Guy Gardner: Warrior #38

Jan 1996 · DC · 1.75 USD; 2.50 CAD

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Seduction of the Not So Innocent”

★ 1st appearance — Martika

About this Issue

Guy Gardner: Warrior #38 is a character-driven pivot point late in Beau Smith's run, foregrounding the hard biological cost of Guy's Vuldarian physiology: staying in his morphed Warrior form too long depletes the alien glands that power his shapeshifting, and Buck Wargo's diagnosis makes that limitation concrete for readers. The issue also showcases the unusually eclectic supporting ensemble Smith built around Warriors bar — time-displaced WWII aviator Zinda Blake (Lady Blackhawk), JSA veteran Ted Grant (Wildcat), former Green Lantern Arisia, and Silver Age throwback Tiger-Man all sharing panel space in a mid-1990s DC title — a cross-generational cast that prefigures the kind of character-mixing that would define later team books. While not a landmark first-appearance issue, it captures the texture of one of DC's more idiosyncratic ongoing series of the era at full stride.

writer Beau Smith · artist Marcelo Campos · artist Tom Grindberg · inker Dan Davis · colorist Lee Loughridge · letterer Albert DeGuzman · cover Marty Egeland, Dan Davis

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $0

Flagged key issue — estimate limited by sparse sales.

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

Raw — VF $2.19 1 listing Raw — FN $2.9 1 listing Raw — VG $2.9 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $2–$9.99 4 listings

Raw / ungraded $2 Raw / ungraded $2.99 Raw / ungraded $4.99 Raw / ungraded $9.99

Verified matches for Guy Gardner: Warrior #38 · eBay asking prices, seen 10 days ago

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

The issue was written by Beau Smith, who had guided the series since its Warrior relaunch, with interior art split between Marc Campos (pages 1–17) and Tom Grindberg (pages 18–21), inked by Dan Davis, colored by Lee Loughridge, lettered by Albert De Guzman, and with a cover by Martin Egeland and Dan Davis. It sits within a 45-issue run that began in October 1992 as simply Guy Gardner before being retitled Guy Gardner: Warrior after issue #16; Smith has noted publicly that the Vuldarian shapeshifting powers — central to this issue's plot complication — were an editorial mandate tied to the mid-1990s popularity of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a direction he accommodated reluctantly.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover-dated January 1996; released on stands November 9, 1995 — part of the penultimate year of the series before its cancellation in July 1996.
Written by Beau Smith; interior art by Marc Campos (pages 1–17) and Tom Grindberg (pages 18–21); inked by Dan Davis; colored by Lee Loughridge; cover pencilled by Martin Egeland.
Story title: 'Seduction of the Not So Innocent.' Guy returns from a space mission severely weakened because his Vuldarian glands were depleted by sustained time in morphed form — a physiological limit that Buck Wargo diagnoses and that drives the issue's main tension.
The Vuldarian power concept — Guy's alien heritage allowing him to shapeshift his body into weapons — was, according to Smith, an editorially mandated addition intended to capitalize on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers phenomenon of the mid-1990s.
The supporting cast in this issue includes Lady Blackhawk (Zinda Blake), Wildcat (Ted Grant of the JSA), Arisia (former Green Lantern), Tiger-Man, Lead, Veronna, and Martika — an unusually wide generational spread for a solo title of the period.
Zinda Blake (Lady Blackhawk), a recurring character throughout the series, was a WWII-era aviator originally introduced in Blackhawk #133 (February 1959) and brought into the modern DC timeline via the 1994 Zero Hour crossover; her association with Warriors bar and Guy Gardner's team spans this entire late phase of the run.
The villain The Earthworm (Herbert Hynde) had already been established in the series before this issue, with his appearance in Guy Gardner: Warrior #36 documented; Arisia, Veronna, and Tiger-Man pursue him through the sewers in this issue.
The series ran 45 issues total (October 1992–July 1996) under writer Beau Smith, retitled from Guy Gardner to Guy Gardner: Warrior after issue #16; after its cancellation, Guy Gardner would not headline another solo series until Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage in 2007.