Detective Comics #528 Splash Page 2 Original Art LAST APPEARANCE OF SAVAGE SKULL

15" x 10" image area. Ink and Zipatone over graphite on Bristol board. Detective Comics #528 Page 2 title splash page original art (DC 1983). Gene Colan and Klaus Janson. Signed by Colan at lower left.

Say good-bye to our dear friend, Savage Skull (Jack Crane). This is the final story of his sadly, brief appearance since his introduction in Batman #360 (June, 1983).

Created by Doug Moench and highly underrated artist, the late Don Newton, in 1983, the Savage Skull is an ex-cop with a gigantic chip on his shoulder. Jack Crane (no relation to Jonathan Crane - the Scarecrow) is fired from the Gotham City Police Department after shooting an alleged arsonist in the back at the site of a burning building. To add insult to injury, Crane is hideously disfigured when burning debris collapses on him, so he's left both disgraced and mutilated.

Crane reinvents himself as the Savage Skull, an avenging angel who has it in for the Police Department that ruined his life. He murders his way up the GCPD's ranks, ultimately aiming to kill Commissioner Gordon. Obsession, psychopathic tendencies, and police training are potentially a very dangerous combination.

"Oh my God, your... your... FACE!"