through the world of Paradize. It's rather amusing to see Gawd and his Rules, trying to maintain order and control while Dave is trying to convince the people to support "democracy, pornography and booze" in order to cast down Gawd. It's a rather strange story all around. But it has its moments of religious mockery that an atheist would find amusing.
Is this an amazing tale? No. Must read comic? Nope. An entertaining, and sometimes tongue in cheek jab at Christian dogma, read about a rather two dimensional character that ends up being an enjoyable tale? Yeah. That it is. The artwork is surprisingly good. I was impressed. Now it's not anything amazing, but considering the early 90's weren't the best time for comic art-this is rather good. At least, I liked it.
So will you like this book? I don't know. You may. You may not. It's not very deep. The humor tends to be on the crude side. The violence is gratuitous, but it IS a Lobo title. That is perhaps the baseline from which I strike out-it is a Lobo comic. Thus against this low bar A Contract on Gawd is rather good. It's easily the best Lobo tale I've run into.
Lobo is a bounty hunter gifted with super strength, healing powers and a boatload of weapons. Armed with his trademark "frag" saying, which he tends to toss around with abandon (during the early 90's "frag" being code for "fuck" made it risque) Lobo goes around raising hell, bashing people in the face and saying "frag" a lot as he is a single man trail of destruction. But when dealing with such a character the stories can tend to get repetitive and stale after a while, since there is only SO much you can do with a character like Lobo.
So this was rather different. Lobo is hired by monks on a planet called Paradize. Paradize is a planet in the pull of a contest being waged by it's god figure, appropriately called, "Gawd" and the devil figure called "Dave" -who happens to be Gawd's sibling. Lobo has been hired to take out Gawd. But the problem is Lobo promised Vril Dox ( of L.E.G.I.O.N. -have no idea when Lobo did this) that he would no longer honor blood contracts. So Lobo decides to take out Gawd for free.
What follows is a rather irreverent look at religion seen through the world of Paradize. It's rather amusing to see Gawd and his Rules, trying to maintain order and control while Dave is trying to convince the people to support "democracy, pornography and booze" in order to cast down Gawd. It's a rather strange story all around. But it has its moments of religious mockery that an atheist would find amusing.
Is this an amazing tale? No. Must read comic? Nope. An entertaining, and sometimes tongue in cheek jab at Christian dogma, read about a rather two dimensional character that ends up being an enjoyable tale? Yeah. That it is. The artwork is surprisingly good. I was impressed. Now it's not anything amazing, but considering the early 90's weren't the best time for comic art-this is rather good. At least, I liked it.
So will you like this book? I don't know. You may. You may not. It's not very deep. The humor tends to be on the crude side. The violence is gratuitous, but it IS a Lobo title. That is perhaps the baseline from which I strike out-it is a Lobo comic. Thus against this low bar A Contract on Gawd is rather good. It's easily the best Lobo tale I've run into.
June 1, 2023
Once again, exactly how it happened with the Trigun and Trigun Maximum mangas, I have no friggin' idea how I found this thing (or the character in general) good to begin with, for one simple reason: this is ALREADY a cannibalization of the Lobo's back storyline, because it has the formula of the protagonist going through heaven and hell and back just without him dying and resurrecting. Lobo as a character in terms of storylines offered has always been generally piss-poor, but that after TWO YEARS they were already cannibalizing previous "efforts" of this same character is totally and utterly ridicolous (and the next "story", death and taxes, directly cannibalizes scenes from Lobo's back). How in the hell Lobo went to be so popular that he even got his own solist title is totally beyond me.
September 13, 2024
C'è tanto sarcasmo in questa storia, dissacrante per chi ha una concezione bigotta della religione cristiana in generale. Grant ci mette poco a sfanculare l'Inferno ed i suoi demoni, ma anche Lobo, fatto fuori da "Fratello Fece" dove Fece va inteso proprio come Merda!
E poi, siccome nè l'inferno nè il paradiso vogliono Lobo, si pensa di reincarnarlo, ma facendo solo disastri. A questo segue l'assalto di Lobo al paradiso, contro tutti gli dei, gli angeli e con Gesù che se la ride guardando tutto bevendo birra, fumando un sigaro e ruttando. Gesù ha imparato da Lobo, o piuttosto come penso io, Gesù era come Lobo ai suoi tempi?
Diciamo che siamo sulle 4 stelle piene.
E poi, siccome nè l'inferno nè il paradiso vogliono Lobo, si pensa di reincarnarlo, ma facendo solo disastri. A questo segue l'assalto di Lobo al paradiso, contro tutti gli dei, gli angeli e con Gesù che se la ride guardando tutto bevendo birra, fumando un sigaro e ruttando. Gesù ha imparato da Lobo, o piuttosto come penso io, Gesù era come Lobo ai suoi tempi?
Diciamo che siamo sulle 4 stelle piene.
February 22, 2019
It's a Lobo comic.
January 2, 2026
A diversion.
January 5, 2016
Well, LOBO ^_~
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews