Grendell: Devil by the Deed

Grendel: Devil by the Deed. Written and Illustrated by Matt Wagner. ISBN 9781593077365

Originally published in 1986, few titles have had such a profound effect on the overall field of comics as the entire Grendel series. Inspired by some of the traditionally third or fourth tier comics like Swampthing and Daredevil that were beginning to push the envelope, Matt Wagner wanted to create something new in a field he saw as becoming increasingly stagnant.

He recalled a speech at his college by the late great Vincent Price. Price extolled the value of the villain to literature and movies, how their cleverness and cruelty made them so strangely attractive. Comics had tried this in the past, cobbling together a story featuring an established villain for a comic, like Dr. Doom, with the usual predictable result of lackluster sales and early cancellation. So Wagner set out to make a villain as compelling as he was evil.

And thus, Hunter Rose was born. Charming skilled and urbane, his pretty face hid a very black heart. And he went no where. Then, Wagner needed a four page filler for his title Mage, another mover and shaker back in the day. But how to make four pages memorable? Doing a serial story did not lend itself to this format.

Then Wagner hit upon the idea of doing the story as illustrated prose, and Grendel was born.

This is a recreation of those original stories, done in the wonderful Black and Scarlet format that has become the Hunter Rose signature.

At 38 pages of story, this tale still packs a punch, because instead of balloons of speech and boxes of caption, this story is told in prose, the blocks interspersed through a combination of traditional comic action panels, and artistic "set pieces." Perhaps a fifth of the page is text, in an annoyingly small type, with the rest being the art.

The art is incredible. There is nothing else like it. Imagine a rich artistic style, lightly influenced by the then almost unknown Anime style, wedded to Art Deco graphic designers wildest wet dream. Everything is done in black, white, and shades of scarlet and grey. No other colors are used. The borders are pure Art Deco, and constructed as if by an Autistic Savant Scrap booker. The visual impact of each and every page is stunning.

And the prose is equally compelling. The story flows pulling the reader along, perhaps faster than he wants to go, the scenery being so lush and lovely. The plotting and pacing are masterful, and the whole thing is steeped in deeply insightful, and deeply disturbing, examination of a remarkable man who chooses to be come a beast, and his foe, a man who was forced into a bestial mold.

Hunter Rose is a Savant. Everything he tries his hand at, he excels at. This is boring, and Hunter seeks a challenge to test his skills against. Crime proves to be the most entertaining.

Needing a secret identity to protect his anonymity, he invents Grendel. Masked and armed with "the Fork" a twin bladed short spear with electrical capabilities, Grendel carefully began to position himself in the underworld, first, as an assassin, then carefully, as a mastermind.

Of course, every villain needs a nemesis, and Grendel draws one of the most unusual. Argent is a mystery. The leading theory is that he is an Iroquois Indian cursed for some crime; what ever the case, Argent is a big hairy werewolf, stuck forever somewhere between man and beast. He is also a crime fighter. Hey, if I knew the police had a werewolf on the force I might be less inclined to jaywalk.

Argent and Grendel dance a dance of worthy adversaries, each enjoying the process, and reveling in hating the other. Then something happens to turn the yin and yang into a love triangle.

Grendel kills a crime boss Barry Palumbo. But he is so taken with his niece and ward, Stacy, that he almost blows his cover kidnapping the child. However, rationality returns, and he returns the child before her absence is noticed.

Then as Hunter Rose, he moves to adopt Stacy Palumbo. Stacy is good friends with Argent, her big furry buddy who saved her after Uncle Barry's death. So now Hunter is competing with the Wolf for her affections, as well as thwarting him in a life of crime.

It is a foregone conclusion that these two will come into direct conflict, and it will be cataclysmic. Even with the highly stylized format, the battle is dynamic, and devastating.

Of course, Grendel does not end here. That does not mean that Hunter Rose continues. (I'm neither confirming, nor denying.) But Grendel lives on, as the spirit of vengeance. The next person to pick up the fork and mask is Christine Spar, Stacy's daughter. Her tale is my personal favorite. There are many more following her.

Grendel was a seminal work. It changed the medium. More emphasis was put on the villain, and their motivations, and the anti-hero became a much more acceptable archetype. The Punisher, The Crow, and the Midnighter all owe much to Grendel.

So check out this superlative book and see where the modern movement in comics had its birth. If only the attention to style had caught on as a movement.

Grendel: Devil by the Deed. Written and Illustrated by Matt Wagner. ISBN 9781593077365

Originally published in 1986, few titles have had such a profound effect on the overall field of comics as the entire Grendel series. Inspired by some of the traditionally third or fourth tier comics like Swampthing and Daredevil that were beginning to push the envelope, Matt Wagner wanted to create something new in a field he saw as becoming increasingly stagnant.

He recalled a speech at his college by the late great Vincent Price. Price extolled the value of the villain to literature and movies, how their cleverness and cruelty made them so strangely attractive. Comics had tried this in the past, cobbling together a story featuring an established villain for a comic, like Dr. Doom, with the usual predictable result of lackluster sales and early cancellation. So Wagner set out to make a villain as compelling as he was evil.

And thus, Hunter Rose was born. Charming skilled and urbane, his pretty face hid a very black heart. And he went no where. Then, Wagner needed a four page filler for his title Mage, another mover and shaker back in the day. But how to make four pages memorable? Doing a serial story did not lend itself to this format.

Then Wagner hit upon the idea of doing the story as illustrated prose, and Grendel was born.

This is a recreation of those original stories, done in the wonderful Black and Scarlet format that has become the Hunter Rose signature.

At 38 pages of story, this tale still packs a punch, because instead of balloons of speech and boxes of caption, this story is told in prose, the blocks interspersed through a combination of traditional comic action panels, and artistic "set pieces." Perhaps a fifth of the page is text, in an annoyingly small type, with the rest being the art.

The art is incredible. There is nothing else like it. Imagine a rich artistic style, lightly influenced by the then almost unknown Anime style, wedded to Art Deco graphic designers wildest wet dream. Everything is done in black, white, and shades of scarlet and grey. No other colors are used. The borders are pure Art Deco, and constructed as if by an Autistic Savant Scrap booker. The visual impact of each and every page is stunning.

And the prose is equally compelling. The story flows pulling the reader along, perhaps faster than he wants to go, the scenery being so lush and lovely. The plotting and pacing are masterful, and the whole thing is steeped in deeply insightful, and deeply disturbing, examination of a remarkable man who chooses to be come a beast, and his foe, a man who was forced into a bestial mold.

Hunter Rose is a Savant. Everything he tries his hand at, he excels at. This is boring, and Hunter seeks a challenge to test his skills against. Crime proves to be the most entertaining.

Needing a secret identity to protect his anonymity, he invents Grendel. Masked and armed with "the Fork" a twin bladed short spear with electrical capabilities, Grendel carefully began to position himself in the underworld, first, as an assassin, then carefully, as a mastermind.

Of course, every villain needs a nemesis, and Grendel draws one of the most unusual. Argent is a mystery. The leading theory is that he is an Iroquois Indian cursed for some crime; what ever the case, Argent is a big hairy werewolf, stuck forever somewhere between man and beast. He is also a crime fighter. Hey, if I knew the police had a werewolf on the force I might be less inclined to jaywalk.

Argent and Grendel dance a dance of worthy adversaries, each enjoying the process, and reveling in hating the other. Then something happens to turn the yin and yang into a love triangle.

Grendel kills a crime boss Barry Palumbo. But he is so taken with his niece and ward, Stacy, that he almost blows his cover kidnapping the child. However, rationality returns, and he returns the child before her absence is noticed.

Then as Hunter Rose, he moves to adopt Stacy Palumbo. Stacy is good friends with Argent, her big furry buddy who saved her after Uncle Barry's death. So now Hunter is competing with the Wolf for her affections, as well as thwarting him in a life of crime.

It is a foregone conclusion that these two will come into direct conflict, and it will be cataclysmic. Even with the highly stylized format, the battle is dynamic, and devastating.

Of course, Grendel does not end here. That does not mean that Hunter Rose continues. (I'm neither confirming, nor denying.) But Grendel lives on, as the spirit of vengeance. The next person to pick up the fork and mask is Christine Spar, Stacy's daughter. Her tale is my personal favorite. There are many more following her.

Grendel was a seminal work. It changed the medium. More emphasis was put on the villain, and their motivations, and the anti-hero became a much more acceptable archetype. The Punisher, The Crow, and the Midnighter all owe much to Grendel.

So check out this superlative book and see where the modern movement in comics had its birth. If only the attention to style had caught on as a movement.